Much of those born after the fall of Marcos Perez Jimenez grew up with a family member who praised the military life. A cousin or grandparent speaks of military rectitude, and he missed a past that expected future return: the generals in power would bring with rifle enforcement.
Two or three times a year the TV screen turned green by the parades with hundreds of soldiers marching or running while repeating catchy songs about the motherland and glory.
The inculcated heroes were and still wearing epaulets. The lesson is that there is reason to question them, they taught us to thank the country without any loophole for questioning. In addition, school education for the heroes and hypodermic needle from the state even before the call to worship Fifth Republic- men dressed in green had reinforcements on television cartoon series such as GI Joe.
The military is sacred, it could then summarize the message. However, a record that turned 30 in March represented for me a slap that removed those thoughts, blasphemy barracks filled with different interpretations questions arose then a teenager.
That album is Metallica Master of Puppets. Its cover is already an anti-war manifesto. At 16 years it was not so easy to digest such a cover loaded with symbolism. A God of red hands will hang strips that collapse on a military cemetery.
While the album does not have a single message against the warmongering, because it also delves into internal conflicts, depression, madness and drug addiction, was an early window to the other side they walk different ideas on the subject. A few years later , one would discover films like Full Metal Jacket Stanley Kubrick, which premiered a year after the launch of Master of Puppets, or Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola in theaters in the late seventies.
