Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

I’ve seen the above floating around as a meme lately. I don’t think it is a new concept, as I’ve long pondered if it is morally acceptable to kill some people based on a devaluation of their life by the role they play. Probably. However, it’s still a tragedy to kill someone. I’ll never forget a special forces sniper vet in the VA hospital break-up while talking about the head of the man as it was impacted and destroyed by his round. I simply told people I was in the Peace Corp. It made my life easier.

To a degree, those who financially support the military are just as guilty as those in the military, thus there is little distinction between civilian casualties and the death of soldiers. This is one of the reasons we invade countries that financially back and give training and refuge to terrorists. I’ve long thought it a bit twisted how we distinguish between terrorism and our military ‘casualties.’ We pretend we only kill combatants. I suppose even worse is that we refer to children we blow up abroad as ‘collateral damage’ when killed unintentionally and with a fair degree of recklessness. If it is unacceptable to bomb the trade towers because it kills children and not just soldiers and their financial backers (taxpayers, bankers, etc.,) then it is equally unacceptable to bomb a school by accident because terrorists took refuge there. In the end, though, do not confuse this by inverting my logic to give support to the anarchy of a morally nihilistic or Hobbesian nature, but the opposite. We should be in sorrow to feed a kid fresh out of high school who can’t legally drink serving in the military straight into the meat grinder of war as we are a banker being killed for exploiting the college loan system that forced that kid to look at military service as a way to not ending in indentured servitude. As bitter a pill as it is for Americans to swallow, sometimes the sword of vengeance needs put away without tasting blood. Jihadism is Social Darwinism. However, they are different words for evil. What kills me though is evil is to a large degree the reality of adapting to the needs to survive.