'Babykillers?' The men and women in uniform deserve better

Josh White Jumping the Gun

"Babykiller!" The voice must have been overwhelming - if not for its volume, then for its message. Faces must have been way too close and tempers way too high. A bearded man screamed the accusation again, spit flying into the unseasonably warm air, the crowd behind him flaring into a brief bout of shouts.

"Babykiller!"

Never mind the fact that this is not the 1960s and that we are not currently engaged in any active warfare as a nation, and never mind the fact that the student who was being accosted was merely on her way to class last week. Don't consider these things because the unruly group that basically attacked this woman on Thursday didn't either. Sometimes passion overrules rational thought.

This woman stood her ground and walked away nervously, wondering if the shouts would turn to violence, wondering why she had been singled out. Unfortunate for many others on campus, she wasn't singled out on her own - others wearing their ROTC uniforms also were faced with barrages of shouts and assaults from a group of students protesting possible military mobilization against Iraq.

Perhaps because Thursday was a day all Army ROTC students had to wear their uniforms on campus was an ill-fated irony that clearly opened these students up to attack, and because the protesting students situated themselves outside of North Hall, ROTC students were required to pass the rowdy group several times that day. It is too bad that the protesters (who seem also to be the same people who protest most everything else on campus) weren't standing in the right place and that they were criticizing the wrong people.

My friend Nicole put it best - the military does not make policy decisions, they follow orders.

The Army does not act on feelings or emotion, they act on directives without passion or prejudice. They fire the rounds, but do so only when others tell them to - and all of this with a sincere love for the country and the will to do what the country feels is best for them to do.

Nicole was not the woman mentioned above, but she too faced scrutiny because she was wearing her uniform with pride. She was placed in the position of having to justify her actions as a protector of our democracy, she was put in a wringer because she fights to protect the protesters' right to yell at her.

Her alarm at having to face such opposition was genuine, her confusion understandable.

While I give the protesters a lot of respect for their decision to air their views and to bring their opinions to the public, I question their methods. Perhaps in the future they should criticize the president for his policy decisions rather than the instruments he uses to carry them out.

The Army follows the orders of the commander in chief regardless of what they are, regardless of whether they agree or not. (It would be safe to say that a majority of those in the military did not vote for Clinton, and I think it would also be safe to say that few of them agree with his policy decisions).

ROTC students should be admired for their commitment to an increasingly unpopular endeavor. These are the students who are putting their lives on the line for us and our rights - and the only thing they ask for in return is respect. These are the students who allow us to be the leaders and the best simply by doing their job and doing it well.

As the man shouted "babykillers!" over and over again, it must have been quite daunting for ROTC members to endure. The most difficult part must have been knowing that none of them have ever killed another person and that none of them ever wants to - Nicole, as an Army nurse, was shocked that anyone would think of her or her friends as killers - and that their tireless work was going unappreciated.

These protesters need to understand that they are dealing with dedicated people who have little to no control over the actions they must take, that it is the elected officials who represent us that are making the decisions about war and bombs and what is going on in Iraq at this very moment. I am sure that those people who join the military know full well that the price we pay for freedom is the need for war, the need to exercise power. But like the police who enforce the laws but don't make them, our military enforces national policy without having a hand in it. Without the threat of force in Iraq, yesterday's peace would not have been possible.

To ROTC students: keep up the good work; at least some of us out here appreciate you.

- Josh White can be reached over e-mail at jswhite@umich.edu.

02-24-98