Understanding Terrorism

August 20th, 2008 by Edmund Snyder · 8 Comments

*Warning, this entry contains profanity.

When I was in the Navy in my late teens and early twenties, I was in a command that was oppressed by a tyrannical Master Chief. Unless you were there, it would be difficult for you to comprehend the sheer hopelessness and helplessness that was felt throughout our ranks. Unfortunately my power of storytelling can’t do it justice, but I will give a couple examples.

Shortly after my promotion to Petty Officer 3rd Class, while working in our squadron’s line division, I was in the line shack working on paperwork or filling out a log book. The Maintenance Master Chief walked into the line shack looking for someone or something (I’ll never know what because he didn’t say). “Petty Officer Snyder, congratulations. That chevron looks pretty good on your sleeve.”

“Thank you Master Chief,” I replied.

“IF YOU’D LIKE TO KEEP THAT MOTHERFUCKING SONOFABITCH…” I’d be lying if I claimed to remember a word he said after that. My point is that I was doing my job, doing nothing wrong and he tore into me for no reason whatsoever.

Another example: By the time of this story, I had been promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class. We deployed onboard the USS Eisenhower out of Norfolk, Virginia; although our squadron was based in Jacksonville, Florida. This meant that every time the Ike was to leave the pier we were required to pack up our squadron and ship it to Norfolk–two semi-trucks and six large helicopters worth of gear. Of course, everyone in the squadron was involved in packing, loading the trucks and unloading the trucks. Then after unloading, distributing the gear to its proper space onboard the ship. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone who was a 2nd Class and below. Chiefs were good at standing around and “supervising” while 1st Classes were good at disappearing.

Anyway, in Norfolk, the Ike was at the pier with aircraft elevators 1, 2, and 3 pierside, which left only El. 4 able to run equipment and gear between the hangar deck and the flight deck. There was a conveyor set up to get boxes, bags and other gear from the pier to the hangar which beat the hell out of trying to carry everything up a ladder or gangplank. Once on the hangar deck, there were forklifts and pallets for moving stuff into staging areas. However, most of our gear had to then be distributed from the hangar to various places throughout the ship. Most of our work and berthing spaces were on levels above the hangar deck so running it up to the flight deck and carrying it down ladderwells made much more sense than carrying it up ladder wells from the hangar deck.

Unfortunately on this one occasion El. 4 was undergoing routing maintenance and it would be several hours before it could be run. Fortunately there really wasn’t any hurry. The problem was that apparently the deck department was also telling our Master Chief that the elevator might run sooner. The other problem was that the mess decks were only open during a brief window and no one was allowed to go for fear that the elevator might make a run sooner.

At one point, I and several other people asked the chief who was left in charge if we could rotate people down to eat. The chief agreed that was a good plan. I was among the first people who went–rank has its privileges (although they were few and far between in that squadron). After eating quickly, we returned so that the next group could go, to find everyone standing in ranks at attention. Not knowing what was going on, we fell into ranks. A few minutes later, the Maintenance Master Chief walked up and asked, “how many people have been to eat.” Those of us who had raised our hands.

“LOOK AT ALL THESE COCKSUCKERS!” I’d be lying if I claimed to remember a word that he said after that. But I remember the result. He decided that since some people were gone when the elevator was ready to run that now we wouldn’t use the elevator at all (even though we could have just taken a slightly later elevator run) and we would have to haul everything up the ladderwells to their respective places. “Everything” included 100 pound cruise boxes with little wire handles that would cut into our hand regardless of the quality of our gloves–which were only of a decent quality at all if we were smart enough to have bought our own. Many people weren’t that smart.

During my time in that command, someone decided to start fires in the barracks back in Jacksonville. On another occasion, someone poked holes through the skin of the helicopters with a screwdriver or something similar. There may have been other acts that I don’t know about, but one thing is clear: these acts could have killed people–and the wrong people at that.

Now, I’m a very stable person, but even I fantasized about the day that someone less stable than I would walk into the Maintenance Office with a pistol and put an end to all our suffering.

The whole point to these examples is that when someone has been pushed around enough with no recourse they may ultimately take the only recourse left open to them. Starting fires in a barracks or poking holes in an aircraft are a type of terrorism. Sometimes terrorism is the only recourse left to a desperate soul.

Why is it so hard to understand that after years and years of overthrowing governments, or taking other actions that lead to the starvation or other deaths of millions of a person’s countrymen (and women and children) that those survivors may resort to the only recourse they have left? In my squadron we suffered for a few years and a few desperate people broke down and resorted to a type of terrorism. What might 50 years of unimaginable provocation lead to? Call it what you will, the CIA calls it blowback.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t condone terrorism. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand it.

