A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

A few thoughts, if I may: American military personnel do not fight for the flag of the United States of America. They might express reverence for it as a symbol of the nation they swore an oath to protect, preserve, and defend, but they don’t consciously fight for the flag  per se.  That conservative extremists have hijacked the notion that our troops fight for the flag is undeniable. And perhaps the rawest, most naive recruits may believe that they joined the military to defend the flag, but that’s a bill of goods that they’ve been sold. If anything is true about the men and who fight and die, or suffer wounds, or are captured while serving their country, it is this: They don’t consciously fight for a flag. They don’t go to battle thinking, “This is for Mom, Dad, apple pie, or democracy.” They are too scared, too caught up in the horrors of war to be thinking  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. John McCain suffered severe injuries during the Vietnam War, fi...