Green Energy
The German language knows, different from English, a specific term for soldiers who are killed in action at wartime. They are not soldiers killed in action or in a war, they are "fallen" soldiers. A soldier "falls" in a war. "Mein Vater ist im Krieg gefallen", somebody whose father was killed in the war would say.
Now I am writing this I realize it doesn't sound all that good in English, but trust me, in German it pays tribute to the extraordinary circumstances under which a soldier is killed in action.
The day before yesterday, at the memorial service for the two German soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan, our minister of defence Franz Josef Jung spoke about soldiers who "fell" during their peace mission for our country.
That is totally new. Until now, politicians had shunned that word carefully. In the same spirit, there are no enemies anymore but adversaries, no wars, but conflicts and no terrorists but insurgents, as the entire discourse has become flattened, euphemizised and (dare I say it?) de-masculinised. Cynics even jested that those soldiers had been the victims of a "qualified industrial injury".
So finally our minister of defence has come to the conclusion that we are at war, a conclusion to which, no doubt, the families of the soldiers deployed to the Hindu Kush have come long ago.
Cross-posted at Roncesvalles!
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Green Energy
The De-Masculinisation of War
The German language knows, different from English, a specific term for soldiers who are killed in action at wartime. They are not soldiers killed in action or in a war, they are "fallen" soldiers. A soldier "falls" in a war. "Mein Vater ist im Krieg gefallen", somebody whose father was killed in the war would say.
Now I am writing this I realize it doesn't sound all that good in English, but trust me, in German it pays tribute to the extraordinary circumstances under which a soldier is killed in action.
The day before yesterday, at the memorial service for the two German soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan, our minister of defence Franz Josef Jung spoke about soldiers who "fell" during their peace mission for our country.
That is totally new. Until now, politicians had shunned that word carefully. In the same spirit, there are no enemies anymore but adversaries, no wars, but conflicts and no terrorists but insurgents, as the entire discourse has become flattened, euphemizised and (dare I say it?) de-masculinised. Cynics even jested that those soldiers had been the victims of a "qualified industrial injury".
So finally our minister of defence has come to the conclusion that we are at war, a conclusion to which, no doubt, the families of the soldiers deployed to the Hindu Kush have come long ago.
Cross-posted at Roncesvalles!
- Gurkhas. Great Pickels, Fearless Fighters. Oh Wait... Okay. Well, At Least They're Fearless Fighters
Gurkha who returned to base with Taliban commander’s head, cleared for duty From Britain First The Nepalese soldier with 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles who was removed from Afghanistan after beheading a Taliban commander, has now been cleared...
-
You Don't Get This Medal For Showing "Courageous Restraint". Courageous restraint isn't what our military does best. "ISAF Chief of Staff, German Army Lt. Gen. Bruno Kasdorf presents the Gold Cross of Honor to members of 5-158th Aviation Battalion....
- 239 Years Ago Today
Diary entry of John Adams concerning his involvement in the trials March 5, 1773: (The third anniversary of the Boston Massacre) "I. . .devoted myself to endless labour and Anxiety if not to infamy and death, and that for nothing, except, what indeed...
- Israeli Warplanes In "incident" With German Ship Off Lebanon?
I can't wait to hear what really happened here. For now, we have to go with what the MSM is telling us: Two Israeli warplanes were involved in an armed incident with a German ship patrolling Lebanon's waters as part of the UN force in the Arab...
- The Child Molester As Kindergarden Teacher
"The Israelis did not start the war." "That does not matter." German peace force in Africa. (Photo: AFP) Since last Monday, Germany is making noises that they might consider sending troops to Lebanon as part of a multinational U.N. force if certain conditions...