how to write...
(The post below is copied with Syzygy's permission from our Squad forum. I felt it was too good to keep to ourselves.)
Not to get too philosophic on this forum but I think the times and Ramesis' post in the Tricks of the Trade thread warrant some deeper comment. You can all throw sticks at me later and don't worry, I'll probably never post like this again.
Not many of you know who I am. I'm a husband of 26 years, a father of two sons, a red, white and blue American, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a hard core Ronald Regan, George Bush (both) republican.
I used to think being an AUSA was a really serious job, taking people's liberty and money. And it is, sometimes. I know I played no small roll in the the exectuion of Timothy James McVeigh. And, I spent 16 months deployed to Washington D.C. fighting a new kind of legal battle, to root out and eradicate cowards that kill innocents. Yes, those were serious things, but they truly pale in significance to what we have witnessed in the last few months.
As I watched the toppleing of the Saddam Hussein statue, televised globally, live from Baghdad this morning, and as I marveled at the technology that allowed us to witness that seminal event in world history, I found myself more taken with the magnificent worth of the American fighting force, and what, with this country's support, it is capable of accomplishing.
All of you have some passing interest in things military or you wouldn't be here. So, I hope all of you can appreciate that we have just witnessed the single greatest military campaign in the history of mankind. To paraphrase Sir Winston, Never before have so many owed so much to so few.
The air campaign alone, with approximately 35000 sorties, just over a third of which were actual strike sorties, was accomplished with the combat loss of just three aircraft, and one of those crews, the A-10 pilot, was rescued. We're still looking for the crew of an FA 18 and an F 15E Strike Eagle. (That fact alone, that we are still looking for our fallen, sets us apart as never before.)
Even more impressive than that fact is the movement and execution of the land assault, accomplished by over 100,000 soldiers and marines, in country, with a loss of just over 100 brave heros. Supplied only with what they could carry, the land forces moved 350 miles, on three axis, in three weeks, through rain and sand storms and heat and through the most heinous ambush perfidy. And, they did it without destroying any more of the infrastructure than absolutely necessary.
True, it was American and western technology that allowed those brave men and more than a few brave women to accomplish their goal. That technology was designed and built by the greatest indsutrial complex the world has ever seen.
But, it still got down to the individual, in the cockpit, or who assembled and loaded the ordinance, or in the turret, or with boots on the ground who actually made it all work. And they did it because they knew they were in a just battle to rid the world of an evil cancer and to free a people. They saluted smartly, sucked up their fear, and forged ahead to accomplish their respective assigned missions. I am reminded of Shakespear's admonition in Henry V, where those abed in England would hold their manhood cheap, that they were not with him and his band of brothers, those happy few, who fought at Agincourt on St. Cripans day.
We owe so very much to the American fighting force and our cousins who joined with us in the great wars of the 20th and now the 21st century. I cannot express how deeply I feel this and how deeply I hope that all American's feel and appreciate it. These things called the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution have created a social system, unsurpassed in the anals of man. It was bought and paid for with the blood of those who believed that freedom from tyranny was worth dying for. And, the same is still true today, now more than ever.
With all our warts and scandals, this is still the greatest society history has ever known. Be grateful to God, whatever you deem him to be, that we live in a society, the very survival of which is so compellingly vital that it insures that there will always, always be a cadre of heros, ready, willing and able, to interupt their lives, to sally forth and protect her, in a thousand different ways, up to an including facing mortal peril, so that others will not perish. Be they law enforcement, fire fighters, or military soldiers, they will always be there. As has been asked, "Where do we get such men?" We get them from mother liberty, who breeds people willing to do great things to insure continued liberty!
For all those who have served this nation, I am grateful. For all those who have had loved ones taken from them in such high calling, I say, a nation, a people, are grateful. All I can offer is my humble and paltry thanks and my deepest respect for the youngest PFC all they way up to the CiC.
God Bless America and those who stand on her ramparts and say "Not on my watch!" It is them to whom we are all truly and insurmountably indebted.
So, to Ramesis, the son of a fighter pilot, I say, do not dispair that wisdom only comes with age. It cannot be any other way. But, rest assured that some of your father's wisdom rubbed off on you. The same with me and the same with our children. As I say to my children as they go about thier lives, Go! Do Great Things!
Thanks.
Paul J. Johns
(Syzygy)
