I watched the movie Zero Dark Thirty in 2013 knowing it was the Bin Laden movie, a fictionalized account of events that led to the capture (and killing) of Osama Bin Laden, based on real events. Entertaining movie, scenes of torture, Jessica Chastain, mostly shot in the dark, a typical military movie. What I DID NOT know, however, is that Zero Dark Thirty is actually a military term for the time between midnight and dawn that is the best time to move quietly and without being detected, like the US Navy Seals (Seal Team Six) did to get the jump on Bin Laden and the compound guards, with minimal loss of life (at least for the US side).
I recently learned a bit about World War II and just couldn't imagine actually serving in any military. The amount of discipline that is required to go through basic training, waking up at 5AM, being on a disciplined schedule, probably without smartphone use.... how do people do it, especially in this day and age? In World War II it felt like the world was at war so it was your duty to enlist and fight for the right side, fight for your country, fight for your family. I can't even stop nowadays for someone on the highway- MJ and I drove past a car that rammed headfirst into the protective railing seemingly seconds ago, with smoke coming out of the engine and the driver scrambling outside to collect materials. I could have stopped and should have stopped (even though I was a little delirious from visiting the fertility clinic for what seemed like a whole week straight)- I guess I'm a little shaken about my own personality and who I've become, someone who doesn't care about others, someone who is guilty of the Bystander Effect and assumes someone else will help the unfortunate car accident victim, someone who justifies not helping by the lawyerly mentality of thinking, "if do nothing I'm not liable, but if I do something but incorrectly I might be liable." Not all of these things are displayed in just one decision to help someone in distress on the side of the road, but over the course of time I'd like to think I hold myself to a higher standard. And what is there really to do when helping someone, unless there is an immediate need to pull someone out of car and/or there's an active fire? Not sure I could do much except call 9-1-1. I HAVE actually called 9-1-1 to report deer on the highway or impediments, so I guess I know the protocol there. I think the best thing to do if I haven't driven by today's driver was stop ahead of the driver, block off the lane to make sure everyone stopped before the scene and went around, ask the driver if everyone was OK, and then just wait for the first responders to arrive.
I wonder in the future if the human race needs to fight wars anymore, or if wars need to be fought between human combatants. Seems like with the new technology of finding any one person anywhere in the world with face recognition technology and drones, technology might outsource even military jobs of you know, being on the frontlines. All the lives being lost fighting for a cause or an ambitious world leader's personal vendetta might no longer be needed, maybe wars are just fought economically, or through strategic probabilities, like you submit your model of what would happen if I unleashed all my weapon power on you, it says victory is 99.8% likely, and the other side just submits to that? May seem silly but probably preferable to the enormous loss of life on the battlefield as well as the amount of innocents dying like in Gaza or Ukraine. 75 million people are estimated to have died in World War II including victims of genocide, civilian casualties, etc., the US lost just 400,000 military and not many civilians but don't say "just" to the US soldiers who passed away on the battlefield or lost limbs, came back never the same. 37 years old would be really old for soldiers, the life expectancy was not high, yet I still feel like a kid. Maybe, just maybe, our first priority for the use of technology and resources is to cure medical issues first but then modernize warfare: make it like Zero Dark Thirty and stealth operations that limited death and the horrors of war.
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