Why all the drama?

The reason I started this blog was to bring positive attention to our military.  Today I went into Google News and typed in "US Military." My reasoning behind this blog was, unforunately, further confirmed.

Instead of news headlines reading, "US Navy ship returns home after successful deployment" or "US Marines make progress in helping Iraqis" or "US military continuing to risk their lives everyday for US civilian strangers," two headlines appeared:

"Rogue US army unit leader saw Afghans as savages" and "US Army private gets 10-year jail term for raping S. Korean"

I understand that journalism has gone downhill from strictly stating the news to sensationalizing the news (and picking which news story has the most drama, might I add).  But in a country where our current society was built by the men and women who sacrificed so much during WWII, and a society that claims to be sadden and bitter about the Iraq war ever having been started, why is the news of rape and killing within the military our only headline military news?  Is that really the only connection we want with our heroes?

I'm not saying we should ignore the unforunate bad acts some of our soldiers choose to engage in.  But, if we couldn't put "US Soldier..." in front of the story, would we make it that big of news?  Would it have the drama element newsmen are seeking?  No. Is every fight, every sexual assault headline news? No, they're not.

We can easily judge someone from afar when we haven't had to spend a day living the life they lead.  I'm not saying anyone has an excuse for rape or murder, but when you think of the horror that our soldiers see when they're serving overseas, how can we expect them to stay completely mentally happy and healthy? 

Everyday I wake up and I expect the same thing: My house is still standing. My husband is alive and well next to me. My vehicle won't get blown up or attacked. I won't see any murders on my way to work. There will be decent food and clean water for me to drink anywhere I go for lunch and at the end of the day, my comfortable bed will still be waiting for me, in my house that is of course, still standing.

I'd like to think in any situation I'd always make the right choice, but the reality is, haven't we all made a choice we wish we could take back?  Haven't we all hurt someone, whether on purpose or not?  Haven't we all felt so stressed we may have said out in anger, "Ugh I could just kill him!"  We all have.

If we take ourselves off our own personal pedastles for awhile, we may see that the life of a soldier is unimaginable unless we've walked a mile in his/her combat boots.

So the next time you see a negative headline about a soldier, don't think, "Oh, that's what our money is being spent on, soldiers hurting other people?" Instead, think, "I wish those soldiers received more help for their PTSD.  I wish they didn't have to be gone from their families for so long.  I wish they didn't have to see anger and hurt and pain every single day."  And, of course, "I wish I knew about all the good things they're accomplished thus far."

God bless!