What Do We Owe Our Soldiers? (Vanity)

Before you read this, I request you check these songs and listen to EVERY SINGLE WORD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gAi6xAxSA&list=FLNsrZy-L0vl7Eg2hdz7VEiw&index=336&feature=plpp_video

http://floppingaces.net/2010/06/21/obamas-rules-of-engagement-in-afghanistan-will-ensure-we-lose/

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2011/07/13/british-soldiers-told-not-to-shoot-ied-emplacers/

http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/2010/11/11/in-afghanistan-us-fights-taliban-and-military-roe.html

I want the reader to ask themselves how the daughter of a soldier must feel when she learns that her father died because his unit was denied support for fear of civilian casualties, or how the wife of a soldier would feel to learn that her husband died because he wasn’t permitted to kill the person who planted the IED that killed him. What kind of message do you think that sends to them; that the country, the government that sent their family member over to fight in a war they never asked for, considers their life inconsequential when compared to a bunch of strangers? And what kind of message do you think it sends to our troops (hell, I constantly ask myself why they still fight for us in light of this knowledge)?

When our soldiers are sent over to fight in a foreign land, do we not owe them every advantage, every chance, every tool at our disposal to make sure that they come home safe? Do we not owe them and their families the assurance that in a war, they are our top concern, not a bunch of foreigners who have no loyalty to the US and could be helping our enemies? If we send them over to fight, do we not accept the burden of protecting them in any and all ways possible?

No, I’m not suggesting that we should wantonly kill civilians; what makes America great is that we shudder at the idea of civilians being involved in a conflict and do our best to spare them. But their protection should not come at the expense of our soldiers. It should not come at the expense of someone’s friend, wife, husband, father, mother, son or daughter. Our soldiers and their families should not live day to day with their survival dependent on the welfare of random strangers, with the possibility that the support they will be relying on if they get into a battle will be denied for any reason. They should be able to face the task before them with the knowledge that they have the support and backing of the nation that sent them to do that task.

Our soldiers are our protectors; that has never been and should never be in question. But they are also our children, our brethren, our responsibility; they are not political pawns and they are not expendable. And when we call on them to put aside their families, their comfort, their joys, their very lives, we should accept the responsibility that comes with that gift. That responsibility is to put them first in the task they are asked to perform and to think of them and only them while they are carrying out that task. With what they give to us, there is nothing else we can give them to balance the scale.

People need to be reminded about what it means to be an American soldier and to be a family member of that soldier.

This coming Friday, son Doug will be the MC for our local Veteran's Day tribute. Most of these tributes read the poem, "In Flanders Field".

Doug feels that "In Flanders Field" is not appropriate because American men and women did not fight and die at that location, and the poem was written by a Canadian.

Doug has modified a United States Army Infantry poem to give recognition to all American Veterans and will present and read it this Friday at the local Veteran's Day ceremony.

Below is Doug's tribute:

For over two centuries we have kept our nation safe. Purchasing freedom with our blood. To tyrants, we are the day of reckoning; to the oppressed, the hope for the future. Where we were needed, we were there…We are Veterans!

Whether we were Eagles guarding the Heavens … grunts being King of our Hill or Sea wolves stalking our prey under the waves … we all were and are Veterans …. Sworn defenders of our Constitution. We built our Fortress of Liberty …. We guarded the Gates of Freedom … We signed the Blank Check … payable in blood.

We had not yet even begun to fight but we were there from the beginning, meeting the enemy face to face, will to will. Hardship…And glory we have known. Our bleeding feet stained the snow at Valley Forge; our frozen hands pulled Washington across the Delaware. At Yorktown, while the sunlight glinted from the sword we, begrimed…and saw our Nation born.

At New Orleans, we fought beyond the hostile hour, showed the fury of our long rifle…and came of age.

We were with Scott at Vera Cruz…hunted the guerilla in the mountain passes…and scaled the high plateau. The fighting was done when we ended our march many miles from the old Alamo.

From Bull Run to Appomattox, we fought and bled. Both Blue and Gray were our colors then. Two masters we served and united them strong…proved that this nation could right a wrong…and long endure.

