Esquire Article

Colby Buzzell's description of his happenings back in America after returning from Iraq is angering in several ways. I can only imagine that it would be infuriating that an individual would attempt to do the whole "face-up at the bar, I'll see you outside" drill to a returning soldier. To put one's self in the position of the soldier in that situation, some person who thinks that he is the man for some reason or another is challenging the masculinity or toughness of a person who has shot and been shot at in a foreign country would be simply pathetic (Buzzell). Buzzell's actions are entirely understandable in this kind of framework. However, it is interesting that an individual who has fought to promote a kind of social idea to construct a new society is now legally entrapped by that very same idea which he fought for. The common reason that is given for the Iraq War is that we are promoting freedom, sability, and safety (like we have here in America, it is implied). Freedom also means that people cannot illegally force others to do things, especially since people are all equal in the eyes of the alw. Since all people are viewed as political and ethical equals, they all have an equal right to the safety that American society provides for that individual. However, if one were to look at Buzzell's situation as a drunk, violent, crazy ex-soldier injuring an individual. In this case, the soldier's previous record of service is irrelevent in that the society that soldier has worked to defend (while being included in it) now is forcing its law on the soldier in that his experience is not important, but the fact that he has committed this act of social betrayal makes him worthy of being arrested (Buzzell). This must be the most infuriating part of all, though a soldier has given a superior effort to defend one's way of life, that way of life will not allow an excessive sense of entitlement in the soldier's actions.

Buzzell, Colby. "The Making of the Twenty-First-Century Soldier (Part2)." Esquire, 1 April 2005. Retrieved from http://www.esquire.com/ESQ0405COLBY_150 on 24 February 2009.