Fuck the Troops

I'm a long-time lefty who happens to also have a soft spot for the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. The Venn Diagram where I fit isn't the most capacious of properties, but there are enough of us. I've banged on for years about the right's cynical and disgusting embrace of The Troops^TM as a useful prop nearly always accompanied by lack of vital funding for mental health, family issues, and post-service support. And so I return once again to the soapbox for your entertainment and edification, and my own cathartic yawping.

Support the Troops? If you're waving the flag at this fucking debacle of a parade through the streets of Washington, DC, a $45m (and counting) monument to raging leadership ego funded by the units themselves, and you're not screaming that the Department of Veterans Affairs be properly funded, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Support the Troops? If you applaud Pete Hegseth's bullshit performative Omaha Beach PT stunt but don't concern yourself with potential impacts to readiness, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Support the Troops? If you're cheerleading for a fascistic occupation of on an American city by United States Fucking Marines but not demanding answers about the lack of planning, supplies, food, shelter, and water for the very same Marines, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

It's okay to say "fuck this guy". Preening fascist.

Support the Troops? If you're rattling sabers and jonesing for combat (other people's combat, not your own, you Potemkin tough guy) but you're not willing to stand up while the Defense Department culls women and minorities from its senior leadership ranks, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Doesn't play as well as a political slogan, but sure feels like a more accurate depiction of the reality on the ground. People are going to die because of this administration and the GOP more broadly care more about wrapping themselves in the flag than they do tackling the hard work of managing a massively complex organization facing real and ongoing challenges related to climate change, asymmetric combat, emerging threats, readiness, and a litany of others. 

Fuck the Troops doesn't have a great beat, and you can't dance to it, though Lee Greenwood's workshopping some new material. But it sure feels like the message being sent from Washington.