I understand war. Side A gets a bunch of people together, dresses them in similar costumes, gives them weapons of mass destruction. Side B does a similar process and the two sides face off against one another. The goal of this game, for whatever good reason they have concluded, is to kill as many of the other side as possible. Simple.
During this game, many are injured and must be dragged back to hospitals of the homeland. Others are killed and, if their fellow soldiers have the time, are sent back home to be buried.
Our species, in one land or another, have followed this ritual long before I got here and continue until today. I understand people get upset with other people. Sometimes, what causes conflict is a simple excuse to let out your anger. The anger may be a verbal harassment to road rage to one procuring a weapon and doing physical to another. There are laws and even religious commandments against doing this, but it doesn’t stop.
Some of the ‘leaders’ who order people into battle are overthrown. Some of the participants of this game realize the futility and surrender. Sometimes one side has more bullets than the other side as bodies and declare a win.
My question is what happens to those who surrender?
Maybe they were overwhelmed or maybe they ran out of bullets or maybe some general someplace decided they wanted to run for politics at a later date and ordered everyone to raise the white flag.
Now, the other side have all these folks standing around with their hands up. You take away their weapons and search them for secret contraband like maps or letters from home, then you line them upon a road.
You can’t shoot them (though it happens) for they are unarmed, so you march them down the road to get away from the front line fighting that might still be going in another area. These are people who just moments before were trying to kill you but are now your responsibility. You can’t send them back, for they will just pick up more weapons and come back to kill you again.
These folks are now in your care. You are responsible to house them, cloth them, feed them and treat them with dignity even though they may appear different and speak a different tongue.
Some area must be found to store these folks. To maintain control, a wire or wooden fence needs to be built to show a perimeter where they folks are allow to venture without being shot. Rather than having all these folks standing out in the weather, it seems humane to pitch tents or shacks and provide blankets and cots for sleeping. Someone has to provide meals or starve the masses to alleviate a rebellion. A minimum number of soldiers who would be sent to the front line to keep killing the enemy are held back to show the consequences for the prisoners to obey their new orders.
You can keep these detainees busy by questioning them or forcing them to do maintenance work like digging latrines or patching leaky roofs. Though this situation may become tedious repetition (which is the army way) and tools used must be accounted for at the end of the day so as not be used as weapons against those who restrict their assimilation into the population or dig tunnels to escape. If more prisoners are accumulated bathing (due to smell and disease prevention) will be necessary. Medical facilities will have to be established to treat everything from battle wounds to rotting teeth. If children, women and other civilians have been mixed up in this crowd, they will probably need to be dissimilated from the warriors.
As long as the turmoil continues, these dis-combatants will need to be sheltered, clothed, fed and bed until they can be returned from parts where they came from. All of this takes money. Did the victors fund for the homeless along with the bombs and planes and bullets?
Recently, wild fires are not only burning down forest, but leveling neighborhoods. Homeowners are now homeless. Insurance companies are adapting to the pressure of fulfilling their claims and construction companies seek workers who are being deported.
There are wonderful organizations who provide assistance and food from caring donations, but how long will that last? Would you allow a bunch of folks to pitch a tent in your backyard? Would you feel comfortable having strangers use your bathroom and eat your food? Sending in a PayPal to a GoFundMe ensure the money will go to the needy or pay for a night on the town?
So, everyone turns to the politicians for a solution.
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