November 4, 2016

Dear President,

One of the biggest problems I seem to hear about and witness most is an issue involving soldiers overseas. Yes most of the time there’s an excuse like “Where in war against terrorism. Which really isn’t an excuse, it’s quite a well known fact, but terrorism is something you can’t be rid of. Kind’ve like military conflict, it’ll always be there something will happen that not everyone agrees on, but choice is a matter of conflict in military situations as well technically they already made the choice to be there when they’re needed but what about choice for special circumstances, their families, thoughts and all of that.

In what you’re about to read you’ll see examples of many people being able to make the ‘right’ choice as many politicians would call it. They give up everything because it’s the right thing to do, but being out over in the bases living in constant preparation it really affects how they could come back into modern society. The uses of whatever branch of the armed forces they were in fluctuated depending on what the government deemed as american interests, and most of our presidents say they will address their complaints and problems, but no all they get is a bare mention by him and a few politicians. What we need is to at least be able to somewhat believe that there’s some choice for the people protecting our country to be able to come home when they need to.

It’s mentioned that many soldiers have a hard time because they don’t know how to handle being so far away. Well for the people mentioned in the article “Those With Multiple Tours Overseas Struggle at Home” it’s more complicated once they get back. The article states “An analysis of Army data shows that, unlike most of the military, these soldiers’ risk of committing suicide actually drops when they are deployed and soars after they return home. For the 85 percent of soldiers who make up the rest of the service and were deployed, the reverse is true.” Throughout the rest of the article it goes back to a point, these few people thrived while they were out there, they willingly did the extra tours and once they came home they had to shut everything down some had supporting family and friends to help them get through it, others weren’t so lucky. What I’m saying is that overall there are many people willing to stay out there extended tours don’t have to be forced.

One of the only points I’m really trying to get across is that we need to think of the people in the military. In reality public opinion means nothing if no one in the armed forces gets a thought from us, not just a bare mention of their existence. In the article “The Tragedy of the American Military” it states “Most Americans were familiar enough with the military to respect it while being sharply aware of its shortcomings, as they were with the school system, their religion, and other important and fallible institutions.” It doesn’t show one bit of real humanity as though the military is just another group that just has respect rather than earns it. The article starts with a section about Obama’s speech that was supposedly going to address issues in Iraq but what had happened was he mentioned a few armed forces branches and then talks about sacrifices they made like in every other speech about armed force problems, yet the worst part there was no real problem fix mentioned if so nobody could find it in the politician talk that sounds the same through any voice. Choice isn’t there if you don’t listen in the first place let them know they are thought of they exist. The president is suppose to be our voice. Show your countries concern for their military.

The military is used for whatever the government seems to deem most important, which is part of the reason they should be able to at least have the illusion of choice in the matter. As Caspar Weinberger Secretary of Defense states “National power has many components, some tangible, like economic wealth, technical pre-eminence. Other components are intangible -- such as moral force, or strong national will. Military forces, when they are strong and ready and modern, are a credible -- and tangible -- addition to a nation's power. When both the intangible national will and those forces are forged into one instrument, national power becomes effective,” now before this he mentions how important it is to have a well informed nation and how he wants to answer the question “Under what circumstances, and by what means, does a great democracy such as ours reach the painful decision that the use of military force is necessary to protect our interests or to carry out our national policy?” well this helps us first understand that the government is trying to find some middle ground with the cards they’re dealt and it’s amazing I was able to find this in the first place since most people assume that the governments really secretive. Anyway he mentions that they have to determine how to do these actions and keep the peace, but he still makes sure to mention the military itself that they need to find an overall least risky way to protect interests while keeping up the peace. So in a way choice is out of the question as of now.

In all honesty politicians tend to blow things way out of proportion. The biggest issue is that the military is being used and none of the members get to know what is happening or get a choice in when they get to help home by being there. The president actually needs to help the situation not just mention it. It doesn’t matter if we really care or just feel guilty for not looking into this matter, what matters is informing people what their job is exactly requiring at the moment.

What might help is believing there’s a choice in the matter or at least believe that they aren’t forgotten. Actually remember that they have a place in society. Provide support to anyone who needs it, and actually provide answer as to how you’re going to help the military, don’t just bare mention them. Help them if you can’t provide them choice help them.

SIncerely,

Thomas Scott