I am starting this here because I did not want to change the topic in another thread. I have my soapbox with me and I will now stand on it and say the following. I apologize ahead of time if it seems long winded.
Many years ago, 1991 as a matter of fact, I was working for the Sheriff's Office. Our country had just declared war on Iraq and I felt the need to fly my flag from my house. The flag in question was the battle ensign (American flag) from my ship I was stationed on prior to my discharge. It was so big that it hung from my roof and barely cleared the ground. The Globe sent a reporter out, for some reason, to talk to me. For the next 3 days my picture was on the front page along with an article about my patriatism and such. Another officer at the dept. took offense to this because they had a family member going into battle over there and wrote negative comments about me and my views in our comments book at the station. I felt the same way then as I do now, If asked to serve I would drop everything and join without question.
People join the military for any number of reasons. Family tradition, wanting to learn a career, college money, lack of guidance and purely honor are some of them. For wahtever reason a person joins one thing is clear up front: You will be trained to fight and you may die in the process. This is not some hidden agreement written in small letters that you find out after, it is right there up front. You may die. You may be put in harms way. You may have to kill someone. If you do not understand this before you sign up, you are an idiot pure and simple. Your family and friends do not have to like it, nor should they like it, but they have to know it is a possability. They have to know that while you are serving your country YOU MAY BE COUNTED ON GOING TO WAR. It will be hard going but when you sign the dotted line you have committed yourself to that. Every service member, from the front line grunts to the paper pushers at the Pentagon, accepts this fate. The harsh reality is that no matter who you are, in the event of a war you are now a number. If your ship sinks you will be remembered and even honored but the reality is they will build another one and replace you with another person. That is the cold reality.
So, anyway, when asked if I would go serve again I did not hesitate when answering yes. I had a wife and two children at the time.........and I would leave them to go fight if asked to. That is what I was trained to do. I would have gladly taken the place of someone who did not want to be there so they could come home. Not because I am a blood and guts kind of guy but because until you have felt the feeling you get from working and living with a group of people who will work as one and die as one, you just can't explain it.
I think most of our politicians forget this or do not feel it. The military wants to get in, get it over with then get out. No muss, no fuss and no tolarence to those that wish to oppose it. The enemy is on the run, you don't stop and yell at them as they get away. You annialate (sic) them. You chase them down and dispose of them as a threat. The enemy hides in a building, you level the building to show there is no hiding place. It is not pretty, maybe even not fair or on a high moral level, but it ends the problem. You can discuss it later.
Bush wants to send in more troops. Should have been done a long time ago. We should have never turned the cheek to allow our enemy to slap us again, and again, and again..........kill one of ours and we will slaughter 100 of yours. The first threat made to us should be the last one made.
Ok, I am now off my soapbox.
