Daniel in Brookline: Smash Responds to a Deserter

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Smash Responds to a Deserter

One of my favorite blogs (and blog communities) is Citizen Smash; I've been hanging out there for a while. The proprietor is a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves, and he did us all a service, a year or so ago, when he was called up to serve in Iraq. (If that's too ephemeral for you, put it this way: he did us all a personal favor by blogging about his experiences. He made the U.S. presence in Iraq come alive for many of us.)

These days, he usually writes as a civilian -- about news that interests him, issues of patriotism, stuff like that. (Occasionally he'll tell a good story if it's relevant to the news; I look forward to those, as do many of his readers.)

The news yesterday was of Pablo Paredes, a USN petty officer (3rd class) who refused to be deployed to Iraq. Citizen Smash has responded powerfully, as is his wont... and it's very much worth reading.

Here's an excerpt:

OK then, let’s talk – man to man.

In the big scheme of things, your action will have no impact on the war. The Bonhomme Richard sailed out of San Diego on Monday, along with her entire battle group. Your attempted desertion may have caused a media stir, but you did not delay the battle group’s departure by so much as a minute. The embarked Marines are on their way to the Sandbox, to perform the mission that they were trained to do.

You did, however, manage to fuck up your own future.

Read the rest. As Harry Truman was reputed to say, it's a crackerjack.

respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline

# posted by Daniel in Brookline @ 1:16 PM