Random Thought

I am not trying to make a political statement.  I am not trying to make you see my point of view on any particular topic.  I just want to share with you some of the random thoughts I have been having.  Please read the entire blog before passing judgment, thank you.

Gun control is the beginning of my random thoughts.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not a “gun-nut,” but I do own a few weapons for personal use.  I would like to state for the record that I have never and will never attempt to use these weapons to harm another human being unless for reasons of self defense. 

I know many people share the belief that weapons are a form of self protection, and that mentality is seen in a lot of countries in which I have been deployed.  I remember my first deployment to Iraq.  We were tasked to set up Iraqi Police Stations and teach the Iraqi Police how to maintain good order and discipline in their cities.  One of the policies the US wanted to enforce, to protect Soldiers and assist in the good order and discipline, was the removal of weapons from households.  Not understanding the culture, the history, or the country, the US wanted to implement policies that were in place in the States, a totally different environment.  The people of Iraq, for a long time, have always depended on self defense for their homes, family, and property.  Taking away their household weapons was not an option in their minds and the US was forced to find an alternate way of lessening violence in these cities.  The policy was adapted to state that each home was only allowed to have one weapon, but even that was viewed as inappropriate for Iraqi’s concerned for their personal safety and security.

Many people use weapons for sport.  Hunting, skeet, and competition shooting are among the top examples.   Weapons can also be used for entertainment.  Here, shoot this apple as it sits on top of my head.  I would never be that person, but no doubt we have all seen it in one form or another.

All this being said, here is my random thought: I find it odd that we can take a large group of people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, give them all a weapon or two, all the ammo they require, and we can all still live peaceably amongst each other.

Why is this?

 I began to take this random thought and put some research into it by looking into the commonalities of the people (Foreign Soldiers, US Soldiers, and civilian contractors) on my Forward Operating Base (FOB).  We are all well educated on the use and safety of these firearms.  We all know of the terror beyond the gates and therefore share a common fear.   Perhaps we are focusing our attention on the “enemy” rather than terrorizing each other or maybe we all want to save our bullets for the main reason we have them.  While this may be a stretch, we are all law abiding citizens in that we are serving our countries. 

Law abiding citizens are just that and criminals are criminals.  We can have all the rules in the world, but criminals do not respect the infrastructure put in place to protect its citizens.

I also want to keep in mind the human psyche in that people always want what they can’t have.   So, I guess my question is: why can’t we all live with the respect for each other that we see while on deployment?