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Sometimes ‘You' Have to Charge the Machine Guns
(March 10, 2010) |
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As an Air Force lieutenant I was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, and
trained to be an Army Infantry officer. During the patrolling phase
of training we learned how to set up an ambush and stop the enemy
cold as they walked past. But we also learned that the enemy was
instructed on how to set up an ambush and we could be caught in
their crossfire. If the ambush is laid out and executed correctly
and you walk into it, your chances of survival are very slim. One of
the tactics we learned was when all else failed as you were being
ambushed you have got to charge the enemy's machine guns. And maybe,
just maybe you will disrupt their attack enough to survive the day.
Attacking the machine gun (figuratively) was what the passengers
attempted on that aircraft flying | |
Van E. Harl |
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over Pennsylvania on 911. Yes they died, but they disrupted the
enemy enough, that the original target of the Muslim terrorist's
mission was spared death and destruction. |
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Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman, retired Army, has defined people in three
categories. Most people are sheep who get on with their daily lives
never intending to hurt anyone. Then there are wolves whose very way
of life it to prey on the helpless flocks of sheep in our society.
Wolves destroy for their basic needs but they also kill for sport.
They inflict deliberate destruction of life only for the sake of
destroying the weak and the helpless. And then there are the
sheepdogs. Sheepdogs are the protectors of the greater society of
sheep. In human form they are the military members who elect to join
the ranks of the defenders of our American way of life. Policemen
are the civilian branch of the defender-sheepdog brother and
sisterhood.
The problem with sheepdogs is they can appear to us to look too much
like wolves. They have to be that way. One minute they are looking
all shaggy and oh so cute you want to pet them and the next minute
they are biting off the head of a wolf, which was sneaking up on you
as you failed to pay attention to your surroundings. There is a fear
in the flock that the sheepdogs will take advantage of their sheep
charges and either try to totally control or bring destruction to
parts of the flock. In some nations of the world the sheepdogs are
the enemy; this is not however the case in the United States.
Unlike most countries our sheep/populace can arm themselves against
threats, both foreign and domestic. We live in an emergency / 911
society where we expect to pick up the phone and have the sheepdogs
show up in minutes to protect and save us. I once heard a mother
call into the Dr. Laura radio show complaining about the fact she
did not want her son to have any exposure to firearms. But when she
went over to her father-in-law's house it was the home of a safe gun
owner. She felt his ideas were going to wrongly impact her son. Dr.
Laura asked whom does the mother call when there is a potential
violent situation in her life. Of course the mother stated she
called a big burly policeman who has a gun on his hip, who will come
and save the day and not take advantage of the weaken state of the
citizen who has called for help. The mom wants a sheepdog to save
her and her family from harm, but she cannot envision her on son or
daughter becoming a sheepdog.
A grade school teacher was instructing her class that in case of a
violent invasion of the class room by a "wolf" the children were to
huddle together on the floor in the corner of the room. Maybe the
"wolf" would just go away and not harm the "baby sheep." A student
who was a refugee of the Balkan Wars told the teacher she was wrong.
This child had seen the "wolves" up close and personal. He said the
class had to escape or fight back with whatever they could use to
defend themselves with.
Wolves hate sheep that have weapons and the intent to use them. I
would suggest that if the students at Virginia Tech had attempted to
"charge the machine gun" and disrupt the Korean wolf, fewer student
sheep would be dead now. I am an old retired sheepdog but the claws
and the fangs stay sharp and I am always watching for the wolves in
sheep's clothing. It is the sixth anniversary of the 911 attack –
the wolves are still out there. | |
By
Van E. Harl
Copyright
2007 About Author:
Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret., was a career police officer in the U.S. Air
Force. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the
Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Major Harl is a graduate of
the U.S. Army Infantry School, the Air Force Squadron Officer School and the Air
Command and Staff College. After retiring from the Air Force he was a state
police officer in Nevada.
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