Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Thursday, Sep. 04, 2008

Recruiting should show true nature of war

A surprising number of letters have appeared weighing in on the Army's presence at the Northwest Washington Fair. While I believe that this presence was much too loud and intrusive - this is a county fair, after all, not a Pentagon fair - none have voiced the most poignant argument against the Army's participation, which I believe is notably its shameless misrepresentation of itself.

Even the most ardent far-right military apologists of the Lynden community, and I assume there are more than a few, would think twice if they were met at the fair by a few of the thousands of maimed, disabled, emotionally hollow soldiers that have returned home from the Iraq debacle.

I believe the Army is representing itself as a variation of eHarmony meets Arnold Swarzenegger (meet babes, be cool). It is clear the Army doesn't want to recognize the nagging inconvenience that war is messy. The romance of "Army strong!" would be sucked out of the atmosphere if potential recruits understood the implications of a life without a limb. Or two limbs. Or no life at all.