Writer's war critique perverts mission of the service

STEVE ALMOND'S gratuitous slam at the military ("Supporting our troops," Op-ed, Sept. 18) is an infuriating perversion of the mission of the US military. More disturbing is the fact that the Globe chose to feature his essay. The "sworn duty" of our soldiers is not "to wage war," as Almond writes, but to protect this country. The "graft and mismanagement" of government contracts for reconstruction projects are the fault not of our soldiers but of the Congress we elected to award and monitor those contracts.

On behalf of my son and daughter who are currently serving in Iraq and my husband who served in Vietnam, I am disgusted by Almond's assertion that some soldiers "are driven to savagery" because they have been given an "ethically incoherent mission."

Atrocities in war are committed by individuals who have no moral grounding. This is not the fault of the military but of their families and schools who failed to teach ethical values.

I cannot accept Almond's assertion that Americans look "to heroic violence as a means of spiritual regeneration." American soldiers have chosen to commit themselves to a credo of "duty, honor, country." Any spiritual regeneration they may experience comes from the knowledge that their sacrifices have made the world a little safer for everyone.

ANNE MARIE MAHONEY
Belmont