We led the charge up San Juan Hill …scaled the walls of old Tientsin…and stalked the Moro in the steaming jungle …still always the vanguard.

At Chateau-Thierry, first over the top, then we stood like a rock on the Marne. We cracked the Hindenburg Line…We broke the Kaiser's spine…and didn't come back home 'till it was "over, over there."

A generation older we briefly bowed at Pearl Harbor and Bataan, but then vowed to return. We fought and won the greatest naval battles in history, from Midway to Guadalcanal to Okinawa. Our foe fought to the death and we set the Rising Sun.

We assaulted the African shore…learned our lessons the hard way in the desert sands…we pressed our buttons into the beach at Anzio…and bounced into Rome with determination and resolve.

We cleared the skies over Europe with wild Mustangs, Lightnings and Thunderbolts.

We crossed the English channel … Breached Hitler’s Atlantic Wall …We broke out at St. Lo … Unbent the Bulge…Vaulted the Rhine…and swarmed the Heartland. Hitler's dream and the Third Reich died. We won the greatest war in history.

At birth our Air Force won it’s first victory … by feeding freedom from the jaws of an evil dictator and proved that all freemen are Berliners.

In Korea, we gathered our strength around Pusan…swept across the frozen Han…outflanked the Reds at Inchon…and marched to the Yalu, and kept a nation free.

At the brink of World War … We caused our enemy to blink.

In Vietnam, while others turned aside, we fought the long fight, from the Central Highlands to the South China Sea. We patrolled the jungle, the paddies, the rivers and owned the skies in the bitter test that belongs to the betrayed. While WE never lost a battle, we came home to be spit on.

Around the world, we stand…ever forward. At Berlin's gates, we scorned the Wall of Shame. We spanned the Caribbean in freedom's cause, answering humanity's cry. In Santo Domingo we patrolled the streets to protect the innocent. In Grenada, we jumped at Salinas and rescued our fellow citizens and proclaimed freedom for all. Our arms set a Panamanian dictator to flight and once more raised freedom’s flag. In the Persian Gulf, we drew the line in the desert and won the Mother of all Battles.

When cowards attacked women and children on 9-11, we planted the seeds of freedom in the cradle of civilization. We will not submit … we will not convert … the cowards can run … but they will only die tired.

Where brave men fight…there I fought and stood. In freedom's cause…I live and I kill. From Concord Bridge to Heartbreak Ridge, from the Arctic to the Mekong, from the Caribbean to Kabul…Always ready…then, now, and forevermore.

My bayonet…on the wings of power… keeps freedom worldwide. And despots, falsely garbed in freedom's mantle, falter…hide…. And die.

I Follow…I Teach… I Aid… I Lead …I am a Veteran! FOLLOW ME!

Portions from the poem,” I am the Infantry”

IMHO...

A righteous army is a glorious thing since it protects a righteous people. IMHO, America and it’s military need to return to military policies that served America well from the founding of the nation until about the WWII era in the areas of religion and morality. Judeo-Christian ethics are all that is needed to serve as a guide to doing what is right.

To do otherwise is to reject the Word of God and leaves many members of the armed forces unsure of purpose and subject to the trials and tribulations of battle without the benefit of their certainty in the worthiness of both their cause and methods. All ranks need a solid moral perspective in order to make the right decisions in all matters.

Knowing that a war is righteous, and then being sure of how to righteously pursue that war is how our military should operate and be led. This gives those at all ranks the most straightforward and effective strategies and tactics, removing dangerous, unnecessary constraints and giving the soldier and veteran comfort regarding the honor and legitimacy of their actions. When a nation’s military allows deviance, needlessly places soldiers in danger or forms and enforces any other internal policy - purely for political correctness couched in immorality - that’s the beginning of the end of the nation’s defenses.

The Bible tells us that the horrors of life, including the battlefield, are best conquered with the support and wisdom of national citizenry and leadership that is first righteous, i.e., having substantial moral clarity. Militarily, this moral uprightness will provide the best results in the minimization of waste, optimal development and allocation of military tools and resources and the most appropriate provision for the return of veterans as the military wages war in the protection of the nation.

Thank you to all who have or are serving, God bless you and your families.

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