This morning, I read an article from the Boston Globe, about the impossible position that military commanders have been put into is illustrated poignantly by Tyler Boudreau, a former Marine captain.
In Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus must pass through the narrow strait that is guarded by two monsters.
As Homer sang:
Next came Charybdis, who swallows the sea in a whirlpool, then spits it up again. Avoiding this we skirted the cliff where Scylla exacts her toll. Each of her six slavering maws grabbed a sailor and wolfed him down.
Odysseus was faced with a choice: which monster to bring his men too close to? He chose Scylla, anticipating that he would lose sailors, but fewer than if he were to risk the Charybdis. Still, the six sailors were a knowing sacrifice made by Odysseus.
(Johann Gussli)
Captain Boudreau describes a similar dilemma. Do you show sympathy toward your returning Marines who ask for psychiatric help to deal with PTSD? Or, do you deny their requests and tell them to suck it up?
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