I was lucky enough to get to go last weekend to the Society of Military History Conference in Tennessee. There were way too many panels for me to get to see all of them, but the ones I attended were very interesting.
The best presentation came from Sean M. Maloney from the Royal Military College of Canada. He is a professional historian whose job is to follow Canadian combat forces in Afghanistan and write the official history of battles.
Maloney talked in general about military history and one of the dominant themes was respect. He explained to the audience that officers and enlisted men alike deserve the benefit of the doubt in writing about war. Sometimes this means no Monday morning quarterbacking, in other words do not judge the actions of officers and troops making decisions on the fly if they turn out to be wrong. What may seem foolish when sitting on one's comfortable couch was still a decision most likely made by a man under intense stress trying to win a victory and avoid losses as much as possible. Maloney said "you sleep much better after your big decisions than do these men after theirs."
He also spoke of the violence of the battlefield, that we cannot judge the actions of men in combat zones, even if they sometimes seem excessive. Again, people make judgment calls in the most extreme of circumstances. Sometimes they are correct, other times not. The point is to treat soldiers and officers with utmost respect because we do not walk in their boots.
Maloney then went on to describe the very different culture of Afghanistan. Historians and especially journalists need to take his words to heart. They need to remember when they write words or snap a photograph that these are men and woman who choose to sacrifice for their country and they deserve a high standard of respect when one is writing about them.
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