Friday, November 11, 2005

Veteran's day

I want to start by apologizing. I've not posted a lot this week. I've had a lot on my mind and had to go kill stuff in WoW.

Today is the 11th day of the 11th month. Last century it was called armistice day because that's when the armistice was signed ending the Great War (which we now call World War I). I guess since we had a World War II, and we are now in a Global War on Terrorism, would that make this the dreaded World War III we were so worried about in the '60s? Sure doesn't look like "The Day After".

I was listening to Janet Parshall's America on the way home from work yesterday. Really good radio program talking about what's going on in the world from a Christian prospective. She was talking to an "Independent Civilian Military Blogger" who is writing about what is going on in Iraq and Afganastan without any kind of "spin" on it. One of them is Michael Yon. Check it out.

She also talked about some new ads that are playing on Fox. They are interesting and they have a website, too. The Other Iraq. I don't know about that one. It sounds more like they are pushing for Kurdistani liberation from Iraq, and that would be a bad thing for the region, in my opinion.

As I said when I started, I'm playing World of Warcraft a lot now. When my wife works until 11:00 PM, what else is there to do? No worries, though. At least I get to take out my frustrations of multiple redirections at work by killing bad guys in a virtual world.

Thanks for reading my blog today. Remember to thank a veteran for his or her service. Remember, we have an all volunteer force now. If it weren't for the volunteers, you might have to go do things you wouldn't want to do. It brings to mind Jack Nicholson's speach from "A Few Good Men".
Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Sometimes it seems that the press makes the military the vilian. If it weren't for the military, we wouldn't be here. Look at our history. This country exists because of a strong military. If you're a veteran reading this, thank you for standing on that wall.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the information on Michael Yon, I also heard Janet's show yesterday and was very touched by what I heard.

She's very good at what she does and I often find myself crying or laughing at the things she says.

Happy Vet's day to you, and keep up the great work.

Stacy L. Harp
www.blogforbooks.com
www.writingright.typepad.com