INTERVIEW WITH DOTTI DOYLE
Dotti's son, Geoffrey, is a Lt. Colonel, USMC Reserves, involuntarily recalled to active duty in October 2003, after ten years as a civilian. He is currently deployed with the 22 Marine Expeditionary Unit(MEU) to Afghanistan.
Dotti: My son, Geoffrey Louis Doyle, went through Marine Platoon Leader Corps while in college, getting his commission as a second lieutenant on graduation in 1986. He served on active duty until 1993, leaving the Corps as a captain. He returned to Maine, his home state, and attended the University of Maine in Orono in a master's program in environmental science. Later he transferred to Kansas State, from which he eventually received a doctorate in environmental engineering and soil science. He was employed as a research scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Oklahoma.
Geoff achieved the rank of major in the Reserves, and in June 2003, was promoted to Lt. Colonel. This promotion necessitated a reassignment, as the reserve unit he had been with did not need two Lt. Colonels. Subsequently, he was involuntarily recalled to active duty to support "Operation Enduring Freedom." He was assigned to Camp Lejeune, NC, where he had originally been stationed in the 1980s. He is now with the Command Element of the 22 MEU, in Afghanistan.
Apparently, the government is planning to finish the job in Afghanistan. Something that this taxpayer believes could have been accomplished sooner, had resources not been diverted to Iraq.
Since my 40-year-old �id�is back on active duty I�e joined various groups of Military Moms. Many of the members have been long-term military families. Some of the moms, wives and others send packages to the troops. Recently my son asked me to send baked cookies. I mentioned this to one of the groups and said that I didn� bake. Another mom baked extra and sent them to Geoff. I was so touched, I was nearly brought to tears.
I've noticed that even these military families have been angry about recruiters who get the names of younger siblings of military personnel from high school registers. Then they call the kids at home to convince them to enlist. This Marine Mom is very supportive of our troops, although I�e been pretty much a pacifist since a high school classmate was killed in the Korean War. I was against the Vietnam War too, even brought Geoff and his sister to anti-war rallies when they were littlest kids.
The only totally understandable war in my lifetime was WWII, although there have been wars with some justification. People ask me how pacifists like Geoff� dad and I produced a son who joined the military. My response is that kids rebel in whatever way is available to them. For the son of ultraliberal parents, the Marines offered utmost, socially acceptable, rebellion.
The family anecdote about this is that when my son came home for his first break from college he talked a little every day about something called Marine Platoon Leader Corps. It was about five days later that he told me that he had already raised his right hand and become a Marine!
I asked why it had taken him so long to tell me.
He responded, "Mom, you once said that if I ever joined the Marines, you'd kill me." I don't remember actually having said that, but I don't doubt I did.
Later, he reminded me I� said it when a friend of his quit high school and joined the Marines. Since my son joined a college program geared toward obtaining a commission, I supported his choice, even though it bothered me. I felt it was better he rebel that way than the many other possible choices.
I moved from New England to Florida four years ago and live in a small community where many locals are retired military. It� a pro-war town near McDill Air Force base and quite conservative. I don� have a lot in common with the views of local people.
I have an opportunity to be around people with similar outlooks to mine when I attend my Unitarian Universalist Church some distance away. UUs tend to be politically liberal and involved. However, the U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq has gone on so long now, that even they tend to forget as other issues grab their attention.
Once a month we perform a candle-lighting ceremony and share joys and sorrows. This is personal sharing and not an opportunity to share political views but I do share about my son and the sorrows of this war and have told the minister that I will probably do this every month until our troops are home.
I find that accounts of Iraq and Afghanistan written by women offer broad human perspectives in understanding what� gone before and what� going on now. I recommend "Naked in Baghdad" by NPR correspondent Anne Garrels about her experiences before and during the current war/occupation. "The Sewing Circles of Herat" by British journalist Christina Lamb who has a long history with Afghanistan is excellent.
Plowing through academic tomes currently available is difficult but the histories of these countries and how war and politics affect is sobering. I'm not having "second thoughts" about Iraq. I was against the US going there and I� still against it.
In my opinion a preemptive strike against Iraq was a disgrace to all that America stands for, or at least used to stand for.
Our military presence in Afghanistan is an understandable response to 9/11, but Iraq is another story altogether.
My son, of course, being a Marine, doesn't share my views. He was not nearly as upset about being his recalled as I was. He left a home, a job and two children to return to the military.
His 11-year-old daughter is doing a school project on Afghanistan. Although she can get information from her father and from the Internet, a large chain bookstore carries no information on Afghanistan for children her age.
How can the next generation learn about the issues if the information is not shared with them?