Interesting.....

Last night at work Tatiana had a conversation with a guy that is a pilot in the United States Air Force. He told Tatiana lots of interesting things, his perspective on war.
He has been serving in the Air Force for many years now and is planning to retire in about three years. After he retires, all he wants to do is enjoy his life by hiking, fishing and relaxing.
He has been in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, to name a few places. He said that he does not like it when people come up to him to say thank you for what he is doing for this country. Why? Because he is ashamed. Yep, ashamed. Because the way Americans are acting and running things, because of what he has seen and knows.
He thinks that all the troops should come home, that America has no business in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. That the wars are only happening due to interest in oil and money, profit for America only. That Bush, Cheney, Obama and many, many others (in high political positions) have stocks, investments, personal interest in the places America is at war with. That America dropped more than 100 missiles within 24 hours of arriving in Libya, each missile being very, very expensive, manufactured by a company that Cheney has lots of stock in. Coincidence?
That he feels really bad for the poor people in the countries he has been to, because due to the war and destruction, they will be even more poor and miserable. Poor for life. He called them "good people", "friendly". That he always brings lots of Hershey bars for the kids when he goes abroad, cause the kids love that candy and they get so happy.
That he wishes America could use the enormous amount of money that is spent on wars to improve the situation here in America instead, education, schools, rebuilding places like Detroit etc.
He also said that even if Osama would had waived a white flag, he would had been killed on the spot, because that is what the people of this country wanted. He said that he felt weird that the death of Osama caused a celebration resembling a sporting event like the Super Bowl, weird to celebrate the death of another person, even if it was Osama, hated by many Americans.
It was really interesting to talk to an open minded and insightful person about these subjects. A person currently serving in the Air Force. He has seen a lot. He is there, doing it. Not reading about it in the paper, or hearing about it now and then on the evening news, giving the war some fleeting thoughts sometimes.
And he thinks that these wars are a big waste.
What do you think?
Tatiana agrees with him. And she only knows a little about these matters. But there is something that is just so wrong with it. That she knows and feels.
It's wrong that kids as young as 18 go and fight somewhere. How can they possible make an educated decision at that point in their life regarding themselves and possible others? For example.......the latest news that some American soldiers were killing civilians in Afghanistan just for fun. For fun???
Tatiana wants to cry. They have been accused of "solicitation to commit premeditated murder, aggravated assault on Afghan nationals, failing to report crimes and planting evidence." This can be anyone though, behaving like this, an American soldier, German soldier, Afghan soldier. It doesn't matter what nationality you are - it's just wrong to act like this.
War due to financial interest only. Financial gain that majority of the people will never know. Only a few, already wealthy individuals. It's sick.
Tatiana hopes that he will be able to retire and find personal peace.
And she is also hoping for the end of all wars and PEACE all over. Tatiana is a GLOBAL CITIZEN, that's how she sees herself. She might not agree with everybody and like everybody but she does think that war is wrong.