Music and War Tourism

Today we talk about a strange new industry called war tourism. This is where westerns go off to ISIS controlled Syria and Iraq and fight for what I can only assume to be their beliefs. While the term is new men and women have often gone off to fight in causes they believed in.

When I first heard about this on the BBC I thought of Hemingway and the Lincoln Brigade fighting in Spain during their Civil War.  Is there much of a difference. While I have read about and listened to interviews of the soldiers that fought against Franco I have not heard from similar tourists going off to Syria.

Will we treat these current day warriors the same way? Many that went off to fight in Spain were able to use their training in fighting the Germany in WWII. Unfortunately their home countries (US and Britain come to mind) not only forgot about them, but also persecuted them as Reds and Communists in the post WWII era.

As an unrepentant cold warrior I get it. It was not right but it is important to see the period in the eyes of those that were there.

With all this news on ISIS I come to read this week that the Smithsonian has released folk tune from the Spanish Civil War.  Songs heard by the 2,500 that went off to fight from the US as well as friends and family at home. I look forward to listening to these and think about men (and women) willing to leave their country and go and fight for their beliefs.

Are you able to do this?

Media for Wargaming

While doing my under-grad work in history, I spent a get deal of time in the stacks going through old newspapers, magazines and the ever-present microfiche. These were great secondary sources for the events occurring since the mid-19^th century. I was wondering what were historians and gamers going to use to research modern day conflicts. While the Vietnam War and Falklands both have a lot of books out there remembering their platoon, squadron or ship, how will we find out about the more secretive parts of the world. There is not much that comes out of the Middle East dealing with military matters unless it pertains to the United States. So while I can find some materials about Lebanon 1982 in English, it is mostly from the Israeli point of view. I have found one book with a chapter on Syria and their air force. It added a total of three pages and no notes on sources (OK the sources are only a problem for the academic in me).

So what can a gamer do? Since I limited myself from the start of the invasion to the attempts to close the Beirut to Damascus Highway we are only looking at less than three weeks (6 June 1982 to 24 June 1982). This leaves the monthly and even the weekly publications out. As for the daily newspapers other than the New York Times and The Jerusalem Post I am not certain what to use. Any suggestions?

A view of the film crew reporting on a Syrian advance on a Lebanese position.

A view of the crew and Syrians advancing taken from the mosque. Figures from Peter Pig and buildings from Fieldworks. Jon Yuengling did the painting.