i think the following video, or something like it should be required viewing for every american.

u.s. military gun camera video (parental discretion advised)

the host site implies the video is an indictment of u.s. soldiers but i think its more demonstrative of the fog of war.

the reason i think it is required viewing is that we are too detached from the wars our country wages. slapping a yellow magnetic ribbon on your car should not count for having done your part.

i don’t know how anyone with a loved one, be it a sibling, child, parent, or even friend could could watch this scene and not come away with the greatest reservations about going to war.

sample of the transcript:

16:49 Roger, I’ve got uh eleven Iraqi KIAs [Killed In Action]. One small child wounded. Over.
16:57 Roger. Ah damn. Oh well.
17:04 Roger, we need, we need a uh to evac [evacuate] this child. Ah, she’s got a uh, she’s got a wound to the belly.
17:10 I can’t do anything here. She needs to get evaced. Over.
17:18 Bushmaster Seven, Bushmaster Seven; this is Bushmaster Six Romeo.
17:20 We need your location over.
17:25 Roger, we’re at the location where Crazyhorse engaged the RPG fire break.
17:37 Grid five-four-five-eight.
17:46 Well it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.
17:48 That’s right.

words of wisdom from bill maher
real time with bill maher, 26 march 2010

i know what you’re saying “but bill, what do you know about raising kids, you don’t have any”

or to enter a kid in a beauty pageant or to be an alter boy.

at a crowded park, ethan attempted to draw my attention to another child by pointing at him.

when we got in the car to leave natalie and i started a thoughtful and considerate explanation about how pointing can hurt someone else’s feelings and that some families teach their kids to never point, and so on and so on…

at the end of our teaching moment, logan chimed in asking “what if some kid is stuck in a tree?”

last night on the flight home from arizona i nearly had to take away my ipod touch when logan started pounding her finger against the display in complete disregard of the subtleties of the highly sensitive apple touch interface.

i say nearly because while her behavior certainly warranted confiscation of the device, i was not about to deprive a manic, easter candy jacked four year old of her peter pan movie on a four and a half hour flight late at night…

our spring break in yosemite, it was sunny and seventy the day before…