Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a considerable degree of carelessness that transpired on Memorial Day at the park across the street from my home, Clove Lakes. Apparently as part of the Fleet Week military festivities it was determined that the Marines would land a handful of their various helicopters on the baseball fields in the aforementioned park. While I am not fully abreast of the details, it would seem as though no one bothered to ensure that the landing area was cleared and thus dirt, tree branches and various other debris was scattered about so that a few handfuls of civilians were injured in the process.

While a case can clearly be made that the innocent bystanders perhaps should have known better than to be in relatively close proximity to a landing osprey, it is the military’s responsibility to ensure that such an event is avoided, which got me thinking about just how careful the world’s mightiest military is when executing operations in environs that are not quite as friendly as Northern Staten Island. My estimation would be not much, as has continually proven to be the case pertaining to instance after instance be it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or wherever else.

I presume that those on the Right would likely question my support for the troops, as they are so wont to do, because they of course have the monopoly on patriotism. Yet this not so isolated incident is part of a highly troubling pattern and I would presume that if the conservative in question were directly affected by such circumstances, he would raise eyebrows as well.

One of the other deeply troubling aspects of the morning’s events was the communist-style display of supposed military might—showing off our arsenal of various weaponry and the like. There was no parade of high stepping/kicking red soldiers or anything but the general idea was ubiquitous, this unabashed glorification of the armed forces and how we civilians are supposed to fall all over ourselves with awe and pride. Even the kiddies were allowed to line up and have their very own chance to sit in the chopper’s cockpit or the osprey’s loading deck or whatever the hell it is.

Totally lost on most of the attendees, I imagine, was how these aren’t simply cool, advanced, expensive avian modes of transportation, they are weapons of a considerable amount of destruction. They have devastated families, friends, villages, maybe a terrorist here or there, but most of the damage inflicted is in fact collateral. It doubtfully dawns on them just how terrifying the sound of those horribly deafening helicopters must be for the brown people that are about to meet Allah.