What's merry about all this?

US Defense Watch ^ | December 23, 2015 | Ray Starmann

[pboyington]

For the troops serving overseas, Christmas time can be a bleak, depressing period.

Whether guarding a motor pool, commanding a company or landing a jet on a carrier, thoughts of loved ones stay with our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines night and day. They dream of snow-covered landscapes, decorated and brilliantly-lit trees, abundant food and the warmth of a holiday home.

It seems that Americans have always been deployed to dangerous frontiers during the holidays as they’ve battled the enemies of freedom and justice.

In December 1776, the entire American patriot cause was in danger of collapsing. Reeling from yet another loss to the British Army, General George Washington and his men retreated from New York to the frozen hills of eastern Pennsylvania. Desperate times called for desperate action. Instead of bivouacking for the winter, as was the custom at the time, Washington developed a daring plan to hit the enemy.

On Christmas night, he led 2,400 starving and ill-clothed Continental Army troopers across the ice-choked Delaware River. The next morning, Washington attacked, surprising 1,500 Hessians who were recovering from a night of merriment and Gluehwein. The Battle of Trenton was an overwhelming victory and perhaps the greatest Christmas present of all for the young nation.

Almost 170 years later, in December 1944, descendants of those Continental Army soldiers would fight the ancestors of the Hessians in the snow-draped, undulating hills of the Ardennes. Under the cover of thick fog, Hitler launched his last great offensive, deceptively code-named “Wacht am Rhein.” (Watch on the Rhine) Attacking with over twenty divisions, the German forces surprised the U.S. Army in what would soon be dubbed “The Battle of the Bulge.”

Straight-leg units like the Bloody Bucket, the 28th Infantry Division and the veteran 2nd Infantry Division held off Wehrmacht and SS divisions for several days, screwing up the Germans’ timetable. Ike ordered the 101st Airborne Division to establish a perimeter around the vital crossroads town of Bastogne, Belgium. Battling onslaught after onslaught of German panzers and mechanized infantry, the boys of the 101st soon found themselves encircled. In the words of one unknown GI, “They’ve got us surrounded, the poor bastards.”

http://www.printsofthecivilwar.com/bastogne_lg.jpg

Sitting in frozen foxholes, enduring subzero temperatures and deadly artillery barrages, the soldiers of the 101st hummed the bars of “I’ll be home for Christmas.” Running low on food, ammo and medical supplies, the Americans refused to surrender. On Christmas Eve, Brigadier General McAuliffe, the acting commanding general of the 101st (Maxwell Taylor was in Washington), delivered this Christmas message to his brave troopers.

http://liberationtrilogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/20b-198646-McAuliffe-Bastogne.jpg

“What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting – it’s cold – we aren’t home. All true, but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, South, East and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms and are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.”

The day after Christmas, the 101st was met by lead elements of Gen. George Patton’s Third Army. In one of the greatest feats of war, Patton pulled his Third Army out of a major battle in the Saar and marched them 150 miles through enemy territory without food, rest or water. While watching his Third Army soldiers trudge through snow on the way to Bastogne, Patton exclaimed, “God****it, I’m proud of these men!”

Now, as Christmas Day 2015 nears, we may ask ourselves the same question. “What’s Merry about all this, you ask?”

America, despite all the problems we have is still the greatest country on the earth. We are beset with economic, societal and national security issues that hound us daily. But, have no doubt, we will prevail.

In Ramadi tonight, ISIS is on the verge of losing the prize city. With heavier than normal US air support, US advisers and the Iraqi Army, the emissaries of evil are spending their last hours in the town. US troops are on the front lines once again in Iraq, in harm’s way.

Hopefully, this will be a harbinger of things to come. And, let ISIS be forewarned, once a Republican is elected President, your days of murdering and torturing and looting and destruction are DONE.

We are going to hunt you down to every corner of the world and finish you off. How you go is up to you, whether it’s death by drone, laser guided bomb or courtesy of Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson; rest assured, your days are numbered under a President Trump or Cruz.

In the autumn of 1776, Thomas Paine, that wisest of philosophers, wrote, “These are times that try men’s souls.” The same can be true of America’s problems, both external and internal today.

To our forces on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan and all across the world, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There is, indeed, much to be merry about.

[knarf]

I enlisted for three years in '65 and had three Thanksgivings and three Christmasses away from home

The hardest was a Korean motor pool Christmas Eve until 6AM Christmas Day

The holidays are hard, but the camaraderie of your friends makes it doable

I think also ... the thought processes you go through are a strengthening exercise only a soldier develops

NOTHING beats a letter from home ... especially Ma.

[pboyington]

It would have been hard to survive without camaraderie.

Happy Holidays