| June 17, 2005 Alaskan in Exile by Neil Zawicki If I can trust the news-monitoring console in the exile bunker, then it seems some American marines got hold of some private contractor security guards in Iraq. These were American contractors, making ten times what the American service members make. Naturally, there is some animosity, and the contractors were treated like the enemy. If I was a marine over there, taking fire every day, in the dirt, witnessing inhumanity, with no genuine idea of when I would be able to go home, and I ran across one of these swank, pampered, obscenely paid mercenaries, I’d probably let out a little frustration as well. Think of it. What do these contractors say about “service above self” and all the other hooah hooah rhetoric the military espouses? How can a soldier feel good about what he’s doing when there’s some Rolex wearing hotshot with his own personal MP5 riding around in an air-conditioned Halliburton SUV, pulling as much money as a congressman, doing practically the same job? It’s probably reasonable to assume that these contractors live a little better than the regular troops. It was telling that one of the contractors, when describing his ordeal as a prisoner of the marines, said he was fed, “bad food, like they give to Iraqi prisoners.” Bad food? He went through all that, and rather than look at the idea that his capture by angry Americans is a symptom of the bizarre and lopsided policies in Iraq, he focuses on the food? No kidding. I’m with the marines on this one. In fact, picky eaters are the insult to humanity. There are people in the world that feel lucky to find a dead rat or some rotting dates, but here we complain if our cheese isn’t melted enough. It’s disgusting. “The marines captured me and roughed me up and the food was bad.” What? And what are these security guards guarding? The efforts of the corporations they defend have yielded nothing in the way of real progress in the rebuilding of Iraq. And anyway, a lot of the time, regular American troops are used as cheap labor for these corporations. The Romans paid their soldiers in salt, which was a valuable and tradable commodity. But the Romans didn’t send hired swords out to the fringes of their empire and pay them ten times the salt they paid their troops. In fact, I think our military should go on strike. Service members worldwide should walk off the job and demand a starting salary of $42,000 per year, and only the best honey-baked ham in every mess hall. After all, we’re American, and so require the most competitive salaries and the best food money can buy. Neil Zawicki, exiled Alaskan, is Editor at Large for Insurgent49, a former reporter for the Alaska Star, and winner of the Alaska Press Club's 'Best Columnist' award. He is now living out the rest of his days in an undisclosed location in Oregon. He can be contacted at - neil@insurgent49.com |
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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