What is the War For?

Thomas Walton was a Marine, also is my uncle, sent to Somalia to do humanitarian work. However, the tribes stole from the Marines, threw rocks at them, and shot at them. The rules of engagement were, as put by my uncle, “Totally unfair” for the Marines. The rules included: They had to use the same caliber or than what was being used on them; they can only shoot if they were sure the enemy was shooting at you; They had to make sure you had a clear shot and that no other innocent bystander could possibly be hit. My uncle said, “I found it hard to be compassionate toward these people when they were trying to kills us.” Even though they were there to give out food, water, and other supplies, they were getting attacked. My mother recalls being on the phone with Thomas one night and she heard all these gun shots and blasts. Then the phones went dead. She spent the next six weeks walking around thinking, “Oh my God, was I on the phone with my brother when he died?” Luckily, that wasn’t the case. His camp had come under attack by one of the local tribes. My uncle says, “I love my country but they make it so hard for us to survive and fight back here.”

My stepfather, Gustavo Alfaro, was a Sgt. in the Marine Reserves in Desert Storm. Many of the soldiers suffered from separation anxiety, they worried constantly about their families. Gus tells me about these pills they were given to counteract nerve agents and biological agents. They were also told that it has not been tested or approved and that they side-affects were worse than the actually threat. Most of the men “took their chances” by not taking the pill. Gus says, “we buried the pills in the desert sand.” When he returned home, he went out with my mom one night and totally freaked out. My mom asked what was wrong and he said, “What’s that smell? WHAT IS IT?!” My mom said it was just her shampoo. It turns out that he was told that if you randomly smell fuit for no reason then you have been affected by a nerve agent. To this day, 18 years later, he still freezes when he smells fruit. “Strawberry, banana, and coconut are the most affective to me,” he recalls.

War is something not to be entered into lightly, it affects many peoples lives. Not just the soldiers, but the families of the soldiers. We need to take back the control of the Media from the government. We need to know everything, not just what the government wants us to know. The freedom of the press means that the Media isn’t for the government to control or influence. Get the knowledge we should be getting, don’t just settle for what little we receive. There is so much we as a country don’t know about war and we as a nation need real information, not government-influenced media diatribe–Media of Misinformation–to inform so that we can choose a competent president.