Private First Class Edward J. Moskala, charged 60 meters to enemy machine-gun emplacements to destroy them with grenades. Covered the withdrawal of his squad, for three hours. Found that one of his squadmates was left behind, without hesitation charged back to get him. Protected the wounded while help was sought, found another man left behind, went charging into enemy fire to get his buddy back from the jaws of death, before being mortally wounded. Awarded Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration in the U.S. Armed Forces.
This happens ever so often, and World War Two may have been 60 years ago, but courage like this still lives on. Why do men take such risks to themselves, for others? Ask our Hollywood composite character Hoot in Black Hawk Down, he'll give the classic response a Delta guy, any army dude, would give. "They won't understand, that it's not the war, it's about the man next to you. That's all, nothing else matters."
Military types think only they have this type of bond, but I guess the current disaster shows otherwise. The ourpouring of goodwill is unprecedented, you cannot imagine how much aid is being poured into the affected regions. I was working as a volunteer at SPH, and the amount of logistics we are sending over is phenomenal, there is no wonder why a bottleneck occurs, I cannot imagine any airport, cow herds running over the runway or not, will be able to cope with all the materiel. And aid money is estimated at 2 billion dollars, well over a hundred times worth the initial amount pledged. Some may call this guilt at work, we are alive and well but they aren't so let's pour in money to assauge our guilt. I call it basic compassion. We feel for those who may be thousands of miles away, in a totally different life, because we are all human. Religion, culture, politics, take a back seat.
And look who are on the ground first, providing the humanitarian assistance. Soldiers, the military. U.S. , Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, all have military personnel on the ground first to do the heavy lifting. The next time some pacifist goes rioting, asking for world peace and demanding an end to starvation and suffering, let him see who first goes in to give the helping hand. The next time some idiot at the U.N. complains how much the U.S. spends on the military instead of humanitarian aid, he should be denied space on the aircraft carrier sailing on a beeline to the devastated region. Maybe people should be reminded, that those with the greatest power to take lives, also have the strongest urge to give life back. These are the guys who will not only do it for their brothers-in-arms, but also anyone in particular. That's what they exist for, to defend lives and livelihood, and I swear the next idiot who comes up and complains about the military being useless/unworthy/wasteful/no longer valid, will never hear the end of me. No other organisation can muster the strength and discipline needed to truly provide the aid necessary for the victims. Who will do the airlifts, clear the roads, mop up the area, bury the dead, set up the refugee camps, and organise all the aid? Not the Red Cross which does not have such equipment (besides if they do, they don't have the expertise), or some church or mosque which can send all the money and a token number of people but not its congregation who nevertheless can only go there and pray for aid since they have no organisation whatsoever to handle the humanitarian work, or some aid organisation or the U.N. .
Why the military? Precisely because they don't ask why, they do the necessary without the questions. Like PFC Moskala, only the military can see if something needs to be done, and do it, well and without any bureaucratic nonsense or politicking. Or at least without the notion or perception of it, much better than politicians or bureaucrats who take forever to decide what needs to be done, and still not do it. Soldiers do it, because that's what they signed up for, to help defend freedom, life, livelihood. Defend something, that's what they work towards. Civil strife, genocide, terrorist camps, nuclear weapons proliferation, unrest, insurgency, natural disaster, man-made disaster? Send in the marines.
The weapons of war are the greatest tools for peace. Paradoxical? Open your eyes, and take a new look at that Chinook, LST, CVBG, C-130 Hercules, that man in camouflage uniform. He will make the difference, because he's trained to. You can ask him why he does it, but don't expect an answer. He's just there to do the necessary.
Don
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