Not much has changed in the military training system for many years but complaining about military bunk bed and children of war seemed inappropriate
How I looked forward to doing my military GI training, all those movies of Rambo and Full Metal Jacket, making friends in the barracks in military bunk beds and the excitment of conquering the infamous training circuits and obstacle courses. However when I actually finished my training i can honestly say it was a lot tougher than the movies showed! It appeared to me that not much has changed in the military training system for many years but complaining about issues such as no safety side rails on the top compartment of a military bunk bed which would stop you tumbling out in your sleep was not appropriate; you just get on with it!
Probably the most disturbing factor was that soldiers never received any training for what I thought (and still think) was a major factor in the psycological affects that can be experienced during real warfare. It is not unfair to say that a man’s state of mind changes when engaging in a conflict; sometimes sent to far reaches of the world we were only given basic information on the regions culture and back round. Your training prepares you for all sorts of situations including of course decisions to shoot or not to shoot another human being. Some of the lads were fresh out of college and very young with little or no life experience, in my opinion not only should the rules of engagement be learned but also the preperation for the psycological trauma that can derive from conflicts, especially in civillian society.
I most cases, the military is sent in to irradicate an oppressor or act to police a civillian society, these societies have a civilian population of course often with women and children.
While some country leaders play tin soldiers or seduced by power there are victims of their selfish games, sometimes the look of thankfullness on the families faces when we arrive like the freedom fighters or saviours or to offer them food and medical attention makes it all worth while! However, my training never prepared me deep enough to deal with my own psycological staus when coming face to face with the vunerability of children in war zones; I wanted to collect every woman and child and ship them to safety! Of course this was impossible but my future is now set and my new goal in this part of my life is to create an awareness of the sad truth, the war child.
We have many awareness days throught the Western world calendar, In my opinion we should have a day of awareness for the war child!
