By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
A few months back, I lost a good friend of mine to a heart attack. My buddy Greg. We couldn’t have been more different folks: he was a combat-wounded veteran who was much on the right. I’m a skeptical journalist who believes in neither party – I think they’re both out for themselves and their donors. I want what’s best for the working class – not rich people. Throughout our friendship, we had plenty of healthy debates on policy, Supreme Court rulings, social issues, etc. It never affected our friendship. One of the biggest lessons I learned from Greg was about what someone in active duty goes through when they’re called into the fray. Greg had served in Iraq as a Navy Corpsman, helping the Marines. He had seen things that scrambled him in the noodle forever. He carried the ghosts of friends lost and eventually had to give up the drink because when the Jameson hit, he’d start going to dark places internally. I miss that guy.
During our frank conversations about war and purpose, identity and dedication, we agreed on multiple things, with one being the most ardent: that both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were nothing but a mistake, a boon for only the military industrial complex. The rich dudes got richer, and more Americans came home in boxes. And for what? Nothing got better or safer here or there.
And now, we’re dangling on the edge of another war that feels like it will go on forever. More service members were killed. Trump thought he could waltz into Iran and make a big splash, being the tough guy, and yet, he did nothing but show the weaknesses in our military, our leadership, and his judgment. And now, plenty of us are bearing the brunt of expensive gas and expensive everything else.
The war with Iran continues to escalate after Iranian missile and drone strikes hit the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killing two American service members, leaving another missing, and injuring several others. The attack marked the deadliest blow to U.S. forces since fighting resumed, prompting another round of American airstrikes on Iranian military infrastructure. With each retaliation followed by another reprisal, the conflict has moved further from diplomacy and closer to a wider regional war. The human cost continues to climb while the possibility of miscalculation—or a much larger conflict—grows with every exchange.
Trump, Hegseth, and everyone else pushing this escalation won’t be the ones paying its human cost. They’ll give speeches, hold press conferences, and move on to the next news cycle while someone else’s son or daughter bears the consequences.
When we say, “support the troops,” that should mean do everything to protect them from harm. Not cheer on every escalation with frothing jowls to “show them,” in some kind of xenophobic blanket statement of propaganda and manufactured hate. The people making these decisions will never be the ones ducking incoming missiles or watching their friends die beside them. They’ll hold press conferences, go on television, and move on to the next news cycle. It’s working-class kids who pay the price, military families who bury their loved ones, and taxpayers left footing the bill long after the politicians who started the war have left office. If you think anyone in Trump’s orbit has a kid near the front lines, we need to talk about you buying my new line of snowblowers specially made for Hawaii.
At this point, what does victory look like? Are we going to be happy with a flimsy ceasefire? Or another destination for tours of duty with full morgues? I don’t have the faith that anyone in the Trump organization has the skills to get out of a conflict they started with as much skill as it took to ruin the reflecting pool.
The American consumer has been the one paying the price in every facet of our lives, all the time, thanks to the bad choices made by this administration. Greg and I disagreed about plenty, but I cannot imagine him confusing caution with cowardice. He knew that war was not a flashy television graphic or a campaign data point. It was young people carrying memories they would spend the rest of their lives trying to survive. The continued calamity in Iran is good for no one, and yet, here we are about to spend a lot of money we could use on our own streets, but instead, we’re buying more bombs. I wonder what we’d say to each other if he were around to talk about all of this. Chances are, we’d agree once again that war is never a good idea.
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