 Someone asked me the other
day, why in the world do our soldiers fight. Well
that's a hard one. Let me give you three reasons why
I think we fight. The politically correct thing to
say would be that they fight for their country. And
most do. But if you asked a COMBAT veteran or a
Medal of Honor recipient why they did what they did,
most will tell you that they were protecting their
own lives and the lives of their buddies.
As
most human endeavors, war breaks down to personal
involvement. What happens directly to YOU and the
ones around you? When there is nothing but chaos,
the human mind cannot take it all
in, then we retreat into what we can control in our
immediate vicinity. We try to control OUR
environment.However, does that make the
people in uniform today any less heroic? And I hate to use
that word because it has been thrown around a little too
much for my liking. But in my opinion, where the courage
comes in is putting the uniform on in the first place. When
you put on the uniform of the United States Armed Forces
that is when you do so for God, Duty, Honor and Country. You
know in your heart that placing on that uniform could cause
you great bodily harm sometime in the future, but you do it
anyway.
I had a medal of Honor Recipient tell me that
he did what he had to do because he was too tired, too cold,
too mad and just plain didn't care anymore. Was he any less
a hero?
No, he was just telling the truth. He went above
and beyond the call of duty because he overcame what he was
feeling and did the job.
Another reason I believe we
fight is that most Americans HATE a tyrant. They hate the
governments that enslave their people and they feel guilty
because there are people in the world that still survive
under governments that are not humane. NO AMERICAN SOLDIER
should rest, until every person on the planet is living
under the light of freedom that God intended for us all.
This is my belief.
And lastly, I think we just like
to fight. Come on folks. This country has been at war since
its inception. Fighting for freedom and helping the weak the
world over so just admit it. WE LIKE TO FIGHT.
Wow, I
can hear the howling now. Let me see... We are not the
world's policemen. We should not shed American blood if it
does not involve our vital interests and so on and so on. I
present to you that if someone is living without freedom,
then that IS IN OUR VITAL INTEREST. It is in the vital
interest of our spirits and souls. I also present to you,
that to do nothing now with these countries simply means
that we will have to deal with them in the future. (The
Panama Canal comes to mind) Totalitarianism is abhorrent to
the people of the United States and especially to the
American fighting man or woman.
It seems like almost
ever generation must prove itself in the fire of battle. Is
this a curse of a blessing? I believe that it may be a
blessing for it insures that all generations know the price
of freedom. What a terrible price we must pay to keep evil
away. But it must be done. As we lose many police and
firefighters every year we will lose some of our finest in
the field of battle. I am not cold hearted toward the loss
of a single American. I have seen myself the agony and the
heartbreak of war. I simply believe that we must fight now,
when and where it will do the most good for our future and
the future of our children.
Why the American
government fights is basically political but SHOULD BE the
same as why the soldier fights. The only time in my memory
that the government fought for something that the soldier
did not agree with was in Vietnam. Even here I believe the
principles involved were just, but that the government
interfered in the way the war was being fought to the point
that some soldiers and the American public simply gave up.
When it was apparent that we were not going to fight to win
then what was the use of dying?
The government of
the United States must always insure that they give our
fighting forces the people, training and equipment to do the
job. Even more importantly, they must insure that what they
are fighting for has the backing of the average G.I. Joe and
the American people. And this goes back to my original
premises. We fight to protect ourselves and to protect the
weak and the innocent. Sounds a lot like police work doesn't
it?
Maybe we should just drop the political
correctness and point out to the world that if you screw
with our friends, or us or if you even screw with your own
people to the level of atrocity, then you might be looking
down the barrel of an M-16 with an angry Marine on the other
end. Whether that Marine has a badge or the shoulder patch
of the 4th Marines it will not make much difference to you.
(We could even level a “law enforcement tax” on the United
Nations.) We might even fight less if we pounded this point
home to the world.
The blood of thousands of patriots
runs through our veins. In a soldier, this blood burns to
right wrongs and fix problems when all else fails. The time
of communism, dictators, terrorist and despots are over.
(Radical Muslims and terrorist take note) The light of
freedom must shine on the world before the American soldier
can rest. It's a matter of honor. |
