Contrary to what some of you may think, John, my Marine corporal son, rarely speaks to me of his time in Iraq. Despite his knowing that I have an unquenchable thirst to know every detail of his life in Ramadi, he talks about Iraq only as an aside to something else. It takes careful, time consuming and all too often fruitless effort on my part to extract the smallest morsel of information. Still, each time I speak to him I learn just a little more. One of these nuggets, a small piece that adds some texture to my murky vision of his daily life in Iraq was the sign on the gate post they passed whenever they went on patrol. ‘Complacency Kills‘
The truth of this oft repeated Marine mantra is constantly retested and confirmed during times of combat. Complacency had dire consequences on several of the young men in my son’s company.
The vicinity of an observation post overlooking an entry route into John’s camp had been the location of several IED attacks. The number of and the proximity of the devices to the post indicated something was wrong. Late one night, while returning from a mission, John and his squad decided to look into the problem. Looking for a heat signature they scanned the post with a scope and saw nothing. No one was manning the post.
An IED placed in full view of this post had earlier cost one 19 year old Marine an eye and a leg. John tells me when they crept up to see what was wrong they found the lookouts watching DVD’s. The men, reservists, were reported to their commander and presumably dealt with accordingly, (if not officially then certainly unofficially).
The reason for mentioning their reserve status is not to cast a cloud on our reserve force but to illustrate the difference in how seriously any of us take the term ‘complacency kills’, when it isn’t our own life that might end. In John’s area of operation, reservists were not ‘sent out’ into combat and these men, at least, were complacent about the dangers that confronted the active duty Marines.
Congress has an obligation in time of war to advocate for our troops. They are required to ensure that a battle plan is viable and can be executed with the highest possible safety for our troops. They must define the goals of the battle and assess whether the value of these goals exceeds the value of the lives lost.
To date, Congress has not done this. Jack Murtha has tried to kick start the process but members of Congress seem to be holding off, awaiting, nervously, anxiously the December 15, election results in Iraq. Perhaps they expect the results may spare them having to do anything or to take a stand. Afterall, it is only a few more days, just a few more lives.
They are using the Iraqi elections as an excuse to be complacent.
When December 15 comes and goes in the next few days, what then? Will they watch just one more DVD? Await one more political deadline? Allow just a few more Marines and soldiers to die? Just a handful to die?
Many will do just that unless you write to them and demand that they fulfill their obligations to the men and women fighting in Iraq. Complacency kills. Public complacency is killing our troops
Thank you for your kind comments, I hope your Marine is okay, please let = me know. What company and battalion was he in? He sounds like he was in = Iraq the same time as my son.
I hope we talk again, soon.
Mary-
Although every mother’s experience is different, you have captured the essense of what is like to be a Marine Mom. I too have a Marine, twice deployed to Iraq, wounded by an IED in August 2004. I’m sure were we ever to talk, we would have many common emotions/experiences to share. Thank you for articulating to the world what we are going through.