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| Frank Schaeffer |
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| George Roof Chief Master Sergeant (Retired), US Air Force |
Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about
who was defending me. Now when I read of the war on terrorism or the coming
conflict in Iraq, it cuts to my heart. When I see a picture of a member of our
military who has been killed, I read his or her name very carefully Sometimes I
cry.
In 1999, when the barrel-chested Marine recruiter showed
up in dress blues and bedazzled my son John, I did not stand in the way John
was headstrong, and he seemed to understand these stern, clean men with
straight backs and flawless uniforms. I did not. I live in the
Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston I write novels
for a living. I have never served in the military.
It had been hard enough sending my two older children off
to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so
deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the
question, "So where is John going to college?" from the parents who
were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to
Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were
going into the military.
"But aren't the Marines terribly
Southern?" (Says a lot about open-mindedness in the Northeast) asked one
perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation.
"What a waste, he was such a good student," said another
parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university)
spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should “ carefully
evaluate what went wrong."
When John graduated from three months of boot camp on
Parris Island, 3000 parents and friends were on the parade deck stands.
We parents and our Marines not only were of many races but also were
representative of many economic classes. Many were poor. Some arrived crammed
in the backs of pickups, others by bus. John told me that a lot of parents
could not afford the trip.
We in the audience were white and Native American.
We were Hispanic, Arab, and African American, and Asian. We were former
Marines wearing the scars of battle, or at least baseball caps emblazoned with
battles' names. We were Southern whites from Nashville and skinheads from
New Jersey, black kids from Cleveland wearing ghetto rags and white ex-cons
with ham-hock forearms defaced by jailhouse tattoos. We would not have been
mistaken for the educated and well-heeled parents gathered on the lawns of
John’s private school a half-year before.
After graduation one new Marine told John, "Before I
was a Marine, if I had ever seen you on my block I would've probably killed you
just because you were standing there." This was a serious statement
from one of John’s good friends, a black ex-gang member from Detroit who, as
John said, "would die for me now, just like I'd die for him."
My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was
too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the
waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons
in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the
guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His
younger brother is in the Navy.
Why were I and the other parents at my son's private school
so surprised by his choice? During World War II, the sons and daughters of the
most powerful and educated families did their bit. If the idea of the
immorality of the Vietnam War was the only reason those lucky enough to go to
college dodged the draft, why did we not encourage our children to volunteer
for military service once that war was done?
Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become
pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to
having somebody else defend us? What is the future of our democracy when
the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more
likely to be put in harm’s way than are any of the students whose dorms their
parents clean?
I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine
Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me. I feel hope because
perhaps my son is part of a future "greatest generation".
As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and
women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them.
He is the best I have to offer---He is my heart!
"Faith is not about everything turning out OK; Faith
is about being OK no matter how things turn out."
GOD BLESS
AMERICA! PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY...
After Johnson "abdicated" rather than having his ass waxed, I lived through Nixon who was hawkish but allowed the generals (and there WERE a few real generals back then versus now) run the show. Nixon was so out of touch that he never knew North Vietnam was about to surrender when the Paris Accord was presented.
Only God could help us after Gerald Ford was beaten by Jimmy 'Peanuts' Carter who'd been funded by Saudi money. The military was turned into Section 8 and even the Whitehouse suffered the austerity.
Then the light began to shine and Ronald Reagan swept into the fray.. He not only loved the country and the military, they loved him back. Esprit d'corps was off the scale during his presidency. The Liberals were slowly turning into socialists, however, and about this time all the draft dodgers of the 1960's who'd been given amnesty by Jimmy 'Peanuts' were turning out college graduates with degrees in socialism.
Bush 1 was an enigma from the CIA and though he never did much either way, he NEVER DID MUCH EITHER WAY.
Welcome to Bill Clinton. Clinton spent most of his two terms wagging the dog and creating the 'Oral' Office, sending a bomber to blow up Quaddafi's tent and killing a goat or two, while allowing the UN to set up the infamous Black Hawk Down situation. He made history by becoming only the second president to be impeached.
I actually felt sorry for Bush 2. He was doomed to infamy from the start. He thought most of America was still the rah, rah patriots of WWII when they were 'simply socialists' waiting to feed him to the sharks.
