Commentary: Collective use of 'we' in war

COLORADO SPRINGS, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Roger Hedgecock got my attention today. A retired history teacher from Long Island called the Rush Limbaugh Show substitute hosted by the San Diego talk-radio personality, and Hedgecock unloaded on him.

Then the man began dribbling how the United States must pursue a litany of diplomatic angles instead of waging war on Iraq. The man sounded foolish, and Roger pounced.

Nine out of 10 times, I tend to side with the conservative sway of political dialogue. Having spent most of my adult life in the United States Marine Corps, both as an enlisted man and as an officer, my attitudes developed a good deal of high-and-tight baggage. Discipline, uniformity, loyalty, duty, honor, country, God are as much a part of me as hair, teeth and eyes.

Thus when I find myself rubbed raw hearing conservative voices on radio and television waiving a bloody shirt, it comes not from any sort of liberalism. It regurgitates from a sour gut, Marine-combat-veteran attitude about who ought to have the right to voice the collective "We" when it comes to urging our nation into war.

While the school teacher from Long Island quaffed along, urging peaceful dialogue, Hedgecock parted from his usual placid self and hammered away.

Normally, Roger, much like Limbaugh, allows callers to have their say, and does not humiliate those who differ in opinion, but simply states his own view. So, I regard both as decent men who treat others with fairness, as opposed to Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who frequently acts obnoxiously toward people with whom he disagrees. Probably has more to do with ratings, anyway.

In this case, however, Roger Hedgecock let the retired pedagogue have it brutally hard. Perhaps deservedly. Clearly, the man had not kept pace with all the fruitless diplomatic efforts that have washed under the bridge for the past dozen years. Yet it was not so much the hammering that bothered me, but the legitimacy of the guy driving the nails. What right did Hedgecock have to say America ought to go to war in the first place?

My stomach has gnawed about this issue for several weeks, churning every time I hear Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Hedgecock and others from the many conservative radio and television programs waggle their sharpened swords, urging America into battle.

I may be wrong, but my feelings about this come from a deep and sensitive spot. It bothers me because I have been to war. I put on the uniform, and fulfilled my duty to my country. I have had enemy bullets shot at me, and I have seen young Americans die. I have stood, weeping above silver caskets with strips of masking tape bearing my brothers' names stuck to the foot of each box, and I helped to spread flags over them. I know first hand what it means for America to go to war.

Most of my friends also wore Marine Corps green, with the exception of a Navy SEAL here, a couple of Army strap hangers there, one British Royal Marine who still wears a kilt to formals, and three combat-veteran photojournalists, who also count high on my list. All of them went to war too. Many saw it with me. Without exception, we all agree about it too. We take great umbrage with anyone who would spend the life of any of our brothers and sisters without just cause, and the situation being the only choice that remained.

Why? Because we see Americas armed forces as more than a bunch of uniforms walking around, carrying rifles. We see the humanity that fill them. They are the sons and daughters of America, and we love them. They are also the future of this country. These selfless young men and women are the best of what we have to take charge of things tomorrow, when we old duffs are sitting on the porch watching our teeth soak. When I see a Marine standing tall in a desert-sand camouflage utility uniform, I see the face. It's Oppie Taylor from Mayberry. It's that You-go girl with the long brown locks in the Pepsi commercial.

They are the heart of America, and the reason why it makes my butt want to chew tobacco when I hear tough talking radio and television personalities using the collective "We" when they urge President Bush to spur his war horse into action.

Like most members of Congress and the Senate, these people who chatter on the airwaves, have never put on a military uniform in their lives.

With the exception of my fellow Marine Oliver North, I have yet to find any nationally heard political commentator, right or left, who ever served in the armed forces. I checked the biographies of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hedgecock, and Hannity. Nowhere did I find a reference of military service, active or reserve. If they did serve, they do not think enough of it to include it in any of their biographies.

While Hannity may have missed the Vietnam era because of his youth, he fills the bill for service in Beirut, Granada, Somalia and the Gulf War. Hedgecock, Limbaugh and O'Reilly are of my Vietnam War generation, and had eligibility for that conflict plus those other brush-fire actions.

Each of these men made the choice to turn his back on what many of us old fashioned conservatives consider an obligation of good citizenship: A duty of every American who enjoys the liberty and opportunity of this nation: Service to our country.

How can a man who enjoys the great wealth and freedom of America, knowing he gave nothing to the country for these blessings, look himself in the mirror? More significantly, how can this man who gave nothing, risked nothing, crow that his country should send into battle young men and women who stand ready to give their very lives? Where does this person find in himself the legitimacy to ask this of these precious souls?

That is why it grinds my gut when I hear these men broadcast on radio and television, "We have got to get off the dime and go kick Saddam's butt, now."

We?

My old journalism professor at Syracuse, John Mitchell, cautioned against using collective words, such as "We." It is dangerous, because it implies legitimacy, authority and obligation from the person uttering it. "We the People . . . ."

I say to O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hedgecock, Hannity, and all others like them haranguing for battle to put up or shut up. You guys had your chance to dress in a green suit and pick up a rifle for your country, and you passed on it. You chose to serve yourselves. Today you talk tough while reaping the wealth that this nation can give, and you never sacrificed a thing for this country, just for yourselves. In my opinion, you are no different than the man on the Titanic who put on a dress and climbed aboard a lifeboat. As such, you have no right to lead any call for my brothers and sisters in arms to go off to war.

Tell me I am wrong. Tell me how you earned your right. Show me your Combat Action Ribbon. I'll show you mine. I will tell you the names of my brothers who we zipped in black plastic bags, and sent home to heartsick families too.

War has a flavor that only those who have tasted it can understand or realize. The voices of those who have stood in battle should be the voices that finally resolve to send our brave warriors across a new line of departure. The voices heard regarding this grave matter should not be of those slackers who let other men valiantly carry their gunpowder while they hid safely at home.

(Charles Henderson, a retired Marine Corps warrant officer, was an instructor in sniper tactics. His book "Marine Sniper," which is about the life and career of Carlos Hathcock, is in its 41st paperback printing.)