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...

(C) 2001 Rubicon Inc. and Berkley Books Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces , the seventh and final entry in Tom Clancy's nonfiction Guided Tour series about America's armed forces, sets its sights on the shadowy -- and often misunderstood -- roles and missions of the men the author calls "the quiet professionals" of the Army's Special Forces command. They are sent to the world's hot spots-on covert missions fraught with danger. They are called on to perform at the peak of their physical and mental capabilities, primed for combat and surveillance, yet ready to pitch in with disaster relief operations. They are the Army's Special Forces Groups. Now follow Tom Clancy as he delves into the training and tools, missions and mindset of these elite operatives. Special Forces includes: The making of Special Forces personnel: recruitment and training A rare look at actual Special Forces Group deployment Exercises Tools of...