<p>
[quote]
On a Sunday afternoon in late April, 1st Lt. Travis Manion spoke to his father via satellite phone from a dusty Iraqi Army barracks in downtown Fallujah. Manion and his fellow Marines with Military Transition Team (MiTT) 30 - advisors to the 3-2-1 Iraqi Army - had recently watched a DVD of the movie "300," and it made an impression. He told his dad that for the Spartans, there was "no greater honor" than to die fighting for one's country and its freedoms. He expressed frustration that many Americans didn't understand that's what he and his Marines were doing in Iraq. The satellite phone kept cutting out and, unusually, Travis kept calling his father back. He lingered on the phone. He spoke of the importance of honor, strength and courage. He expressed kinship with the Spartans.</p>
<p>A week later, Travis Manion died a Spartan's death....
<p>What an obscenity to link a national hero's death to pop tripe like the movie "300" - especially one that is a total lie as to what Sparta was and the history of Thermopylae. It is like using the German SS courage shown at Stalingrad as a shining example in how to illustrate such a man's life. I suppose after 2500 years Hitler might get better press than he is getting now - especially if it makes a snappy story line for a pop movie.</p>
<p>If there is any area where history is important, it is in the application of history to life and death with the armed forces of the USA. One should read a bit of it before misusing it.</p>
<p>Well intentioned or not, this posting says that Manion aspired to have the qualities of the most supreme and successful slave holding facist state to have ever existed. Spartans made Hitler look like an amateur. Trust me, Manion does not want to have kinship with Spartans or to be remembered in that fashion. Out of respect of his sacrifice this should be corrected.</p>
<p>This sounds like a rant but USA pop culture and history (and its misuse) is of absolute crucial importance now, especially against an enemy who uses the crusades as a sincere and core rational for their murderous ways.</p>
<p>Jeesh, What have the Spartans done to you lately, anyway?</p>
<p>I read that article pretty darn close and did not see one example of 1LT Travis Manion extolling the virtues of slavery to his dad or friends. </p>
<p>Rather I think it is pretty clear that what struck a chord with LT Manion were some of the martial themes that were highlighted in that movie. I think it would be safe to assume that he did not particularly buy in to the whole Spartan experience, but recognized aspects of his own experience (honor, strength, courage) in Iraq as he watched.</p>
<p>Despite the obscenity one finds almost anywhere, anytime in our common history (hey, even the Athenians, cradle of democracy had slaves, as did we), we can look back in wonder at their humanity, warts and all, and be amazed of by the noble expression of some of our own cultures most prized ideals.</p>
<p>I guess I am just surprised that a news story can be written about a military hero that in the weeks before his death is moved by the honor, strength, courage he had witnessed in a movie, has a heartfelt conversation with his father (who will probably nurture the memory of and draw solace from it for the rest of his life) about those virtues and we get hyperbole from you about the obscenity of Spartan culture, with gratuitous references to German SS and Hitler.</p>
<p>Jeesh, What have the Spartans done to you lately, anyway?</p>
<p>I read that article pretty darn close and did not see one example of 1LT Travis Manion extolling the virtues of slavery or Spartan governance to his dad or friends. </p>
<p>Rather I think it is pretty clear that what struck a chord with LT Manion were some of the martial themes that were highlighted in that movie. I think it would be safe to assume that he did not particularly buy in to the whole Spartan experience, but recognized aspects of his own experience (honor, strength, courage) in Iraq as he watched.</p>
<p>Despite the obscenity one finds almost anywhere, anytime in our common history (hey, even the Athenians, cradle of democracy had slaves, as did we), we can look back in wonder at their humanity, warts and all, and be amazed of by the noble expression of some of our own cultures most prized ideals.</p>
<p>I guess I am just surprised that a news story can be written about a military hero that in the weeks before his death is moved by the honor, strength, courage he had witnessed in a movie, has a heartfelt conversation with his father (who will probably nurture the memory of and draw solace from it for the rest of his life) about those virtues and we get hyperbole from you about the obscenity of Spartan culture, with gratuitous references to German SS and Hitler.</p>