David's Daily Diversions

War is Hell As General

War is Hell

As General Patton once famously remarked, “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” That’s why war is never a good thing. It may be a necessary thing and/or a just thing, but not a good thing. War is about killing people.

I was thinking about the casualties today – so few on the Coalition side that they can be individually named. The news crews here in the UK can go to their hometowns and interview family and friends. I thought of the sadness of their parents. Now that I am the father of a son, I shudder at the thought of investing my life into him, seeing him beginning to realise his potential, and then have that taken away in an instant by a bullet fired by someone who just viewed him, and perhaps only for a second, as an obstruction to an objective. Everything gone.

That must be how every parent of a son in the Iraqi army must feel. And at least the Coalition soldiers have all volunteered, knowing the risks of the job. The sons of Iraq are taken from their families and forced to bear arms in aid of a regime for which they have no affection, and which they probably despise. Poorly fed and clothed, if they attempt to leave they are shot by death squads.

And the thing about dying for your country is that once you’re dead, your country doesn’t matter any more. On the other side of dying, there is only one sovereign entity. Dying for your country doesn’t get you into heaven. I know war is a terrible experience. Fortunately, I only know it second hand, but I do not doubt it. But regardless of the horrors of war, they do not compare to the perdition facing those who die outside Christ. War is Hell.

I pray that during Aidan’s early adulthood years, there will be peace and neither of his countries will need him for war.