Thoughts To Consider  

Posted by Stan Harrington

On a daily basis, our men and women of our armed forces continue to fight the War on Terrorism". I pledge my support to them as I do the Commander In Chief, regardless of political views and party affiliation, he is having to make the tough decisions, the least that we can do is give him our support. The days following 9/11 our country came together like it has not done since World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor. We were united, however, I had concern that as time slipped by that those harrowing scenes on 9/11 would fade from memories. Unfortunately, I was correct. Instead, we have members of our own congressional delegation, community leaders, Hollywood actors and actresses downgrading decisions and making public statements on conditions that they have no knowledge nor have the need to know. When combat troops are deployed, one man is in charge and that is the Commander In Chief. He deserves as much of our support as the troops in the field. Having went through several Presidents from John F. Kennedy through Ronald Reagan while serving in the Navy, I would have been proud to serve under his leadership. When the troops are home, the facts are known it is only then that these actions should be discussed and brought before investigative committees. History has a way of setting the field, The U.S.S. Maine was attacked in Havana Harbor. Immediate action was taken against Spain and they were defeated in the Spanish American War. Pearl Harbor was attacked, several thousand sailors lost their lives and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was nearly destroyed, immediate retaliatory action was initiated and Japan was defeated in World War II. The U.S.S. Mattox was attacked by North Vietnam gunboats on the high seas, the Vietnam War escalated immediately. In each of these cases, a Naval vessel was attacked, a naval ship is soveign territory. The U.S.S. Cole was anchored in the harbor, attacked by terrorists which resulted in the loss of thirty five sailors. Our Commander In Chief, took immediate counter measures and launched one missile with no target. Then continued his day as normal. I think of that decision and wonder to myself, if we would have had a tough decision maker as our President, could we have avoided 9/11 and perhaps our troops would be home from Afganistan and Iraq today. Instead, I see us forgetting what 9/11 meant to us on that day, instead, our country is evolving back into the mentality of the Vietnam War era, when our military personnel were not recognized, spat on and made to feel that their mission was wrong. When our naval ships came back from long deployments to the Western Pacific, as they passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, gallon cans of paint were dropped onto their decks from the protestors standing on that same bridge. The day is coming that we will see this same type of mentality once again, as it is the same type of leadership that is fueling this resentment today. The next time, you see a military person on the street or having a cup of coffee, stop and visit with them for just a second and then ask them what they think of their Commander In Chief. He has their support because they know he will make the tough, hard, decisions that are needed, regardless of the popular public opinions, he will make the decision and that is all we can ask.

This entry was posted on March 27, 2006 at Monday, March 27, 2006 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

4 comments

Not sure what encouraged this entry, but even though I don't usually agree with you, you are so right.
I remember that morning still very clearly. We were asleep when the first plane hit, but were woke up by you for the second. I woke H up and we watched and cried as the second plane hit. I felt bad for exsposing h to the horror but I also felt that she needed to see it. She needed to know that we are not safe here and that every thing is not ok. There are people out there who want to hurt us.
Another thing that I remember is siting at the shop and listneing to the radio and the stories that were unfolding. I remember listening to our presidents speach and having this feeling of relief wash over me. I felt like he could lead and protect us.
To this day I have not lost this feeling and he has done or is doing what he promised to do that morning.
One other thing I clearly remember is that by later that afternoon you could not buy a flag anywehre in town.
It is amazing to see a nation pull together so quickly, but it is sad to see it seperate even quicker.

3/28/06, 12:11 AM

I too am unsure what brought on this post...I too remember where I was that morning...but I also remember the emotions I felt and heard from the country...In a time of tragedy we pulled together...but as soon as we realized that the people responsible were not going to get "punished" in a timely fashion...we turned on each other...I saw Americans who just had to place the blame somewhere...and even though "things" are being done to retaliate we...as Americans...are above the rest of the world...it seemed like folks expected the "bad guys" to just turn them selves in from the fear of what our Great Nation could do...I am not opposed of our leaders...but I will say I am not to proud to be an American anymore...when the flag flys...that old pride I felt is there no more...I am not to proud to be a part of something that started as a place for all to be free to live their lives,and religion...but has turned into a "monster" that thinks because in our Country people have "more" material possesions that makes us "better". I truely feel most Americans including our government have this complex...for eons the world has evolved...I feel that Americans think it is because of us...the world is round because of us...gravity pulls because of us...Americans are on ego trips...frankly those other countries that we call "third world" have something we lack greatly....FAMILY PRIDE...a groupe of people in a community that look at the community as a whole and function as such...here in America you can live next door to someone for years and not know their name.
In fact here in America...even our rights to buy our children cough medicine have been taken from us...seems the terrorist are among us, in us, and possibly they may be us...The Commander In Chief is a very busy man with many things to consider...I hope he gets a cold, wakes up at three am sends his little secret service dude for Nyquill and discovers that he must wait till 9 am when the pharmacy opens...to buy a drug that has been deemed an over the counter medicine by his very own.....oh ya he is the president he wont have to wait...he gets what he wants when he wants it...So..."To America...the land where the drug makers and murders take our rights to buy cough medicines and be heard in court."

3/28/06, 6:10 AM

After reading Shana’s comment I had to back and read the post….now what are we really talking about? Oh yeah our troops …. As in most fights there are always two sides of the story, the story I know is from the families and children of the men and women over there. Living in the part of town we do we live by many military families? Many of our children’s friends have fathers or mothers serving in the Middle East. I have a close friend (in Virginia Now), her husband is currently over there now, this is his forth time being shipped out. T had a GS leader leave her position with us because the guard called on her services. Last year we had an extra daughter; her mother was also serving our country in the Middle East. One of my Brownies father is getting ready to deploy. One of my cookie mom’s husband and son are over there now. I can go on and on…I think we all can. I guess my point is…I support our troops, I support what they are doing, I support the man making the choices, and most of all I support the families making the sacrifices. What they are doing is not easy.

3/28/06, 9:51 PM

I was so relieved to hear the CS journalist was released alive and unharmed.

That was a tough call on her capture not to give in to the terrorists demands to release all woman prisoners for her life.

I agree that our president and military leaders don't need to be putting out "the line in the sand" to everybody. Any information that puts our troops in more harms way shouldn't be broadcasted to the world. Not in real time anyway.

3/31/06, 3:32 AM

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