Then there came the Manchurian Candidate Obama with a faked (OK Democrats, let's say "of questionable origin" to assuage your PC brains) birth certificate, who'd gotten a free ride through college under a foreign student exemption, and whose college records and complete life history had been 'sealed.' (We know more about Thomas Jefferson's bastard children than we do about Obama, Michelle , OR their two faked kids.) From his inaugural address, he slandered America and within days had begun to encourage dissention of the races as well as slandering police who "acted stupidly." That was mild to the crap that would come in doubling the national debt from what had been built by ALL THE PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED, feeding us bullshit about how Muslims built this country, and nationalizing American industries. Fueled by George Soros' money and using the Air Force fleet as his personal charters, he appointed malcontents and traitors into positions of authority. He trashed the Constitution by installing "czars" (interesting he chose a title like that) to bypass Congressional authority. By that time, Congress was completely corrupt on both sides of the aisle. No one had balls to impeach this charlatan Obama.
Mysteriously, the lone outspoken conservative Supreme Court Justice Scalia suddenly dies in his sleep at an Obama pal's hunting lodge and the Supreme Court is evenly split. Finally, Congress shows some balls and rejects Obama's Supreme Court Justice nomination. The Libertards aren't worried because the fix is in. Soros 'has paid' demonstrators to cause turmoil at 'all the Republican gatherings.' Obama concedes that illegal aliens should vote as they won't be prosecuted, and Soros-manufactured voting machines are caught switching votes in certain precincts Hillary has cheated her way to the nomination and her lies are completely ignored by the brainwashed minions of sycophants who follow her.
But a shocking thing happened on the way to the forum.
Middle America had had enough and although the pollsters and the pipers tried to convince middle America not even to bother to vote, they were fed up with the denizens of the swamp. It was time Florida was designated a "swing" state ignoring that all those old retirees living in St. Petersburg, and the fed up Cuban Americans of Miami weren't interested in their platform. Ohio and Pennsylvania , where coal production was blacklisted and where Obama had ridiculed them for "clinging to their Bibles and their guns," lay awaiting this supposed "landslide" Hillary vote,..... and creamed it.
The Socialist world of the Democratic Party disintegrated. An American who expressed unbridled love of country and respect for police, firemen, and military steamrolled across the heartland and the liberals realized their scheme was trashed. A CONSTITUTIONALIST would be nominated to the Supreme Court and if the old hag Ginsburg who'd claimed to retire if Trump were elected would actually retire and leave, the Supreme Court would have a massive majority of CONSTITUTIONALISTS for the next 40-50 years.
Now, the same party who'd ridiculed Trump on his comments about the election being rigged, started screaming that the election 'was' rigged. They even advocated having the election repeated. They created mobs that burned and pillaged, stopped traffic, threatened murder, battery and rape of Trump supporters, and became the anarchists that the socialist dream thrives upon. They run like castrated pigs for safe zones and use diaper pins as their national symbol.
This is exactly what happens when political correctness takes over and participation trophies are awarded to everyone . They can't conceive how disgusting and subservient they have become.... Donald Trump may NOT be the best person for the job, but he's such a welcome respite from the candy-assed whimps who've been running the swamp that it's refreshing to see. At the very least, Donald Trump derailed the Socialist train and bought us precious time. If he only does half of what he's promised, we'll still be legions ahead of where Obama has dragged us. Already countries who held us in contempt are lining up to be found in the favor of America. Donald Trump has done more in his short time in the public eye..he prevented Hillary Clinton from becoming president!
So for you liberal lurkers and you half-assed fence-sitters, Tough Shit! You had your big hurrah and now your party is over. For you staunch Republicans in office, don't gloat so much yourselves. You've been put on notice by the American people that we're fed up with ALL YOU BASTARDS and if you don't start putting America first, you do so at your own peril. You might want to buy a copy of George McGovern's autobiography and see how shocking and humbling it can be for a professional politician to have to try to find legitimate work once he falls from grace.
This election was pure, unadulterated AMERICAN. Hillary got beaten and AMERICA WON THE ELECTION You can claim he's not "your president" all you want, but unless you 'forfeit' your American citizenship ... YES, HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT!!!!
Go cry a river some place they need water.
George Roof
Chief Master Sergeant (Retired), US Air Force
Chief Master Sergeant (Retired), US Air Force