Handling the Truth

The title refers to this climactic scene from A Few Good Men.

Colonel Jessup is probably right.  Most of us don't really want to know what it takes to provide the ultimate line of defense.  We don't really want to know how mentally and physically hard someone has to be to stand a post in a lonely, hostile environment.  We don't really want to know what it takes to identify terrorists -- or how often we fail in that task, either letting an actual terrorist go past or falsely imprisoning someone who isn't one.  We're a little uncomfortable at the idea that someone spent a period in a jail compound when they ought not to have been there, but - well - that's just the way it goes. Because we would rather be wrong, and imprison the wrong person, than be wrong, and let the real terrorist go.  Similarly, when we send people to places like Afghanistan, we don't want to know how harsh it really is, how blasted our people become, how often we're seen as the invading enemy.  Sending troops is seen as the right thing to do because - well - that's sometimes all we can do.  It worked in Germany during the 40s, right?

I accept that.  I think that way.  I know it's not entirely right, but I don't know of a better way.  Everything else feels like we're just giving up.

But when I see people say that we need to toughen up cadets - who are in college, not boot camp - because they might eventually end up in Afghanistan, and we need tough people there - well, then I start to wonder about the mind set of the people running the military program in the college.