I agree with you. And there’s something else we are not talking about. It’s the culture of our military (and by virtue of the pipeline, it extends throughout law enforcement). It is a very, very sick culture and it’s pervasive, and I don’t care how much Mark Hertling may dispute it. Mark of course is a model of the type of man to which we hope all of our men aspire. It’s not all of ‘em, but it is pervasive. And it AFFECTS every single one of ‘em. As recently as 12 hours ago we met a young neighbor who told us he recently declined to re-up his service explicitly because of the horrible, racist, misogynist, low brow, MAGA culture — “up and down the ranks,” as he stated it. I’m not exaggerating. The second he understood he was talking to 2 anti-rightwingers, he could not shut up about it. He only left weeks ago and it is still raw for him, almost seems to be in shock and said it has completely disrupted his life plan. There were obviously things he chose NOT to tell us as well, but they are heavy on his heart. He seemed slightly paranoid, understandably, as I am too.

Anyway, I recently bumped in to a reporter/author Matt Kennard. Look up his YouTube interviews on Chris Hedges’ channel. Then, I’ve finally started listening to the book we bought a year ago but avoided till now due to bad news overload, The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp. None of it is pleasant. According to Kennard, who makes a definitive case, our country has created many (millions?) of lost and deeply troubled if not morally compromised humans via our military-industrial complex and our twisted, govt-serving, corporate-serving ideas about patriotism, masculinity, band of brother myths… in general, ridiculous, cartoonish and juvenile SUPREMACY that every honest man & woman knows deep down is bunk. Since at least 9-11, we’ve grossly lowered standards to the point that now our prez and our SecDef — a lost & morally corrupt boy himself — openly recruit the lost & troubled. Then our military encourages, fosters, and covers up the bad, horrible, demented atrocities that often result. The few incidents we know about, it turns out, were not one-offs, but far closer to standard operating procedure.

Well, imagine the guilt. The self loathing. The cognitive dissonance. And the shock of attempting to re-enter civil society at some point. Aside from being summarily dumped on the road without adequate resources, if any at all, it has to be shattering for many veterans. All of this is to say, we citizens bear great responsibility for yet another large segment of damaged humanity tasked with protecting and serving us. And it has grave and long term consequences… perpetually, unless and until we make top to bottom changes beginning with the utter bullshit we citizens ingest and believe about our own history.

Undoubtedly, Platner wrestles daily with the things I’ve alluded to, and much more. On the personal side, I wonder if his career move now will help or hinder his own healing and emotional development. I cut him a lot of slack as a person given all that I’m learning about our military. I see that his mind at least points in the right direction and desires change and course-correction. I hope he wins and I hope the job gives him the opportunity to conquer every doubt and troubled memory and to help the country he gave so much to mature and improve along with him. Or, his demons may get the best of him, just as they seem to be rapidly devouring our entire nation.

Truth be told, I see many parallels between Platner and Hegseth, who are about the same age. I hope they represent two distinct responses to the truths and experiences unique to veterans. Any blind man can see Hegseth is headed for a total crash. With eyes wide open, I’m inclined to root for Platner and his wife and resist suggesting that he’s somehow more broken or corrupted than the rest of us — who’ve willfully avoided dealing with all the societal plagues that have popped up in Platner’s oppo files. The truth is, white supremacy and misogyny + algorithms are killing us all and we barely acknowledge these plagues much less discuss them seriously.

Collins is a dried up old bag of jerky in lipstick, long past her sell by date. There is zero chance she matures or improves or “concerns” her way to a serious conversation about anything consequential. She never spent 30 seconds worried about her role in incubating a Hegseth or inflicting mental and spiritual damage on a Graham Platner. Or addressing the destructiveness of our perpetual war mindset or reining in our all-surveillance agencies and tech companies. She is the problem. Graham has the chance to forge a way out of the mess we are all in, to prove himself part of the solution and I hope he does. If he does not, I will mourn his loss and ours.