Wars are not favourable to delicate pleasures. — A Secret Vice

My Take – I was not a front-line soldier.  If I had stayed in, I would probably have been classified as a ‘fobbit’.   I only saw the remnants of battles.  On one occasion, I saw the human suffering a mortar barrage can bring in a very up close and personal way.  On several other occasions, I came across evidence that places that were blasted, burned, run over, or just plain screwed up were once beautiful communities.  Those who thought that the military was polished boots, PT at dawn, and weekends off to go wandering the Bavarian countryside had an awful time dealing with what happens when the god of battle awakens.

Too many of the people I have met think that war is like a video game or a movie.  They cannot conceive that there is nothing glamorous or glorious in what remains once the battle is over.  People do not simply fall over and then disappear on a real battlefield.  Soldiers and civilians who are hurt but survive can spend years recovering.  Beautiful places that have stood for centuries can be destroyed in minutes, and they don’t magically rebuild because someone hit a reset button.  Getting the idea across that war is an ugly thing that should be the option that is exercised after all other options have failed is one of the hardest things I do.