how to do war

In today's session, we examine how to deal with war and threat of insurgent danger......

[lights raise on a pair of friends having transitioned from a more serious conversation, into one perforated by a bit of levity].

G: .....her sister seems the same way in the few words that she spoke about the military. in general those who are raised in it and stay close to it kinda drink the cool aid; they don't seem to question much.

me: yeah, def.

G: which is actually the opposite of what the military teaches it's officers"theoretically"oh well thank god there are men like [General who is not a Bushie].

me: i know, and it's funny that the infantrymen are usually the most conservative, when it's they who are getting the shaft the most.

G: and women, haha right?! it's easy for a pilot to lock on to the dot and drop his shit and be back in his warm rack a few hours later. "easy"...

me: relatively speaking, yes.

G: easier than slugging it out on the ground.

me: no mano a mano.

G: it's crazy to think about how we used to wage war. makes you reconsider a time when it was not as surgical as today.

me: i know, people cared about the war differently before vietnam / korea sent in this new era, because they were in it - hunkered down together with no amenities, no internet, no phones anywhere.

G: i'd rather be shot 5 times than get my arm hacked off with a sword, etc.

me: seriously

G: but only 5. 6 is pushing it, haha.

me: get impaled by a bayonet or get shot with a lead, round bullet from a distance and then have to reload your gun......bust out a little kit before you can take your next shot.

G: i dunno... things are just more tame - more like a video game these days. it makes things seem less deadly for those on the ground, when they're not at all.

me: yeah, now you can even shoot around a corner now, so you are watching the person you are shooting at on a screen. Not like the "whites of their eyes" anymore.

G: the fact that generals no longer physically watch their men get slaughtered is also good for the war business .

me: never have to make eye contact or smell someones breath going out of them.

G: yeah

me: it's totally a video game. when they get shot AT, it's very real though. i wouldn't want to be staring down a guy holding an rpg.

G: ? D&D?!

me: d&d?

G: too bad Akmed! I'm a level 38457293875 arch mage, and right before you detonated yourself, i cast a suicide bomb shield orb. hahaha

me: hahahahahahaha ,totally. what if you could yell that out on the battlefield?

me: dude, you can't shoot that grenade at me, because by the decree of Eaton, i cast a bullet-repelling force field, so your weapons are useless and will turn back against you! I am now invincible.

G: i am employing the "i don't wanna die" clause - simple but effective.

me: i'm also invoking the "no-maiming" addendum .

G: hahaha

me: dude, we could save so many lives. we should tour the world with this stuff. we can solve soooo many problems with such sound rhetoric.

G: what happens when "believing" in it just isn't enough?

me: hm....we may have to give some thought to that objection, but as we learn in sales, there are no real objections - they can all be overcome.

G: "um, i guess you need to amp up your faith, people."

me: crank it, dude! my faith is at ELEVEN, yo.

G: that's how the jeebus freaks do it

me: It could totally work and soon, people will be fighting with cardboard and duct tape, the way god intended.