Put your life on hold to defend your country at war, live in a desert under harsh conditions for several tours, be on battlefields under ridiculous ROE, see your buddies die, get shot, get your legs-arms-face-and other body parts blown off, be burned alive, be away from your loved ones for years, kill others and see-feel-hear-smell-taste the ravages and horrors of war.
Do all of this and much much more, while your children grow up without you, and your wife is so lonely that she cries each night and is exhausted each day from the worry and fear of the reality that you may never come home. Miss the holidays, ball games and school concerts. Be unable to see your little girl turn into a woman or your boy become a man.
Fight for and bravely serve your country knowing that when it comes time for an election, your vote doesn’t count.
All of those things you might have done, you never will. All of those loving moments with your loved ones that were put on hold, are lost forever. You make all of these sacrifices knowing that half of those in America don’t really appreciate a damn thing you are doing for them and in their name. You fight and kill those that dream and plan to cut off the heads of every American, including their children, but those Americans don’t even care enough to support you.
I’ll stop, because there really is no way to list all of the sacrifices that our troops make for our country and challenges they must endure.
Now, after all of that and if you still have a beating heart and you make it home, those that sent you there take away the very rights you fought for. You find that there are no jobs, the CIC has lessened your pay and medical benefits, they call you crazy and they restrict you from ever again owning a gun.
There is one question I ask myself from time to time, and I believe that it should be on the minds of every American: “Am I living a life worthy of their sacrifice?” I don’t think that I am sometimes, but I know that I try.
Okay, I ranted...I should shut up.
Thank you so much for saying that. Semper Fi from me and Mr. JouleZ. Molon Labe.
“Okay, I ranted.....I should shut up.”
Ranted? Of the thousands, if not tens of thousands of posts I’ve seen on Free Republic, your post is one of the best, if not THE best, I’ve ever seen!
Forget Post of the Day, Post of the Week, or Post of the Month....you should be in the running for Post of the Decade!
“I should shut up.”
NO.....You should post more often! Well done!
Are you kidding? Preach it brother! Millions of us veterans need to get up off our collective buttocks and stand and fight this evil that is brewing!