Now, I know what soldiers go through in war (just from films, books, and what some of our warriors tell me...I don't know personally...I'm too chicken to go to war...). But when I heard that this father of a son that is in the Army had complained about the conditions at Fort Bragg, my first thought was "man, what a whining wuss!"
I was like "Come on...these are Soldiers...they are trained to live in tough conditions...how bad could it be for heavens' sake?"
After looking at this video I got softened up a bit on this deal. I love and appreciate our military men and women. I really do. But my experience with military housing is like the old Tom T. Hall line from the song Salute to a Switchblade... "the Army now has a new policy...if you can't move it, paint it...!" I grew up near, and have spent a good bit of time on a large military base. I have seen the living quarters of enlisted single men, enlisted family men, and military officers that are provided to them by the US military. I just have to believe that this is (let me get my word book...) an aberration.
As I thought about this thing, something came to mind. My Grandmother watched her husband (my beloved Granddaddy) go off to war after the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. She also said a "bye bye" to two of her brothers, and one brother-in-law not too many days after the attack...plus a bunch of classmates from her youth (I'm sure it was a tough time for everyone).
I remember Granddaddy telling me that every able bodied man he knew in the hamlet of Mooringsport, LA went down and joined up...even some old guys tried to enlist, but got sent back home. They had one child (my Mother) that was 4 years old at the time. I can't wrap my brain around the "hell" that everyone went through at home, and "over there." But I really never heard my Granddaddy, or my great uncles complain about conditions that they lived in either "in theater," or Stateside.
As a father of one son in the military, and one headed that way soon I can understand this fellow Frawley's passion. On the other hand, I think there is a better way to handle this kind of thing. I think that I would have had some third party put this up on the computer. If I had a son that was a Sergeant in the US Army, I wouldn't want him to be tagged as a "whiner." Now, the video doesn't really tag the young hero as a "whiner." But my understanding of male communal life is that nobody wants to look like a pansy. No man (especially a warrior) wants to be viewed by his fellows as a whining little baby.
These guys have been through the toughest of circumstances together_________(you fill in the blank).
Once again, I have no idea if Sgt. Frawley encouraged his Daddy to put this video up on the computer. My suspicion is that he did not. I learned about 10 years ago that you can really screw up as a father by trying to protect your children from hard circumstances, thus making them seem weak (a long story that I will not tell right now).
Well, the video is down below all of my ramblings. Then below the video I have put some pictures of the housing provided to my "enlisted, low-ranking" son and his wife by the US Air Force. I have been to their house, and I can tell you that the housing, the security, and the "free" price would be (let me get my word book...) enviable for any young couple. I have showered in one of their two bathrooms...put moving boxes in one of their three bedrooms...and stretched out in their more than "adequate" living room. I have met some of their wonderful, courageous neighbors that signed up for this military work.
Heck, the Mrs. and me didn't have nearly as good a place to live when we we started out!
Once again, I think this is a very isolated incident. It could use fixing for sure. But it is not a widespread problem.
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Don't cuss nobody out, okay?