Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq. Show all posts

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Veterans Day 2017





Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I on "the eleventh day of the eleventh hour of the eleventh month" of 1918. Today, this holiday honors the men and women who have defended the United States through service in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

In my family I knew only three veterans, all uncles, one serving in World War I and the other in World War II. 



My Great Uncle George, standing on the left with his fire brigade in Jacksonville, Florida, served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in World War I, the Great War. To him, this day was Armistice Day. I was ten when he died and didn't know him, but much of what he was as a veteran is present in my house. His portrait hangs just off our foyer. The pocket Bible he carried is in a keepsake cabinet nearby along with his military issue binoculars and a silver-plated swagger stick - a gift from his unit - made from machine gun shells casings and the Seal of the U.S. Army. The last item is one he never saw, but it summarized everything he did as a soldier. That item is the flag that covered his coffin. To my knowledge, it's still in the original triangle fold made the day he was buried sixty years ago.

The other veterans, Uncle Hollis - better known as "Red" - and Uncle Charles both served in the Pacific during World War II. In 1943-44, Red was assigned to Barber's Point Naval Air Station in Hawaii while his brother-in-law, Charles, served at Pearl Harbor. The facilities were a mere five miles apart but almost one year passed before they knew they were so close. On hearing the news, they resolved to meet for a photograph at the first opportunity. And here it is, taken at Waikiki with Red (l) and Charles (r) together at last.



Both returned safely to their Potomac Valley hometowns in the Appalachian Mountains near Cumberland, Maryland. Hardly a decade passed before the declining economy in the region forced them to relocate to better job opportunities. Red moved his family to Akron, Ohio and a career with Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Charles took his family to the booming oil industry in Houston, Texas and work in real estate management. Both are gone now, along with their wives, Edith and Dorothy, and contact with the cousins is infrequent these days.

I am not a veteran. I'll never experience how military service shapes a person inside. But I do count many veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf. Afghanistan, Iraq wars and other military operations among my friends.  They taught me more than any book that the cost of freedom is not free.  Each of them paid a very personal price that enables us to enjoy life in this bountiful nation today.  On this, their day of honor, I offer up to all of them my sincerest admiration and thanks for their service.




Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hot and Windy with Occasional Incoming

Fox News is reporting that President Obama has announced to leaders in Congress that he will end combat operations in Iraq on August 31, 2010. I think that's a great day for the last plane out of Baghdad because skies will be clear with 10 mph winds out of the northwest and a high temperature of 108 degrees.

Wow. The need to soothe the agony of the anti-war left in Obama's camp must be critical. I guess the lefties think all those computer simulations and models popped out "08312010" in response to the question, "When can we stop fighting?" Such an announcement really has no meaning, but it does bring the Islamofascists closer to reality. I can see them inside their caves in the Hindu Kush typing the information and other notes onto their calendar page under the heading, "Things to Do." They may have reason for concern as our combat forces in Afghanistan may be 140,000 soldiers stronger than it is today. Six from one, half dozen to another. On the other hand, those forces could be returning to American soil. But don't worry, American combat soldiers won't be fighting in Iraq.

One thing I learned from my political science professors was that war, by definition, is seldom a unilateral experience; historically, it has required an opposing force. I would like to think that military history and experience, rather than strong ideology, will drive our decision making. However, we already know President Obama has little training in history, military or otherwise, and limited executive experience in the real world. Thus, he announces the end of our combat operations to the world "08312010." That is eighteen months from now and a signal to our opponents to work overtime to embarrass the United States and weaken our foreign policy. His advisers should know better.

I wonder what the weather will be on "11022010?" I predict that it will be Tuesday.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Take Two: Negotiating With Madness Is Not An Option

If you ever think you can reason with irrational people, try reading this Little Green Footballs post about an Iraqi woman who organized the rape of 80 women so she could recruit them as suicide bombers. The culture of shame does not translate well in the West. It is a behavior we need to know and understand, if we are to successfully defend our values from this death cult.

This disturbing story is showing up in several places today, but I think it so important that I want to make sure readers see it.

ShareThis