In Honor of Veterans Day

I am committing myself to writing a letter to the makers of the "Call of Duty: Black-Ops" Modern Warfare video game which is the second highest selling video game in US history. 
Contact Info is here.


As people lined up across America to purchase this "game" I was listening to reports on NPR about the nature of modern warfare today that our men and women are confronting in the battlefield. Please, listen here: Remembering Two Soldiers Who Fell In Kandahar


According to this Illinois newspaper article, "As a military game, it's very accurate; a lot of the tactics are very similar," he said. "The equipment is spot-on. I haven't gotten to see a lot of this new one yet, but each game that comes out seems to be more and more realistic."

But is a release like "Call of Duty: Black Ops" still "fun and games" to a solider? According to Horsley, the answer seems to be "yes."

"Most people do play the game on base as a way to relax," he said. "I know a lot of them are probably in line at the Springfield location right now. Actually, there's quite a few soldiers that I've enlisted here tonight who already have their places in line."

I watch Hulu TV a lot as background noise. The past 2 weeks has been completely ad-time for this "game". After reading my dearest friend Beth's blog post on the new ways in which family members receive news from their loved ones in the battlefield, and gchatted with fellow Fletcher Alum and friend Caroline who was waking up to her home in Afghanistan where she is working on part of the reconstruction efforts, I was stunned to see this ad pop up:

So, today, I am attending a  lecture where a Fletcher student, Col. James Brown, who is a fellow at the U.S. Army War College and veteran of Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, is speaking on the panel.

The impacts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect not only the soldiers fighting them, but also their families, communities and the nation as a whole.

These impacts are the subject of a recently published book by Larry Minear, a Tufts researcher: Through Veterans’ Eyes: The Iraq and Afghanistan Experience.  He will present his findings at the panel discussion.

Others from the university commenting on the issues from their own perspectives will be Col. James Brown, a senior U.S. officer and U.S. Army War College Fellow enrolled at the Fletcher School; Laura McCarty, staff member of the Tufts art gallery and spouse of a veteran currently deployed to Iraq; and Jim O’Neill, an Iraq veteran who is a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts degree. The program will be moderated by Dr. Peter Walker, Director of the University’s Feinstein International Center.  

It is our civilian duty to uphold and promote the types of war that used to be fought-- ones in which International Humanitarian Law expressed should be fought in ways which are quick, decisive, and do as little harm as possible. This means a reclaiming of the once sacrosanct terms "combatant" and "non-combatant", neutrality and proportionality. And above all, humanity.