"Man you are really passionate about this stuff...and let me tell you, what you are telling me, we do not get that over there, we don't hear about it over there." - Matt, an Iraq War Veteran I met at the Day the Music Never Died Festival in Buckhead, GA; he's scheduled to redeploy to Iraq in four months.
I remember getting flack about putting my voice about the Iraq War on paper for all to see, saying that it may not be the best thing to do, that it could turn some people off to my music. And while I have been vocal on this issue with my friends and fellow fans, for a time I followed that notion.
Not anymore. Not after my conversation with Matt at last weekend's Celebration Day Festival.
Matt was an Iraq veteran hanging out with a few friends in the N. Georgia area, and our encounter together no doubt made a change in both of us. For me it was a radicalization of my passion I have against this war; for him, it was an acknowledgment that those of us who are against this thing are not against the folks in uniform like him and only want to bring him and the rest of his military family home.
It was amazing to hear from guys like him that they do not hear this side of the argument that much, that there are people like me who are so against this military debacle and yet are not against them in particular. A fair amount of our brave men and women in uniform over there think that those of us who are against this war are against them and it's pissed them off at times. It kind of reminds me of Novic in Born on the Fourth of July who sees people burn the American flag and takes it as a personal insult.
But Matt was told in so many words that that is not the case these days. There are a few that are bad apples in a sea of ripe, healthy fruits that can make the military seem bad, but we who are against this war are not blasting them and their work. Matt made it clear to me that they are dodging bullets left and right over there, trying to survive, and that's all they care about. Forget WMDs and all that bullshit, over there, their one job is to protect each other and be on guard at all times. They don't have time to fret over the political decisions of this war when they are busy avoiding roadside bombs and snipers. It was clear to me that Matt would relay my information to this fellow brothers in arms when he returns to Iraq by the end of the year so that they know that there are guys like me and others that are fighting to try to bring him and his platoon home.
Matt and I became good friends backstage at the fest, hanging out, watching the music. And I remember watching the headliners of the evening, Herring/Rodgers/Sipe, and was flat out blown away by their musicianship and music they were creating. I was sitting down with Matt and I told him that that is what his service to this nation has given guys like us - the freedom to be able to watch such incredible art being created, and the freedom those artists have on stage creating it.
And I think it is those little things that we fail to tell our fellow brothers and sisters in the military. They leave behind their families, their jobs, their ways of life, for a cause that so many of us never fully understand. They need to be told how much their sacrifice has given to all of us, now more than ever. Men like Matt are coming home battered, bruised, maimed, scarred for life, and they wonder what the hell they were fighting for. The next time you go to a music festival, think about these men and women who wonder what they were fighting for, and know that where you are, what you doing, who you are hanging with is what they were fighting for.
Because lord knows they won't get any such kind of genuine thanks from those that sent them for weapons that never existed, for geographical politics, for oil, for greed, for sheer hubris. That is what this war in Iraq is about, and if you can't see that for any of these reasons I listed, then you and Barbara "why should I waste my beautiful mind on that" Bush should have cake together. This war was not planned well from the start, was not handled well over the last few years, and doesn't look like it will be handled any better over the forseeable future. Stay the course? We have stayed the course for three years now, and it is getting worse. Our men and women in uniform do not deserve to be led by such cowards, like our president, who either refuse to see the gravity of the situation there or cannot make a hard choice for the sake of our military and our country. Our military gave up so much to defend this nation, and our elected officials cannot even come up with a partial solution to this mess in Iraq lest it makes them give up a career in politics or a hold onto power? The hard sacrifice of these brave men and women in the military piss on their name and elected office.
It was my time with Matt that really pushed my feelings about this war to the hilt, and now I don't care if it costs me gigs, work or what have you. I'd rather have it cost me work than my soul and the life of my cousin who will likely be shipped to Iraq within the next months. If it costs me work to say "this war fuckin' sucks and we need to get our troops home now!", then so be it. I am thankful for the chance to live my dream (how many of the 6+ billion people in this world can actually say that?), and I will no longer hold back my ideas, thoughts and art for the fear of not having work.
Some may say it's a shame that I can't work with Tony because of what he said here, and I say it's a shame that Army Sgt. Amanda Pinson, age 21, won't see her family and loved ones ever again; like her family gives a damn about whether I work with this guy or not. Folks like Matt have been luckier than folks like Amanda, luckier than Tammy Duckworth who lost both her legs in Iraq, and having met him, and knowing that my cousin will soon be deployed over there too, I just can no longer feel right by not talking about this war. I for one don't know what the right course is, and it's so fucked up now that there may not be a right course. But to do nothing or to remain silent would be to trash upon the very things that our men and women, like Matt, have fought, bleed, and (for some) died for. Artists like myself are not supposed to remain silent, much less give a damn if someone is offended by what we paint, write, or say. Given that, I, and my art, will no longer be silent, and I hope either through my art or some other form of public service I can help do something to make right what so many have made wrong, and permanently bring back our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and cousins home.