U.S. Army Gets things Right and Wrong

    Some blame them, and the U.S. military, for messing up the world. Others credit them for saving the world more than once. I believe that the truth lies in many gradations in between.

    We all have opinions and ideas about what is done right within and without by the Army. Just one branch, but the biggest. It has helped many people. It has killed many others. Armies do heavy, heavy things. But they liberate millions, in the case of the US forces, leaders and troops.

    The other day (this is in January 2024), I had the thought that the Chinese should be grateful that we dropped the nuclear bombs on Japan to end World War II, to submit their massive enterprise, because I think most Chinese would be speaking Japanese if we had not saved them in the times of the Empire that had run them brutally since the early 1930s. Ever heard of Manchuko? Yes, the Japanese ruled China for a while. It was pretty bad.

    Maybe the Chinese would not have taken over Tibet as the People's Republic of China did by the late 1950s. Who knows?

    The U.S. Army and the American leaders, scientists, and operators ended it by those drastic acts. The bomb. Drastic times merited severe measures.

    Many lives affected. Millions, if not billions.

    Individually we are affected by U.S. Army decisions, high and low.

    We may know some stories about some people: fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, messed up by U.S. Army, because it at different levels made decisions that were detrimental to them in some way or fashion. I can tell a few.

    But, for now, I have not died because of them. Just some injuries due to training and service duties. I got them on Army time. But, eventually it should pay off.

    If I can survive. And that is the game of the U.S. Army. Stay in their graces and stay alive.

    The term "Army" can be used in many general senses and generically, too. There are armies of ants, or helpers, or religious armies, like the Army of the Lord, or the Armies of Darkness, etc. Christians and Muslims, and likely Jewish and Hindus and others, can go by their references to armies. The Book of Mormon, which is quite bellicose in parts, has many armies mentioned, good and bad, and one of the featured heroic groups is the Army of Helaman. Young men who were exactly obedient. Defenders of the truth and the people.

    Onward, Christian soldiers, many of us sing.

    In Christendom the parallels are constant.

    Armies need their associates and allies, too. Navies, and marines, and now air and space and cyber armies and troops.

    All of them work and toil to keep the peace, fight for the right causes, and control the spaces of the known universe from chaos and mayhem/

    And, most nations have them, a standing army or one in reserves. We need them. There will ever be armies across the globe and the heavens, as far as I know.

    Generals, captains, and regular joes. All of us make up the armies of the world, in some way or another.

    And, all of us are imperfect, and make mistakes.

    Here's hoping you and I can be found within their graces and peace.

    Group, dismissed.