There’s
always supposed to be a formal time and date to cease hostilities between
opposing forces. There’s always supposed
to be a treat or formalized agreement signed by dignitaries who know that the
life span of that document will be somewhat less than the time required for all
signers to travel home.
There are
always changes in borders defining which combatants now control which bits of
terrain, unless one combatant happens to be Israel. Of course, many of the problems in today’s
middle eastern wars stem from the final actions of the allies as WWI ended and
the old empires were carved up and handed around as bonuses to the Allies who defeated the Central Powers.
WWI ended
with the loss of millions of soldiers as the methods of slaughter were improved
by industrial design. The battle field
became more lethal than anyone could have imagined but the use of maneuver
units remained based upon methods dating back to the earliest recorded
conflicts.
WWII followed
on quickly as the technology of mass murder evolved into methods of killing
that were truly apocalyptic in efficiency and hellish in nature. As always, WWII ended with the declaration
that future wars would now be impossible, as no people or nation wished to
bring about so much death and horror into the world.
We rapidly
discovered that such hopes had no foundation in reality. We’ve failed to enjoy a decade that was not
marked by wars in some manner.
There’s no
reason to believe that the future will be any less brutal. We’re ramping up to recycle the war in
Iraq.
There have
always been the thin red line, the long gray line, historic combat units
tracing their histories back to some war, some land seizure, some national
insult, religious intolerance, or any other event that one can imagine.
I’ve played
my part in this eternal game. I’m among
the luckier participants. I left the
game with all the moving parts intact.
The injuries I received were less visible and less audible.
Today,
Veteran’s day, remembrance day, what ever name you know it by, once again
honors the fallen and advances that slight hope that the next time we hear the
guns fall silent, they will truly remain silent.
