Last, I tried to tell my very patriotic son (like Sam's Mom) that the weasels in D.C. could do this to them (I lived through the last time in Viet Nam). I tried to tell him that he was risking it all (especially as he's the only child I could have) for a bunch of craven politicians and Americans who think he's stupid and has no other options in life and wouldn't “get it” if he could show them what he gave up to serve his country. I had such guilt when I tried to talk him out of it. I felt like a traitor to point out that our nation has become a bunch of slimeballs who think only of how much they can accumulate and spend on themselves.
I felt like such a jerk to tell him that his country doesn't deserve him, but it seems like Introduction to Law 101 takes center stage — “Truth is a defense.”
In answer to Sam's Mom, our win may only mean that our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, wives and husbands, grandsons and granddaughters make it to Heaven before we do or they get ring side seats to Armageddon. In any case, I'm becoming less and less enthused as time passes and these jackasses inside the beltway continue to plumb new depths in lack of character, decency and depravity.
Please, don’t thank me for something I loved to do. Your son will be serving more than those weasels in DC- he’ll be defending the Constitution and that is more than those people. I joined when President Reagan was Commander in Chief and survived through the Clinton years and he was kind enough to send me to the Balkans. But, I truly enjoyed serving under President Bush. I’ll say a prayer for your son that all will go well for him on his journey.