Chaos Tamer
Reflections on a blog post:
These are the stories of US combat veterans. Powerful stuff. Stuff that resonates deeply with me, a vet, but not a combat one. These are stories that every citizen should read and consider before we blithely send our youth to war.
Once, I was a sailor, young and foolish.
Looking back I’m truly stunned at what I operated, and the responsibility in my hands. Mistakes had truly life and death ramifications, and I hadn’t no sense of the seriousness.
Everything from nuclear power-plants, torpedoes, big-assed firearms, weapons of all stripes including nukes, operated and maintained, mostly, by teenagers and youngish adults.
I read a post recently that reminded me of my time in the service. And, really, for the first time seriously considering what the heck was going on while I was a young man.
To be honest, there are times that these thoughts terrify me. And yet, I remember back, back to the youthful poor decisions, impulsive and rash actions; through all of it, we managed to be serious enough about our responsibilities that no one was hurt.
Perhaps I, too, don’t take the capabilities of youth seriously. Especially my own.