I know, I
know, I have been back for almost a week and have left people hanging. Here is
the wrap-up from my last day at Fort Leavenworth.
After
checking out of the hotel and dropping my bags off at 7:30 a.m., I headed over
to the Command and General Staff College and the Lewis and Clark Center one
last time for an 8 a.m. interview with Major Nathan Trussoni, a La Crosse
native. To learn more about Major Trussoni, click http://bit.ly/R1loyy.
After that,
we had an opportunity to learn about what top-ranking military officials think
about the media, as we were granted the opportunity to interview Major General
Anthony A. Cucolo III, the commanding general at the U.S. Army War College.
Major Cucolo held no punches, answer our every question, from how he weighs the
privilege of free speech with the safety of deployed service men and women to
bridging the gap between perception and reality when it comes to the Army.
At one
point, the general said he asks journalists not to show the bodies of deceased
soldiers, as they try to protect the families of the dead. Stacey Cameron, a
fellow journalist questioned whether not showing the bodies of the fallen
actually hides the brutality of war from the public. I will admit, I did think
he made a good point. After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words. Typing up what
happened is one thing, but it is easy to read “23 soldiers killed in airstrike”
or a similar heading, another to see the bodies of the men and women who died
for our country. Words can desensitize us, a photo gets right up in your face.
However I
also understand the general’s concerns. I’d imagine that the last thing a loved
one would want is to see the face of their son, daughter, husband or wife
permanently imposed on the front page, for all the world to see.
One thing
that stuck with me was when General Cucolo said there is a way to show the
brutality of war without showing the dead. He mentioned a soldier, horribly
disfigured by fire and missing his ears. In spite of his appearance he was
speaking to a group of people, and everyone listened to him with rapt
attention, the sacrifice he made for his country plain on his face. As more and
more of our military population are returning home, some bear the marks of
their service: burns, missing limbs from IEDs, and some marks are below the
surface, invisible but there.
Our
nations’s military is strong, powerful and always ready to answer the call.
They suspend rights we take for granted to serve, and when duty calls they
answer without complaint, leaving behind their families and friends, some never
to return.
As the Year
of the Veteran wraps up, take a moment to think about everything you have, and
who is responsible for it. Our military answers to the Commander-in-Chief,
whoever is President of the U.S., but when service men and women enter into
service, they swear to uphold the Constitution. As such, they give up their
right to criticize the President, and instead back him 100 percent. The men and
women who choose to picket military funerals ironically are able to do so
because of our men and women in uniform and the freedom to assemble and freedom
of speech.
Over the
next couple weeks, I will be spending my free time compiling more and more
stories about my time at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Leonard Wood. There really
was a plethora of information shared with us, more than I could possibly write
in these shorter blogs or even in my newspaper. I have also started another
blog dedicated to military affairs, which can be found at www.wittrockra08ma.blogspot.com.
All my stories will be posted there as well, along with other military topics I
will be covering on my own. If interested, feel free to follow me.
To see the
first of two parts chronicling my time at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. and Fort
Leonard Wood, Mo., check out http://bit.ly/RgwVKE.
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