Willim M. Arkin Washington Post anti-milirary article

William M. Arkin of the Washington Post wrote an article with the subtitle of "The Troops Also Need to Support the American People." It was a really long article, otherwise I would have reproduced it here. Mr Arkin watched a news report in which some soliders were discussing how they felt some of the folks back home weren't supporting them. For instance:

First up was 21 year old junior enlisted man Tyler Johnson, whom Engel said was frustrated about war skepticism and thinks that critics "should come over and see what it's like firsthand before criticizing."

"You may support or say we support the troops, but, so you're not supporting what they do, what they're here sweating for, what we bleed for, what we die for. It just don't make sense to me," Johnson said.

These types of comments so upset Mr. Arkin that he said things like the following:

These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President's handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect.

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

America needs to ponder what it is we really owe those in uniform.

What it is we own them is a great deal of respect and thanks for doing what they do for us. Not slamming them like this.

The article allows comments... and there are quite a few. Pages and pages of them. Mostly in favor of the military. There are also a number of blogs talking about this. Many of them calling for this guy to be fired.

Many people are all for our troops and find it hard to believe there are those that don't. Here is a great example of how some on the left really feel.