"Auslandseinsatz"

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by August

I can see why you Germans might see it that way but that really depends on the scope and subject of the war movie in question.

For example, the story of a Soldier who does his duty to his country serving honorably in a war, then afterward returns safely to his home and the loving arms of his family before going on to live a happy and full life is, by any realistic measure, a war movie with a happy ending.

Just ask some of the millions of our veterans from any of our wars throughout our history whether it was won, lost or tied, who did exactly that. Sure you'll find some who didn't have it work out that way but the overwhelming majority of them did and therefore their tales are far more "realistic" than any negative exception you may care to mention.

But that does not change that no war ever is fair, humane, just. It is inhumane, barbaric, filled with destruction and dying, and all too many innocents suffer dearly from it. Always. A given ending of a war might have been necessary as an objective to achieve, but it never is fair, happy, humane. That's why I say there are wars of needs and wars of desires, and the first must be accepted, but the latter should be avoided at all cost.

And that is not just a German issue, August. When your forefathers had their civil war, I think I read somewhere that most American families suffered casualties and lost loved ones. And even if it is no majority, it still were damn many families whose sons and fathers bled to death and whose wifes and daughters got raped or murdered. The outcome of the war, as an objective to be achieved, might have been necessary. Still, for those having been effected by the war, the end of the war brought relief that it was over. But no happy end.

Or to say it with LaoTse (and I use German since it is my own translation, I am not satisfied with any of the translations to German around, and I cannot put it in better words or adequately transport it to English):

Auch beste Waffen sind Zeichen des Todes,
Der Weise verächtlich meidet sie.
Er wendet sich ab von ihnen.
Die Freude erfüllt sein Leben im Frieden,
Die Trauer erfüllt sein Leben im Krieg.
Waffen sind nicht des Wesens Weise,
Nur gezwungen benutzt sie ein weiser Mensch,
Wenn es gar nicht mehr anders sonst geht.
Nichts weiß er von der Freude am Kämpfen,
Den Sieg zu lieben heißt mordfreudig sein.
Wer mordfreudig ist, ist außerhalb der Freude, zu Leben.
Nach dem Sieg ist der Truppe die Freude,
Des Feldherrn indes sei die Trauer,
Er begehe den Sieg wie eine Trauerfeier.
Töten heißt Trauer schaffen,
Wessen Handeln Trauer schafft,
Dem sei jeder Sieg wie ein Begräbnis.

Let people celebrate in relief that they survived it without own losses to their health, life, family, friends. But never ever mistake that with wars having happy endings. Every warrior is a gravedigger.