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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 1996)
VIEWPOINTS tOilQRlAtS OPiHiOMS UTIfWS 10 THf.fOlTOR Marines, Army soldiers left jobless, sockless ■ uuH OPINION Military shoukJ spend less morwy on high-tech weapons If you think our society is obsessed with image, you should check out tne U S. military. For decades we have been i oniistently pouring bib Items of dollars into our defense industry to ensure that we will be viewed as the world's leading super power. At the rate we build sub marine* arid bombers, it Is obvious we are plat ing a lot of stock in the intimidation factor. But there is irony to he found in our country's over abundance of them* high ttM.h weapons and the fear these weapons instill in our neighboring nations: The Marine Corps placed socks at the tup of its list of most needed supplies. After all of the money we've poured into the mili tary. we are leaving our sol diers in dire need of fundamental supplies. Our government's failure to take t are of its soldiers* needs should not be surpris ing because it has a history of failing to care for its citi wrn* in desperate need, stu b . as the homeless Hut soldiers are employed by the government They use sophisticated weapons to supposedly save our lives. If we do not provide them with proper supplies, we art* placing their lives at risk as well as our own The image of our infantrymen rushing into battle sockless should be the least of our worries, Instead, we should be concerned about Marines training on antique radios, straining to hear through the static. Or better yet. i orobat soldier* wearing 15 year -old flak vmtM that less effective ly Hop a ladlet ihan rood ern-day polk* officers' vwU 66 Our soldien should not be responsible far finding the funds for net* equipment to me tease their odds of survival. —--99 Out soldier* should not be responsible for finding ihe funds for new equip roenl la increase their odds of survival. If you can't smell the injustice in these situations, you're most likely a defense company rxo utive or a member of Gingress. Both parties receive advantages from troops' disadvantages: Congress gets to enhance the nation's image and claim they are cutting the budget The executive* get their pockets lined with crisp, green currency from the profits made on the billion dollar weapons they pro duce The final injustice is that many members of the Arnty and Marine* who are will ing to withstand these absurd conditions are losing their jobs. With the Marines inning 24.000 and the Army losing 250.000 ariive duty sol diers. it is obvious our gov ernment considers them to lie expandable. And soldier* who remain are now expect ed to work harder than ever. Reports are showing that a shortage of recruits is pre dicted in the future. With the trend the current defense program is follow ing. who can blame them? 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OwiiWJ n <jfT t»Of( kiOi imT0 n* WW or t*r>fo«m Time places everything in perspective This. lit» mmy day. t* the first day of the met of im life The difference* between this day end any other from a global perspec tive are insignificant at beat Though for other * thl» day la like an ant Men from spare, this day U more like the (heat Wall of Qtina for me June 3 hearkens both my depar ture from the Emerald as a columnist and the beginning of a new dec ade few me Today I turn 70 Growing up I never dreamed my ecu from the teens would hit me so hard J always knew 13 was important — finally a teen, the promise of driving was t arried with age I*, even voting al lg sewnieti like it would change my life None of thow birthdays affected me as profoundly as this one has people who are older ihar me laugh when i ■ay I feel old. They assume Cm faking or mak mg run t*t tneur seniority But 1 am. oh. loo serious Ko» the first time in my lif». i feel truly old l don‘i attribute this age appmmm <ut any action of min* Mo, instead I blame it on the people around me I fowl the same »i I did a year ago — my life is virtually unchanged Si is the change* I **• in other* around me that am scaring me I w entry rwuro mwiui news about a friend of tnUMi from high w bool Not that hi* wu getting married or that he's haling « child — hi* first on# U already going on two Oh. no. I «m *11 too familiar wilh that announcement My friend i* gHting divorced The hated ’D" word It's (nr real, and it's happening to someone my age Someone I knot#. Someone 1 could he Thai's too scary lot me to handle I look around myself and find that I am somewhere between abnormality and the average 20 year old I am a contradiction in and of myself | reach for the future as I hide in the past, afraid of getting burned but called to the light I guest my dual nature makes sente After all. I am a member of Generation X. the epitome of contradiction I am bury, yet I hold down two fobs and go to school full time 1 am apathetic, yet I have voted in every election 1 could and willingly argue my position on any number of articles I am a freeloader, yet I pay for over 75 percent of my education on my own. I'm always told how wall I've got it. I wasn't alive when Kennedy was assassinated, but 1 was there to see Nison shamed Rimk<ui shot and Otnton dragged through the mud. I haven't lived through a world war, but I've seen the LAPD beal people down and then call it self defense. 1 belong to the first general mu who is expect ed to have a worse standard of living than our parent* A citizen, some would say. of a country wht>»e Unw hat passed We know the future* is Weak without * college education, but even with one it it clouded by debt and frustration. We are blamed for our desire to live for the moment, but are not given hopes of a brighter future. And for this we are to be looked down upon? I just don't buy It. More and more people are not identifying with a specific political group, but that doe* not mean that we are apathetic Most people do not trust the government, but we were still watching the Smura when most of the cur rent militia leaders were starling iheir treks As Billy )oei sang. "We didn't Hart the fim It mu alwttyi burning .Since the world's hern turning We didn't start the fim No we didn't tight it but we tried to fight it," . W wu Iiapp^r WIUI my pUM « IQ life without knowing what it in, i am supported to better myself without realizing which aim lion is "up " My generation is supposed to step forward an world leaders while our live* are Mill in duamy. But not yet | am not ready to try my hand at running the world yet I am not willing to give up my immaturity even if I am “forced" to give up my teen-age year* My attitude* link me too firmly to the days where 1 could gain the beauty of Daisy Duke and the powers of Wonder Woman from a pair of underruns and a ratty blanket How can I give up the possibility of a utopian existence for responsibility and pro* sure? I do not know But I will. The- "real world" will be mine in just a few wars For now. I will hold on to my youth, my hopes, my ambition* Though 16 has come and gone for us. John Ckrugar Meliemamp's words still ring true: Hold on to 16 m long at you ran Changn come around real toon Make us women and men * Even though 1 have officially been an adult for two years. I still consider myself to be at the crossroads of adulthood I look hack upon it and see it reaching to the horizon of my birth The efforts of my parents are plain to see Ithank you mom and dad), and the deep marking* of friends gone and friend* hero to stay. A* I turn to the fut ure. I see clearly the prints of the people who will affect me — people already loved and peo pl«< not yet known I plat e a tremulous foot ahead of me. stepping into adulthood but keep tog one hand hack holding onto childhood It is a good place to Ire kay Kniuitrhtsid. who fee/* very old today, it a columnist for the Emerald. li t your loti chance for the year E mail kay at kaykugiaditunv uorr gonedu