Tags: Ed's Articles

8 responses so far ↓

1 Serena // Aug 20, 2008 at 1:37 pm

Well said. Same goes in the corporate environment and yet they never seem to connect the tyrants rants to the subsequent vandalism.

Sadly most people seem to have a problem gasping cause and effect.
2 Edmund Snyder // Aug 20, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Serena,

Thank you. I realized when I wrote this that I’m opening myself to some serious criticism from many of those people who can’t understand cause and effect.

I meant to, but somehow overlooked wondering [in this entry] how you can fight a war against terrorism when terrorism is almost always a tactic employed as a last resort by those who have been pushed too far and have no other recourse. You can’t kill everyone who might be close to being pushed over the edge. The smart thing would be to stop pushing.
3 Sam // Aug 20, 2008 at 1:58 pm

I have a half-decent Master Chief… but I do have a Chief just like that. He’s the most respected chief in the wing… just ask him, he’ll tell you (no one else will, but thats beside the point) He likes to threaten people with their jobs and Crows for little reason. I was threatened yesterday, as a matter of fact. of course I’m lucky, I work for a Senior Chief who has no love for the guy, so he can’t really touch me like he thinks I can.
he’s one of those people that will never, under any circumstances, give a guy a pat on the back, but will go out of his way to threaten us First Class petty officers if something out of our control happens.
4 Sam // Aug 20, 2008 at 2:05 pm

I must say however, acts of senseless vandalism as you described do not really equate to setting off a bomb in a crowded market. Poking holes in a helo justs costs a squadron money and time (it dosn’t even down the bird). starting fires in a barracks room is one thing, but having heard about those incidences for other sources who were stationed at Jax at the time, and knowing that they equated to a few small fires in waster paper baskets (not to mention who was held responsible and his mental state at the time… yeah, I know the story) I think you’re comparing mountains to potatoes. these weren’t religiously motivated (as terrorism almost exclusively is), these were motivated by a mentally unbalanced third class upset because he had to deploy and didn’t want to leave his girl friend. (Okay, I guess that is rather similar)
5 Edmund Snyder // Aug 20, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Sam,

Although I’m inclined to agree that poking holes in helos (sounds like the name of a metal song) is mostly harmless, I have to think that it is only a step away from damaging a tail rotor pitch cable or something else that could easily kill an aircrew. And starting fires in a barracks that is about 70 years old and a known firetrap is akin to attempted murder of the 50 or so people living in those barracks–even if they are just fires in wastecans.
Finally, even if you do discount those two examples you can’t discount the fact that even a stable guy like me admits to feeling so helpless and hopeless that I fantasized about a less stable person ending our misery. And frankly, the religious fanatics–whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or Zoroastrian–are far less stable than me.
6 Jim // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:48 pm

I think you are dead on when you say time to stop pushing, the American gov has been pushing too many for too long, and now it’s payback time. Every bully gets his eventually, either an ass whooping or worse, some scared kid who brings a gun to protect himself or to stop the abuse for good, I used a cut off hockey stick, that did the trick! There were 2 of them but that’s another story, I know what is causing the terrorist movement, it’s the big international bully and it’s only going to get worse. Without some kind of honest reconciliation with the people who have been bullied, it will never end unless they are all dead, or we are all dead, the problem is ours and we need to understand that the lies being fed to us by our governments will not keep us safe, only real change towards the rest of the world will do that. I hope it will happen before to long.
7 Edmund Snyder // Aug 21, 2008 at 8:57 am

Jim,
Thanks for your comment. I appreciate that you took the time to not only read my entry, but to also read the notes.
Too many people have been convinced that “terrorism” means “killing innocent civilians in the United States.” No, it means “acts that cause terror in others.” (my made-up definition, but an accurate one) How can you possibly fight a war against that?
I’m getting sick of the excuse that it’s ok to torture, suspend civil rights, increase the size and scope of government, murder, etc. people because 19 desperate (and now all dead) men blew up several buildings 7 years ago.
What a bunch of scaredy-cat chicken-shits we have become.
8 Jim // Aug 24, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Yes it is all about fear, just look at how many people are being tasered by the police, just as an example, why, I know why, they are scared, the police are, and if they have the choice between possibly getting hurt or just shooting a taser into someone, well it’s pretty clear from all the news stories which choice they will make. The way the American gov. is acting is much the same, fear is a very dangerous thing, and it isn’t going to go away anytime soon, even after the American people elect Mcsame to carry on where Bush left off, looks like bad times ahead for the U.S.A. I wish I was wrong, I hope I’m wrong.