Who Will Write OUR Soldiers' Songs?

WhenTheFlagWavingStops
SolaceVille


Dave, a guy who knows a thing or two about such matters, just wrote a post about how folks in Australia are suddenly becoming aware of just how dangerous their contribution to the mission in Afghanistan is becoming.

And with that awareness has come an increased questioning of the validity and the value of said 'mission'.

All of which has parallels with a different mission that Australia became heavily involved in almost two generations ago now.

In Vietnam.

Here's Dave:

(T)he question of involvement in Vietnam had less to do with the unstable Diem government at the time and more to do with an opportunity to lever the United States into a position favourable to Australia in the future.

Countries do that. I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine when an itch develops. Mutual alliance.

Unfortunately, Australia's Vietnam history runs close to parallel with that the of U.S. in the same period, including resorting to conscription to fill army ranks and jailing protesters opposed to the war.

But it was the fact that Australia's primary reason for entry into Vietnam had little to do with Vietnam itself. It was to elicit a form of guarantee that Australia could demand U.S. military and political favour, quickly and without question, should the need ever arise. As ugly as it sounds, the Australian government was prepared to, and did, shed the blood of its own people in a conflict in which they had less than serious interest to enhance the relationship with the United States, gain a position under the U.S. military umbrella and develop a level of influence.

It struck me that perhaps a similarity exists now with Canada's involvement in Afghanistan.

That Harper is trying to gain leverage with the Bush administration......


Now, that last point is something we are bound to debate over and over and over and over again during the coming weeks, months and likely even years.

And regardless the consensus (or not) that is ultimately reached, our soldiers are eventually going to come home after they've done their best to contribute to 'our' mission in Afghanistan.

And when the flag waving stops some of those folks are going to need something more than political debating points and/or long forgotten dockside guarantees to get them through those days and nights when they're having a rough go of it.

Something like, maybe, this......




So, who's gonna write the Canadian version of Khe Sanh for our kids who have served in Kandahar?

I dunno.

But I hope to hear it soon.

OK?



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Here's a weird anecdote.....Recently, I was at a 'Pacific-Rim' science geek conference that had researchers from both sides of the Pacific, top to bottom. The conference was at a reasonably nearby Lotuslandian mountain hideaway so I drove the VW (notso)Microbus there, which meant I had the guitar. And on a couple of nights a bunch of us sat around in the woods goofing around with the box. Heckfire, I even managed to put together a halfway decent rendition of this, which led to all manner of hooting, hollering and footstomping from the Australian contingent (who were great fun by the way - and good scientists too, hardly really geekish at all). But the Aussies were not satisfied - nearly every single one of them, young/old/man/woman, wanted Khe Sanh. Unfortunately, I didn't have it tabbed at the time (but I sure do now).


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