Senility

Somebody, clue this old man in…

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know.

Milblogs might send him into fits. But then he'd just deny reality, as he does here:

We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.

Yeah. Right. We’re all too ignorant to know that a military’s purpose is to fight wars.

If someone loved you, Mr. Rooney, they’d stop you from drooling in public.

(Thanks to Lex Communis)

Comments

[Shawn Lee]

What an idiotic old man. When I joined the Army Reserve, part of me signed up hoping that I'd get called up.

[Furious Ming]

Of our troops Andy Rooney wrote:

I gathered them together and explained that if they went in they must be prepared not merely to fight, but to perform the weary, monotonous labor incident to the ordinary routine of a soldier's life; that they must be ready to face fever exactly as they were to face bullets; that they were to obey unquestioningly, and to do their duty as readily if called upon to garrison a fort as if sent to the front. I warned them that work that was merely irksome and disagreeable must be faced as readily as work that was dangerous, and that no complaint of any kind must be made; and I told them that they were entirely at liberty not to go, but that after they had once signed there could then be no backing out

Not a man of them backed out; not one of them failed to do his whole duty.

Oh, sorry, that was Teddy Roosevelt on the Rough Riders. Seems my index cards are mixed up. I should have filed this one under Virile God instead of Senile Fraud.

[hank]

she shoots, she scores. nice one.

[La Shawn Barber]

Andy Rooney is still alive?

[og]

"Andy Rooney is still alive?"

Unfortunately, yes, LaShawn. Pitiably, beauty and sanity are fleeting while ugly and ignorance are near eternal.

[liz]

This is only tangentially on topic. I watched "Glory" last night. I had forgotten what a fine movie it is.

In my family, the males (and two of the females) of my parents' generation all enlisted (WWII). In my generation, only one of 7 males and 12 females enlisted.

Many people who come from non-service backgrounds and generations of college educttion may be oblivious to the role of the armed forces--especially the National Guard-- in our modern meritocracy. I certainly didn't get it until I visited Fort Knox and had a chance to visit with some young officers and their spouses.

So yes, Rooney is an idiot, but he is also reflecting a viewpoint held by the educated upper class, for whom military service holds no percieved advantage.

[Calliope]

Its unfortunate that Rooney wrote that. Since he served in WWII he should know better. He's not doing the "troops" any favors with that sort of trash talk. If he opposes the war that's fine - but he should leave the troop-baiting out of it.