Yeah, I knew that....

In perusing the Naval War College Review, Winter 2007 edition, I came across the article "Duty at All Costs" by George M. Clifford III. In treating a topic that must always be a possibility for the military profession, it nonetheless manages to give examples of those who "knew" that Vietnam, or Iraq, or, presumably, the campaign against the Barbary Pirates was immoral, bad policy, strategy, etc.

The article goes on to recount how certain individuals then -almost- went in and set fire to their commissions in front of the higher ups.....in the case of a four-star during Vietnam, he recounts "the day" when he was ready to walk in and fling those stars on LBJ's desk and walk out and hold a press conference.

But- somehow, it never quite happened on "that day," and when I reflect upon it, I can convince myself that there were one or two instances in my working life when I should have walked in and thrown down the gauntlet, burned all my bridges, and crossed the Rubicon generally on matter of principle.

And I wonder how many other human beings, in the autumn of their years, professional soldiers or no, could also fix on a time or times when that was the case. But "conscience doth make cowards of us all," and there is always personal responsibilities, or the crass consideration of pension and health care benefits, or the simple fact that most human beings are turtles in this regard, and just won't stick their necks out, even if it's something that stirs the passions as much as a war.

Then there's always the reconstruction of matters in hindsight. "Yes, it was controversial. Yes, I had my doubts. No, I didn't do anything about those doubts. But twenty years later, I can reassure myself that if only things had been -slightly- different, by golly I would've." And so what happened passes the bar into what ought to have happened, and from there it's not all that far to to what must have happened. Thus, the Will to Belief triumphs again.