Former NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelly comments on the use of the military
I'm listening to the Ray Kelly interview on the Howard Stern Show. Howard had several questions about Kelly's military service. Kelly was a Colonel in the Marines. His son Greg was an officer and pilot in the Marines and served in Iraq.
Howard: It's hard to be in the military and have a family. True?
Kelly: Definitely. Very tough.
Howard: So that influences your decision.
Kelly: Of course, there are many many people in the military that have families and I think it's a particularly heavy burden for them and for the family to go forward. It's tough, very tough. And now you have the deployments much more frequent. They may be for a shorter duration but more frequent. It's tough to be in the military these days and have a familty.
Howard: When you are in the military, have you become some kind of an anti-war guy in the sence that anybody that serves in war and has seen real action, it weighs heavily on them the responsibility of sending men to war right? Because it is awful
.
Kelly: Yes, because the politicians don't know what it's like. It's a terrible experience. It had some good aspects to it obviously that stay with you, but the experience itself is very tough. You see the brutality you know of what men can do to other men. And I think the military people, you always find it in Washington, the military folks, the generals are the ones that are the most cautious about committing troops. The politicians that haven't been in the service are much more willing to commit other people to possible death.
Howard: Yeah, we sometimes thinks it's backwards. Oh the military guys all want to go to war. They know the horror of war. It's these guys that are chickenhawks who (say) hey we got to put boots on the ground. Meanwhile they don't know what it's like to be a boot on the ground right?
Kelly: Exactly
