"Old men declare war but it is the youth that must fight and die" - Herbert C. Hoover One afternoon I was watching a documentary about the Vietnam war that happened in the 60's. I love to watch documentaries, especially about wars, my favorites being the civil war and the Vietnam war. Even though I like to learn about all of this conflict and think it is highly interesting, I still have a strong grasp of reality knowing that war is not something to take lightly and it affects the hearts of not only the soldiers but the families it consumes. And even though most of the US soldiers were drafted into the military, there was a big percentage of young men who were only 18. 18 I'm 17 years old, and I couldn't possibly imagine going oversees, leaving everything I left behind to fight a war that had I had no idea what it was even about. But I like to imagine myself in the shoes of a young man at the time, what horrors they witnessed and all the horrible acts they had to carry out on young men, women, and sometimes even children. I remember during one of the documentaries, a veteran who was only 19 at the time had to go on a search and destroy mission to locate and clean the war supplies the enemy stored in a village up by the hills. When he arrived, he was greeted with horrified faces from the local farmers. They soon found the hidden weapons and ammo under floorboards or piles of hay. The order was given "clean it up boys". The veteran then states how the soldiers, our soldiers, starting burning the houses and shooting the farmers. Shocked and horrified, all he could do was stand still and watch as a mother cradled her son, both burning alive and screaming in pain. Just imagine, imagine closing your eyes every night and only being able to hear the screams and feel the intense heat blow against your face keeping you from sleeping soundly ever again. The arrogance of old and powerful men corrupt the hearts of the youth and make them commit unspeakable acts against humanity, and for what? Nothing. War is horrible. War is pointless. The reason why I research war tragedies as much as I do is because I am looking for an answer that justifies why we fight. Even to this day and age, with all of the knowledge we possess and with the potential to save everyone from poverty, we still seek destruction against our brother.
Kyler K.
11/19/2015 07:38:29 pm
The concept of war is brutal.
Adam
11/20/2015 07:14:13 am
Damn. Bravo 👏🏼 Comments are closed.
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October 2016
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