What About the Families?

To be perfectly honest, I have not gone out of my way to learn more about what is going on over in Iraq and Afghanistan. It not a matter of disregard for my country, it’s a matter of not being able to change the fact that we’re over there.

Since the presidential campaign dominates the current media outlets, the candidates opinions are the basis of my own personal opinions on the media of the war. Democrats want out, Republicans want to stay. I find the media coverage specifically highlighting the politicians is dry and boring. I have absolutely no interest in sitting in front of the TV listening to a 30 minute speech about why or why not we should be in Iraq and Afghanistan. I understand that there are not many alternatives, but a schmoozing speech with eloquent words and phrases is not necessary. I would love to watch a five-minute talk where a candidate says “I want this, because of this, and I think this should happen, and this is why.” Quick, simple, and to the point. But that’s not what American politics are like today. Democrats and Republicans automatically have a bias; whether our current candidates hold true to the traditional labels, another debate is in order. Bottom line is that the media coverage on either side of the political spectrum will definitely have bias. Another aspect to political side of the media is it fails to delve into the personal and human aspect to war. These politicians give extravagant and promising speeches about pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan or pulling through to victory, but they leave out the families who have been and still are being affected.

I have had one family member deployed to Iraq; my uncle is a marine. He was on reserve and was called into duty. It was a long eight months when he was over there, but even then I didn’t pay attention to the news or the reports of what was happening over there. All I really cared about was the weekly phone call from my aunt that filled us in on his location and safety. Over the five years that the United States have been at war, I can recall only a few times I had current knowledge of what was going on. All of these times were for school assignments. While they are interesting and compelling assignments, I find that afterwards I did not care to research or stay current with events.