If you have never been to a war, How do know what is really happening?

Question

do you believe what you read? what you see on television? Have you ever asked a Veteran that isn't running for congress?

Answer 1

Sadly the news media thinks that 'the explosion of the day' somehow counts as war coverage.

I spent my year in Iraq in a Brigade TOC. We had CNN running 24/7 and I would compare what CNN was saying about Iraq with 'ground truth' and wonder what country CNN was talking about.

This experience has made me very cynical about:
1) The news media
2) How much faith us soldiers can have in the American people

Answer 2

I guess you have to investigate a variety of sources, see where they coincide, and see where they seem to match reality. That's the best you can do.

Also, keep in mind that an individual veteran may have no better understanding of a war than a journalist. A soldier, unless they are a higher-ranking officer, sees only a small part of a war. They don't know all of the planning, conditions, or intelligence covering the entire span of the war- only what they see and hear.

They may only see the worst of it, and conclude the war is going badly. Or, they may have an exceptionally easy time of it, and conclude that the war is going great. Both of them could be wrong, because they don't see the whole picture.

Answer 3

Do you mean how to prepare yourself for combat if you've never been there? There is a military type of "advice" on this, probably employing psychology of some sort, but I doubt if it actually helps anybody. Military psychology is based on turning yourself into a machine that follows orders and convincing yourself you should be "proud" of doing this for your country's "defence." It's a cognitive strategy much like clinicians use "cognitive restructuring" and behavoral modification techniques. How do you prepare for that if you are a fully functioning human being who can think for him or herself and understands that the most basic need for (nonbrainwashed) human beings is self-preservation? (PLEASE don't anybody answer that because it's not the question!)

My advice (if you're a civilian) is to watch the movies Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter, and Apocolypse Now all in the same evening and without getting stoned. These movies may not be the "real" portrayal you're looking for, but they do a good job of putting you center stage into the madness.

Answer 4

Truth of the matter is that you don't. The flow of information is tightly controlled and only certain non sensitive information is allowed to be given out. Why do you think it took so long for the story of the Marines accused of killing a Iraqi family to come out. As a Navy officer, I believe very little if any of what the media says. They only put the spin on it that sells the story and that the government/ military wants it to have. Since as individual service members, we can only speak to what we were involved in.

Answer 5

If you mean "what really happens... during a war" in general terms; there are literally tens of thousands of memoirs available, dating back hundreds of years, that give both the officer's and the soldier's perspective on the personal aspects of war & combat.

(I highly recommend "Up Front" by Bill Mauldin for a good read; he served in Europe during WW2...)

As for current events...

Should you believe most everything you read, see & hear? No; that would be foolish.

But it is even more foolish to believe nearly nothing of what you read, see & hear...

What you have to do is exploit a fairly broad range of information sources, sift through them, and then think critically about what you have read, seen & heard (this is the tough part for most people, REGARDLESS of their political & philosophical predelictions and level of education...).

Answer 6

Well, since 80% of military in Iraq believe they are there because of what happened 9/11/01 then I know more about what is happening than the majority of the troops in Iraq. Such a sad, sad world we live in.

Answer 7

i hope we will never experience war, i do believe what my mom and my dad told us what really happened during the world war 2, they were just starting to grow up during that time, so they really experienced the impact and lived with the consequence.

the stories ever told were old and great to wonder if i can survive the ordeal. i agree with my dad when he start telling all of us about the war stories that he witnessed, then he always told us that the young generation should watch the war story to get familiarize with the situation, just in case you encounter one, you know what to do, how to react and be aware of what's going on.

Answer 8

Same thing I've wondered myself. I've come to the conclusion that most of us DON'T know, which is why I don't really have an opinion about the war. I support it more than I protest it, though, because of what soldiers who HAVE been there have told me.

Answer 9

The news media always distorts the truth.. its their business to soup up a story at anyones expense.. God Bless the USA, ALL our deployed soldiers and their families left behind

Answer 10

If youv'e been to a war how do you know whats happening?
You only see a tiny part of it.
Did all US soldiers know what was happening in Abu Ghraib.