A Long Grey Line Always Turns into a Long Grey Wall

At West Point, the name used for the endless stream of brave young men and women who enter the military academy is referred to as “The Long Grey Line.”

I thought deeply about the meaning of that phrase as I watched President Obama deliver his rationale for sending thousands more of our youth to Afghanistan.

Media commentators like to refer to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as “boots on the ground.” It’s become a catch phrase for talking heads on TV and others who claim that more “boots on the ground” will fix the problem. I strongly dislike and disapprove the use of that term, because it dehumanizes and trivializes our men and women who are sent to face the terror of warfare. In reality, I despise that misnomer.

Soldiers, marines and special ops people serving in Afghanistan and Iraq (and clandestinely in Pakistan) are flesh and blood American warriors with human emotions. They have parents at home; wives, husbands and children; girlfriends and boyfriends; classmates from high school and college which they left behind. They are not inanimate “boots on the ground.” They are not faceless people.

And when they die in combat they leave behind the endless grieving of survivors at home. If you don’t believe me, please go to Don't Be Afraid to Say His Name. You’ll understand.

I hope that I haven’t dampened the joy of your Christmas shopping weekend, but there are too many Americans who are for more “boots on the ground.” Just so long as they or their loved ones don’t have to fill those boots.

Photo by Bergeron: It features a portion of the Vietnam Wall War Memorial with its names stretching in a long grey line, as it points to the Washington Monument.