Maybe we all need a little sleep

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Union Soldiers were originally signed up for a 90-day enlistment. They mustered out of cities, counties and states and marched or sailed toward Washington, practicing drill and ceremony when they could. The mid-19th century Army depended on drill and ceremony much more than we do now; intricate battlefield maneuvers required moving masses of Soldiers to face threats from the flanks or rear in such a precise way as to mitigate an enemy threat from an direction without losing the integrity of the formation. Such movement required sick marching skills which could only be perfected by hours of rote memorization... the noted Civil War historian David J. Eicher contends in his book The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War that such intricate marching and counter-marching was not perfected by any Army until mid 1863, two full years after the war began. Simply put, fighting a Napoleon-era battle was tough.

Plus you need to account for the drummers... stupid drummers

(Wow. Sounded like a teacher there. I apologize and will redeem myself by making a fart joke later on. If I can work it in).


Why do I bring this up? Because the defeat of the Union Army at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861 was due in large part to the Army being horribly unprepared for war. They had been Soldiers less than three months and were just getting rifles issued to them. Their inexperience was due largely to the fact that Soldiers who had signed up for 90 days in early May, when the first calls went out, were due to return home. They needed a fight, so the Union Army marched on Richmond, met an equally confused and ill-trained Confederate Army, and were beaten. The Confederate Soldiers were signed on for the duration of the war and thus could wait. The Union Soldiers were not, were rushed into battle, and suffered the consequences. The government responded by calling for 3-year volunteers and then for volunteers for the duration of the war. The rest, they say, is history. Doughboys in World War I and GIs in World War II signed up for the duration of the war: they'd either come home victorious or in a casket, and by and large were resigned to their fate. A whole lot of Soldiers who fought through Africa and then through Europe came home "three-stripers," so called because they'd spent 18 months overseas (one inch-long stripe on the left cuff of the dress uniform is six months deployed... so three stripes is 18 months deployed... get it?). But these Soldiers returned different from what they had been when they left. Spending that much time in near-constant contact with the enemy, apparently, had a number of horrible effects.


Not six years after V-J Day, the Korean War erupted, and the government - and US Military - decided that one-year tours were the best option. Soldiers not named Elvis Presley would be drafted, spend time training in the States, and deploy to Korea - and later Vietnam and even to Iraq and Afghanistan - for one year before finishing their enlistment. Early on, some Soldiers, who opted for a career in the Army, might return for another year. But a year was the longest that was allowed for a Soldier to remain deployed. With the abolition of the draft in 1969, and the advancement of the "professional" Army through the 1970s and 1980s, Soldiers realized that if their obligation to the Army meant multiple one-year deployments, well, so be it.

What's that say? Oh right: "Elvis you are too precious to waste your hip-swinging talent fighting the Reds"

I bring all this up for one very specific reason. We complain about being tired of fighting this war and strained by the effects of multiple deployments on families and marriages. We are. At one point it was a sight to see a three-striper still in the Army: it meant this Soldier had volunteered to go on multiple year-long deployments. That just didn't happen. But now it does. As rare as a three-striper was in 1994, the rarer sight is someone with only one or two stripes. Aaron's platoon sergeant, after this deployment, will have nine stripes... and he has been in the Army a mere 11 years. My platoon sergeant is on his fourth tour abroad. Most of my soldiers will return with four stripes or more on their arm. This is a whole lot. American military families are paying a massive price for eight years of war and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.


But what about Iraqis?


Lets remember that they have been fighting alongside us for the same eight years with one notable exception: they do not get a break. The commander I spoke with today mentioned that he rarely had slept more than four hours a night... since 2003. He simply had too much work to do patching together his country. Not that he was upset or at all complaining. Part of it was the energy drinks I had brought him - I have found it gets them talking. But there was another, deeper part: here was a very proud man who ought to be retired, living out his golden years in the service of his country. It's not sad, it's damn noble. He does not need to do it, but he realized he has a duty and thus must fulfill said duty. I understand that we are deploying away from family and friends, but we are taken care of here in a way that eases the transition to and from Iraq. And I further understand that the Iraqis are fighting to protect their homeland - and maybe are fighting mere miles from their home. But they have a job to do and most of the time it does not involve seeing their son's soccer game or walking their daughter to school. They are a proud people who are ready to take a break from eight years of combat and set to work fixing their country to ensure their kids will not have to fight the same eight years because they screwed up.


Oh right. Beans beans the magical fruit; the more you eat the more you toot blah blah blah blah. Fart joke. Done and done.