I REMEMBER WHEN…
By Paul Sullivan | Ret. Captain, USMC
When you think of war, whether it’s the First or Second war, the Korean or Vietnam war or today’s war against world terrorism, one comes to realize that thousands of men and women who are in their own right, ordinary people, have gone to war and unfortunately will continue to go to some war in the future. Think about it, just ordinary people. Within our veteran ranks, there is every color of skin, all ethnicities and probably every religion. The Marine’s creed, “leave no man behind” has been shared by other armed services over the years.
Who are these wonderful people, these Veterans? Let’s take a look-see. Look in our airports and you’ll see them either coming home from duty overseas or on the way over to some foreign country ready to help those in need. Look beneath each helmet and take a gander at the uniform. In that uniform stands a brother, a sister, a father, even a mother, a son, a daughter or a friend and neighbor from down the street.
I don’t believe there is any hereditary trait that thrusts any one of them towards bravery, although many are brave. I am sure they’re courageous too, not necessarily for their willingness to stare death in the face but more for embracing duty when called on, and on many occasions, struggling against all odds for the sake of a few intangible values. These are the same values most Veterans over the years have prepared themselves to defend and die for if necessary. You know them, we all know them: freedom and liberty and human dignity. Our troops don’t stand tall only for themselves but also for their loved ones and even total strangers when they need help. Speaking of these values, when you think about it, life on earth would have no value at all without freedom, or liberty or human dignity. What can we say but, thank you, Veterans!
YOUNG VERSUS OLD
As of April 11th, 2021, I am 86 years young, which brings me to the awareness that the Armed Forces of these United States of America are not into allowing members of the military to enlist at or above 42. I think I’m right. You can check it out. My wife brings me to the recruiting office on a fairly regular basis. So far they have not agreed with her that I should re-up. Well, I’ve got some thoughts on this for your enlightenment. Let me share a few with you:
For starters, research says 18 year old kids think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys like me think about sex only a couple of times a day. This leaves some 28,000 seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy, who you know today to as terrorists.
Young guys haven’t lived long enough to become cranky, and you know cranky soldiers are dangerous soldiers. Think about it, “My back hurts! I’m tired! I can’t sleep! I’m hungry!” We who are old are impatient. Maybe letting us kill some dumbass terrorist that desperately deserves killing will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.
Young guys don’t like to get up before 10 AM. Old guys get up early just to pee, so what the hell. Besides, if we’re up already, we may as well be up killing some fanatical SOB.
If we happen to get captured, we’d probably forget our name, rank, and serial number anyway. It would really be a real brain teaser for us to remember them.
Boot camp would be a lot easier for us old geezers because we’re used to being yelled at and we’re used to soft food, too.
They could even lighten up on the obstacle course, since there are pretty much no twenty foot walls with rope hanging over the side of them in battle.
We could skip the running part as well. I don’t think too many of us have ever seen anyone outrun a bullet.
Hell, an 18 year old has the whole world ahead of him. He’s still learning how to shave or start up a conversation with a pretty girl. Look at some of them, they haven’t figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head! Let’s not send him off into “harm’s way” until he can master these.
I’m just saying let us old guys track down these dirty, rotten, cowardly terrorists. The last thing an enemy, and the terrorist is our enemy, would want to see facing him is a couple million pissed off old farts with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them. And this all applies to women also.
I think at this point in my life, I would have no trouble trading my coat and tie for a pair of boots, a flak jacket, pack and rifle. I’m sure I would fail miserably because of my age and lack of stamina; however, I will always and forever honor our Veterans, as you, my fellow readers, should too. Face it, the cost of service to our good old U.S of A is often very high, and it comes with lasting consequences for those who go as well as their loved ones who remain.
Do yourself a favor and thank God for those Veterans who have served this great country of ours. Go ahead, thank God right now, and thank each veteran in or out of uniform that you come across. Let them know you appreciate their love of country and their duty to defend us from all of our enemies, foreign and domestic (as their oath calls for).
Our enemies, who at this writing, are world terrorists, (I’m not telling you anything new), are continuing to seek America’s demise and they would like to carry out their goal from within our own borders. We must become more alert! Let’s face it, a battle field is a primal place and in this case, our Mother Earth is the battle field. God, help us, please!
A soldier surrenders to trust. It could be trust in his God, his leaders or his buddies. It could be trust in his equipment to get him through something horrible. What is that saying to us?
Let’s pray to God that there will be no more wars.