"... a long time gone"

After the 1992 election, Newsweek Magazine ran a special issue, titled So Long, Soldier. The cover photo was of a WWII Seabee boarding a ship. The content dealt with the generational shift that the Bush-Clinton transition represented.

The lead pages or the article had pictures of two young Navy officer from the Pacific theater. The two men were about 7 years apart in age, from the same schools, neighborhoods and economic strata. You may have guessed that I refer to Jack Kennedy and George H. W. Bush. The really interesting thing is how different they look. Bush, an aviator--not quite 20--is the classic, properly attired in his service khakis, uptight junior officer in his picture. Kennedy, a PT boat skipper in his mid-20s, looks like a mid-century version of Captain Jack Sparrow. His khaki shirt is half unbuttoned, his pants cuffs are frayed, he is wearing sperry top-siders, sans socks, and his combination cap is perched on the back of his head. Where Bush is nervously smiling, Kennedy's grin suggests he has he has just finished some pretty splendid pillaging; or something related.

Of course it all boils down to who selects the photos. Different photos taken at different times and the perceptions could reverse. Still, there was something about the two men that gives those photos the ring of truth. To Bush, Naval service was about duty; as if it was an extension of his family's values of public service. To Kennedy, Naval service was fun; as if it was an extension of his family's touch football games.

So, why was I thinking about this? I was looking at pictures of kids from two other wars (feels weird lumping two former presidents with other "kids"). The pictures are from Vietnam and Iraq. The kids in the Vietnam pictures remind me of Kennedy. The ones in Iraq remind me of Bush.

Maybe it goes with being the "most professional military we have ever had." The guys in Iraq all seem to wear their uniform so, uniformly. They don't smoke. They don't drink. Its a job.

Look, I don't recommend smoking and drinking. I quit both years ago. I appreciate the fact that these men and women are professionals of the first order. Nor do I doubt that they are probably better at what they do than the draftees and one-termers of the Vietnam era.

Maybe its the professionalism that I find off-putting. God, that feels criminal just saying it. But professionals aren't in it for the fun. And because they know what they are in it for, they want to get out alive. The crazy kids who signed up for 3 year RA hitches, or went off to the draft, or joined the Marines, or Seabees, or riverines knew the risks but they weren't in it as a job. They weren't in for life. Sure some of them stayed for careers, but most never thought about the service that way. It was just going to be a hitch. They'd enlist or get drafted and do their time. Then they would go back to being who they were.

You look at their pictures and they are cocky bastards. They all seem to know they are bullet-proof. Half of them have cut the sleeves off the utility uniform shirts, even the officers. They all have smokes hanging from their lips. And they are all so alive. Even in the valley of death, they are alive and quick.

I look back at them now and wonder was I ever really like they looked. Was I ever that young and confident - 40 years and 85 pounds ago? Are the kids I see on TV today that confident? I think they are, really. I just wish they smoked in their pictures sometimes.