ONE PFC’S INTERNATIONAL OPINION: NATO

As an Army veteran from the mid-1970’s I’ve had time to work up an international opinion on NATO.

Reading history is one thing; reading history after wearing the uniform is a whole nother level.

Racing up the promotional ranks to the heights of private first class brings it home.

The low ranks are the gravel in the street the big guys in the picture walk on.

All set? Now what about that NATO?

From the end of WWII through the end of the Cold War, NATO’s job has been to take a stand against any country making war on a member nation.

It’s a lofty goal that’s been upheld from the first hot war after WWII, which was the Korean War, through Afghanistan.

 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in the aftermath of World War II, as an attempt to establish collective defenses against emerging Cold War threats from the Soviet Union and its allies. Five Northern European nations (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the UK) began the process with the March 1948 Treaty of Brussels, and then brought their alliance to the United States and its Secretary of State George C. Marshall. With Marshall’s guidance those six nations, joined by Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, signed the April 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, officially forming NATO.

Yet the Cold War of course extended far beyond the North Atlantic worlds, and NATO likewise was not limited to that sphere of influence. Indeed, it was in response to a Southeast Asian military conflict that began the following year, the Korean War, that NATO truly began to develop its international military forces and strategies, reflecting interconnections between these regions and issues that remain vital to this day.

 

Historical Adjustments

The current theme running through eight decades of custom and tradition is questioning the need for American military bases around the world.

Why all of the military bases around the world?

As a writer going into my seventh decade, I’ll venture an answer.

See the people in this image, the men in white hats standing behind the German veterans of WWII?

Those sitting will soon find their consequences for being good soldiers and following orders.

For some it’s at the end of a hangman’s knot.

For others it’s a prison sentence.

For the nose picker in the blue jacket it’s a pill.

These boys ran a war into the ground, brought their own nation to ruin, and needed to answer for their bad deeds.

On top of taking military advice from a one-time corporal, they also were condemned for allowing the Holocaust to progress under orders from the same former corporal.

For their role in war crimes, they stood trial and faced the verdict.

In classic blogger style, there’s a few other reasons for U.S. bases around the world, particularly in Germany and Japan.

 

A Psychic Break From Civilization

During WWII both Japan and Germany had national leaders elevated to god-like status.

We had Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and MacArthur.

With Hittsie and Hirohito, both Germany and Japan turned to savagery with indiscriminate killing and death marches and death camps.

With the Japanese rape of Nanking, Singapore, and Manilla balancing the gruesome history of German ditch massacres and gas chambers, these once civilized nations showed how to drive a population into accepting their actions, or else.

Could it happen there again?

Military bases, regardless of service, act as watchdogs.

In a similar vein, the American idea of providing assistance in food and medicine to under developed nations around the world is a way to keep emerging leaders making unfounded promises of a better life from expanding their power and driving their nations to similar ruin.

All it takes is another shit-faced motherfucker to deceive enough morons into thinking they have all the answers.

As a moronic former private first class, I feel left out.

Why can’t I find comfort in the words of American leaders who sound like they’re channeling their inner-Saddam Hussein with promises of delivering the most devastating attacks the world has ever seen in the mother of all battles?

Because I like promises of helping people attain their goals better.

I like promises of helping people understand what goals are even more.

If you can convince yourself to follow in the footsteps of men who suck-up and kiss ass to prove their competency, instead of men who serve and learn what’s needed for them to do their jobs, you end up with confusion and disorder.

Where does confusion and disorder lead? To more confusion and disorder.

 

PS:

When something walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might be a duck.

 

PSS:

When the duck says, “Hey, I’m no duck, I’m a big, beautiful swan. Don’t believe what your eyes perceive,” you have a choice.

Believe what you see, or what they say.

Or ignore the whole thing, throw your hands up because you’re not ‘political,’ and pout that it’s even brought up.

Who’s a big pouter? I am.

I suspend my disbelief when I go into a dark movie theater for the big show, not while I’m filling out a ballot.

Take a good look in the mirror and imagine a former Pfc giving you advice on how to behave.

What’s next, a draft dodger pushing war?