life during wartime :: essays research papers

Theres nothing I can say about the display of still pictures, the faces on the television except, perhaps, that they all seemed to sh be a fierce pride in their eyes, photographed for the first time in their Marine Dress Blues. surely their families are proud of them. I certainly am, and I never got to know any of them. And now, I never will.Names scroll in little yellow-bellied letters across the bottom of our glowing screens Sergeants, and Captains, and Privates. These men have died for us. More will follow. We asked them to go, and they went. All across this nation -- here and there, sparkling across the present like fireflies on a summer night sedans are slowly rolling to a stop outside of small, modest homes. Men in analogous emerge, straighten their tunics, and walk slowly up driveways. Doorbells are rung. Maybe here and there smiles will evaporate in shock and surprise as doors are opened, but to a greater extent likely the face will be one full of stunned realization that the very worst thing in the social unit world has happened. And children will be sent to their rooms. And the men will speak in somber, respectful tones. And sons and mothers and fathers and wives will be told that the one thing they love more than anything in this world has been taken away from them, that their sons and daughters will not be coming home, that their fathers or mothers have gone away and will never flummox back, not ever. Why do we do this? What could possibly be worth this?The war is an abject and utter failure. What everyone thought would be a quick, decisive success has turned into an embarrassing series of reversals. The enemy, -- a ragtag, badly-fed collection of hotheads and fanatics has failed to be shocked and awed by the most magnificent military machine ever fielded. Their churlish resistance has shown us the futility of the idea that a nation of millions could ever be subjugated and administered, no matter what obscene price we are willing to be ar in blood and money.The President of the United States is a buffoon, an idiot, a man barely able to speak the English language. His vice president is a little-seen, widely despised enigma and his chief military advisor a wild-eyed warmonger. Only his Secretary of State offers any hope of redemption, for he at least is a reasonable, well-educated man, a man most thought would have made a far, far better choice for Chief Executive.