Victory in Many Guises

Though I missed yesterday's game while in Georgia (see info below), I read in the Post that the Broncos were so thoroughly dominating and the Jets so thoroughly miserable that the game was rather drab. To that I can only respond by saying that shutouts are only drab to disinterested journalists and desparate gamblers trying to make the spread. True fans savor a good shutout, and the Broncos needed one. First of all they haven't shut-out anyone since their Super Bowl glory days, and it's part of the human condition to make comparisons with history. In sports, in a twist of irony, we try to retain the past precisely so we can repeat it. The logic goes like this: shutout in 1997 = Super Bowl victory ; shutout in 2005 = Super Bowl victory. It's the beautiful, simple math of being a sports fan. Second, even beating a downtrodden team like the Jets shows that the Broncos are on the cusp of greatness. It's no easy feat holding a team to zero points in this age of franchise parity. Yesterday's victory raises the Broncos one level higher on the ever-shortening list of dominant NFL teams.

Go Broncos!!!!


Since this is my only forum, I thought I would write a little something on my recent trip.

I just returned from the School of the Americas protest at Fort Benning, GA. The school itself has since been renamed the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation - WHINSEC - but their mission remains the same: Training for Latin American military and police agencies to fight counterinsurgencies and threats to "democracy" using whatever means necessary, though torture and human rights violations are the standard modus operandi. It was an amazing, life-changing event. On the flight down, my co-traveler and I and had two very interesting yet different discussions. I sat next to a trauma specialist from Boulder who was going to work with soldiers just returning from Iraq. He explained that the soldiers in Iraq are on a constant state of alert. There are no frontlines, where you are on duty, and no behind-the-lines, where you are off. Soldiers are "on" all the time, which can be pretty devastating for both the mind and the body. This is also the first extended conflict where women have participated as infantry, and specialists are just now beginning to understand PTSD and how it relates to women who are "on-duty" at all times in addition to dealing with being female in what has historically been an exclusively male community. Because of all this, soldiers are experiencing different forms of post-traumatic stress disorder than in previous conflicts. The trauma specialist told me that morale is much lower than reported in the media and defections are on the rise.

My co-traveler sat next to an 18 year old recruit who was on his way to Fort Benning for basic training. He had no idea of what to expect and told my friend that he needed both the signing bonus and the promised money for college. He had no idea that 16,000 people were planning to protest at the base where he was headed, and he had never heard of the Army School of the Americas either. I'm afraid it was a rather rude awakening for the young man, but he remained optimistic about the life ahead of him. I'm reminded of the continued need to both oppose war and support the young men and women joining the military or returning from active duty. It's a difficult task to negotiate, but it's ultimately one of the most important things we can do as folks interested in the issue.

The protest/vigil yesterday at the gates of the fort contained so much emotion and passion. 16,000+ people marching in solidarity and memory for those effected by war in its broadest sense was both sombre and uplifting.

My experiences this weekend affected me in much the same way. There's so much to do that it can seem overwhelming, but there's so many people out there trying to peacefully and respectfully change the world that I am tremendously engouraged.

For more information on the continued push to close the SOA/WHINSEC please visit the SOA Watch website www.soaw.org

For information on yesterday's rally/protest/vigil, please check out the following report from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/21/national/21benning.html?pagewanted=all