The cartoon below was created by a New York Times cartoonist. The intention here is quite clear. The news outlet aims to derail the idea that a crucial role, and arguably the primary role, of the military is to defend the homeland from outside forces.

According to the Times, the military’s true function is stay preoccupied half the world away. In foreign lands, what a soldier is fighting for is not immediately clear. There are certainly reasons as to why America’s troops are scattered across the world. However, the benefit to having them fight in any of these areas is up for debate.

This rings true whenever one looks at the history of American military involvement in the middle east. For decades have Americans laid down their lives, trillions of dollars have been spent, and to what end? Regimes have been toppled, the region is in chaos, the refugee crisis has leaked over into Europe.

In order to justify the destruction that has been brought to this area of the world, America would have had to gain something substantial. However, any direct benefit to the nation is difficult to point out.

Still, the New York Times suggests that soldiers want to go there. But why would soldiers want to fight for their country in the middle east? Anyone trying to defend this idea could not give you a clear and simple answer. Plenty of mental gymnastics would be necessary in order to justify this point. The only real argument on this point would lie with a soldiers desire to serve his country, no matter where that might be.

However, when it comes to intuitive places to serve one’s own country, there is none more intuitive than one’s homeland. Service elsewhere in the world becomes irrelevant without the preservation of one’s own country. U.S.soldiers are serving America, and thus there could not be a better use of their service than to handle a threat to national security on home soil.

The New York Times is so out of touch with reality that this simple truth cannot even be grasped. This cartoon will resonate with no one. The anti-war left will not agree with wanting our troops to be in the middle east. The right will certainly not buy the idea that border security doesn’t matter. Who is the news agency speaking to? This question is perhaps too difficult to answer.