WWW, or World Wide Warriors

--fr. Maus, A Survivor's Tale,
Art Spiegelman

And anything that happened
to me afterwards,
I never felt the same about again
--Guests of the Nation,
Frank O'Connor

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love
--An Irish Airman Forsees His Death,
W. B. Yeats

Save my soul from evil, Lord
And heal this soldier's heart
--I'm Done with Bonaparte,
Mark Knopfler
__________________

We as a society have crossed a frontier fraught with tanglefoot and minefields aplenty when we are comfortable with the concept of Long Wars and being called a "warrior" nation.

Soldiers -- even Reserve Forces -- have morphed into warriors, while the concept of the citizen soldier has been relegated to the dung heap of history, or so it seems. The acceptance of hatred as a basis of and motivator for war fighting was one of the first indications of the change.

Along with hatred comes the inevitable dehumanization of our adversaries, and the choice of vindictive and punitive war blithely as a first response. Soldiers need not act humanely if their opponent is not human. Opponents in past wars were seen as men; today, they are vilified and vermin-ized.

Can we define what we are or are becoming, as a society?

• How do we define "warrior hood?"

• How do we define "soldier"?

• Is warrior hood a valid designator for the soldiers of a liberal democratic nation?

• If we are a warrior nation, why not create a mercenary Foreign Legion?

• Is the warrior's code of conduct the same as that for a soldier?

• Is warrior hood compatible with the 21th century?

What are your thoughts on the matter?


NEXT: Sin, Sin, Sin!

Not Fade Away

Charles Miklaucic

I still remember the refrain of one
of the most popular barrack ballads of that day
which proclaimed most proudly that
"old soldiers never die; they just fade away"
--Gen, Douglas MacArthur
____________________

Ranger must travel back to childhood for this not easy entry.

Charles Miklaucic died September 1, 2010. He was a fine example of WW II soldierly conduct, having served as a Combat Infantryman in the European theatre. He was twice wounded, once in the Battle of the Huertgen Forrest and once while attempting to cross the Ludendorf Bridge on the Rhine at Remagen.

He was the father of one of my best friends while growing up in Cleveland, and I found him to be a role model and a positive influence on all of our young lives. Both of his sons later served faithfully in their war, Vietnam.

Mr. Miklaucic was a quiet, sober, gentle man. He was not a professional soldier but he fought as one, and then returned to his domestic life. Miklaucic was the consummate Citizen Soldier, and the death of these old soldiers marks the passing of an era, both for this country and for a certain mindset of soldier

My condolences to the family.

Chuck Lindberg at Iwo Jima

--First Flag-Raising on Mount Suribachi
__________________

Ranger feels it appropriate to recognize the death of Charles W. Lindberg, 86, one of the U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II.

As testimonial to the power of an image, he said no one believed him when he said he and his patrol raised the first flag at Iwo Jima. "I was called a liar," he said, referring to the popularized photo of the second flag-raising by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.

"In the late morning of Feb. 23, 1945, Lindberg fired his flame-thrower into enemy pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi and then joined five other Marines fighting their way to the top. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

"Two of our men found this big, long pipe there," he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2003. "We tied the flag to it, took it to the highest spot we could find and we raised it.

"'Down below, the troops started to cheer, the ship's whistles went off, it was just something that you would never forget,' he said. 'It didn't last too long, because the enemy started coming out of the caves.'

"The moment was captured by Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer from the Marine Corps' Leatherneck magazine. It was the first time a foreign flag flew on Japanese soil.

"Three of the men in the first raising never saw their photos. They were among the more than 6,800 U.S. servicemen killed in the five-week battle for the island.

"After his discharge in January 1946, Lindberg went home to Grand Forks, N.D. He moved to Richfield in 1951 and became an electrician." (Iwo Jima Flag Raiser Dies at 86)."

Ranger grew up around such men, and they were all quiet, humble and unknown. They were living, breathing heroes, but their bravery and heroism went unsung in the community. They did a man's duty, and were welcomed back into the community to carry on. They did not have to brook either protest or false adulation.

My father, a WW II Navy vet, returned to the coal mines after the war, and there remained until they closed. My neighbor was an officer and a fighter pilot in WW II, but I knew him as a coal miner.

These men were my teachers at grammar school, and basically surrounded me in my childhood. They were the citizen soldiers who did their patriotic duty, and returned home to be repatriated as ordinary citizens.

From the heights to the depths. Or more correctly, from the depths to the heights, and back again, Mr. Lindberg went from Suribachi to a life as an electrician. And now he's passed, and will never again have to prove that he raised the first flag on Suribachi.

Silver Stars cannot equal the conspicuous gallantry of all the men throughout history who have served with such distinction. It is also instructive that Mr. Lindberg was not a professional warrior, but rather a citizen serving in dire circumstances.

"A bronze bust of him will be included in the monument to all veterans that is being built at Veterans Memorial Park in [Richmond, MN]. The monument is expected to be completed in July 2008.

"'He was such a modest man, and he didn't get the recognition until recently for what he has done,' said Steve Devich, Richfield's city manager. 'I wished so much he would have been around to see the dedication of that memorial,' said Devich." (Chuck Lindberg, Who Raised Flag at Iwo Jima, Dies.)

We raise a salute to all the Lindbergs out there.