Watching the twin towers of the World Trade Center come down, live on TV, had a profound affect on many Americans including this baby boomer. Probably due to age, serious motivation to join the Ohio Army Reserve did not develop, however, until 2004 when I was fifty years old. It was not only our enemies who influenced my attempt to join up; it was the mindsets of some of my closest loved ones. Those mindsets appear to be mental blocks that obstruct logic.
This obstruction of logic caused an acute affliction of angst in me until it seemed that only joining our volunteer forces would position me around clear thinkers, to keep me out of the insane asylum. Hopes were for nothing drastic, just going to serve as a slightly arthritic operations guy on a desk somewhere. Unfortunately, age already restricts me from serving as a first time member of our military. Hopefully world events will not degrade to the point that the Army needs to include my age group or skill level, but I was disappointed. Eventually motivation overcame disappointment and this is how it happened. It was not easy because I was stuck on stupid, for a while.
Years of stressful dialog with loved ones who cling to mental blocks about projecting US military power and about George W. Bush, had all ended in failure. My relentless efforts to present common sense, logical conclusions based upon facts from many sources had all failed. Beloved friends and family members were content with their mental blocks. Failure in my efforts finally became undeniable and had to be accepted as the truth.
After a stubborn period of denial, the truth of the failure was realized and accepted. Consequently, a redirection of energies became prudent, even necessary, and finally became apparent to me too. Very important relationships were suffering. Stuck on stupid had been my lot and my angst was hurting us. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. Finding more fertile ground to plow became the cure. Being deeply concerned about our troops and setting failure with loved ones aside; a larger vision began to develop.
Do you know what our troops' majority wishes are, politically? Would you like poll results or facts regarding what our troops want, politically and regarding your votes? Are you willing to believe the answers if you could find them? Do you believe our troops are just brain washed, uneducated dummies supporting the political line they are told to tow, while risking death from our enemies?
While most military volunteers would undoubtedly support your right to vote against their political wishes, it is human nature for our troops to hope we understand and share their principles, priorities and political wishes and vote to support them, especially during wartime. As a voter, is there a more important issue to research and understand than this one – What Our Troops Want – during wartime?
