There are a lot of people complaining about the recently released British sailors making money from their ordeal. I may be unpopular for saying this, but I have no problem with them being paid for their stories. After all, they risked life and limb.
No one complains about We Were Soldiers Once…And Young: Ia Drang–The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam. I’m sure authors Moore and Galloway have profited quite a bit from the the telling of that tale. How about My War: Killing Time in Iraq, by Colby Buzzell? No one complaining about that story being told. There are a thousand other examples. The only difference here is the amounts of money being offered and the speed with which the orchestration of the former captives’ tale telling has been organized.
I am somewhat disappointed with how few of those British sailors seemed to have more actively resisted. A few of them seem to have had the intestinal fortitude; I’m not sure why the others seem to have been so mentally weak. I can understand a man or woman breaking down under physical torture. Anyone would, eventually. We all have our breaking point. What disappoints me is how low the breaking point for most of these people seems to have been.
I suppose I’ll learn more as they tell their stories.