Marine Corps Moms

During and after World War II, Hollywood was more than willing to make films that helped the war effort and gave audiences a look at our brave soldiers and the battles they won.

Take "Sands of Iwo Jima," a 1949 film starring John Wayne. It shows the Battle of Iwo Jima where we see Marines fighting against the Japanese, as well as the iconic raising of the American flag on Mt. Suribachi. The film portrays the heroism of American soldiers during one of the war's most important battles.

In today's world, however, it seems that Hollywood is more intent on making films that distort the truth and slander our brave men and women. Given the downright hostile nature Hollywood has toward the war in Iraq, it is not entirely unsurprising that their films reflect that same attitude. Look at Brian de Palma's "Redacted," for example. It is a "docudrama" that is based upon the "Mahmudiyah killings" that occurred in Iraq in March 2006. In this incident, five U.S. soldiers murdered three Iraqi civilians, gang-raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, and killed her as well. Now, any reasonable person will realize that incidents such as these are not the status quo in Iraq and they do not go unpunished (three of the men have been sentenced to life in prison, the other two have not been sentenced as of yet). But according to de Palma, the event is "the reality of what is happening in Iraq."

Another film, "Harsh Times," takes a look at the life of fictional soldier Jim Davis, who returns to Los Angeles after tours of duty in the Middle East. In the opening of the film, we see soldiers in a desert area attacking Arab terrorists; one of the soldiers goes as far as killing a terrorist who makes it clear that he wishes to surrender (once again, this is supposed to be the norm). For the rest of the film, we watch Jim do drugs, kill people and cause general mayhem and destruction with his friends. He is clearly a psychotic individual and even goes so far as to refer himself as "a soldier of the Apocalypse." His unstable condition and predilection toward violence and death are due to his experiences in combat, which is naturally the military's fault, and is naturally true for many soldiers returning from combat, as Hollywood would have you believe.

Actor Tim Robbins, appearing on "Real Time with Bill Maher" this past August, said, "(The U.S. military) have killed over 400,000 of (Iraq's) citizens." This is a preposterous claim, and only someone who is already predisposed to thinking the worst of our troops could make it. The anti-war Iraq Body Count Web site's maximum count of civilian deaths due to the war is 80,333. That should say something about Robbins' attitude toward our military.

Hollywood seems to be aware of only the atrocities that have occurred in the war, which are few and far between. Much more numerous are the acts of heroism that our troops have committed. I think of soldiers such as Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, who was manning a vehicle checkpoint near Husaybah when a terrorist jumped from a vehicle and threw a hand grenade. Dunham threw himself over the grenade, sacrificing his own life in order to save the lives of the Marines who would have been killed by the blast. I also think of Lt. Brian R. Chontosh, who was leading his platoon south of Baghdad when insurgents ambushed them. Facing mortars, automatic-weapons fire, and RPGs, he had the driver advance into the enemy's trench while he jumped from the vehicle and fired at the insurgents. According to the citation of the Navy Cross awarded to him later on, "he twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack . . . when his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others."

Why are Hollywood studios not making films out of these heroic efforts? Because the studios are directly opposed to the war and the U.S. military. It is easier to make a film that portrays soldiers as being psychotic killers and rapists, which fits Hollywood's stereotype of an American soldier, than pay homage to the selfless efforts of real soldiers in the real world. I realize that a film itself is fiction, but is it too much to ask that Hollywood's silver screen storytelling reflect reality instead of the arrogant and slanderous attitudes of its glitterati? So far, the answer is a resounding no.

What follows is a copy of a letter that I received from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, home of Socks That Rock, the revered and esteemed handpainted sock yarn of so much acclaim. I got it because I am a member (last year and this year) of the Sock Club, where you send them some money and they send you several fixes kits, with yarn and a pattern to make fantastic socks all through the year.

What has happened, and I confirmed all of this in a phone call with Tina, is unbelievable. Blue Moon needs a bank to accept their credit card orders. (Be warned that when I run the world, banks will be in charge of far less...but I digress.) When Blue Moon started accepting orders for the Sock Club recently, the bank flinched.
They contacted the Blue Moon and questioned the possibility of this being an actual business thing. Blue Moon explained to them the concept of a sock club, and the bank held a meeting.

Now, I was not a fly on the wall at that meeting, but oh, how I wish I had been. Over the course of said meeting, the bank decided, with the business information of Blue Moon in front of them and the concept (and CASH) of a "Sock Club" laid out, that.....and here is the incredible thing... (Perhaps you should take a deep breath or sit down or put down your cup of tea.)

They decided that it was not possible that this many people could be this interested in sock yarn (I know...I know) and that therefore, considering the complete impossibility of this being a legitimate business concept (can't you hear them? "This many people just can't want sock yarn!") that Blue Moon must be running a SCAM, and (holy moths I can scarcely type it) Shut. It. Down.

They rescinded Blue Moon's ability to take credit card money (that's right, a bank turned down money...) and (breath deeply) REFUNDED to customers all of the money that they had received for the Sock Club.

Last week a letter in the paper ran off the usual list of oppressions and deletions of basic liberties, including "the coffins we are not allowed to see." It reminded me of a conversation I had in Arizona with a Marine, whose family was also staying at my in-laws' house. (Their daughter played with Gnat, and was one of the Ghosts of Christmas in the play.) He had just returned from accompanying the body of a Marine back to his home town for a memorial. Lance Cpl. Nick Palmer, 19, was killed by a sniper in Fallujah. The vehicle had stopped to defuse an IED, which had been placed to fix the Humvee in place. Flypaper. Lance Cpl. Palmer was manning a gun on the back of the Humvee when he was hit. The shot came from an industrial building a good distance away; whoever killed him had particular skill. It could have been one of those ordinary Iraqis so enraged by the occupation they quit their jobs as an insurance actuary or auto mechanic and went to sniper school, perhaps. Or maybe it was a Ba'athist "Minuteman." Or an imported Iranian merc. You have to admit it's possible.

The networks may not have shown footage of the coffin as it arrived, but it certainly had the opportunity to show the funeral and the ceremony that preceded it. The Marine, who was Lance Cpl. Palmer's commanding officer, described the event; they arrived at night. Both sides of the street were filled with townspeople, gathered to greet the soldier. Every light in every window was on; every pole had a flag.

The church pews had no empty seats. "Amazing Grace" was played and the Purple Heart presented.

Everyone was allowed to see the coffin, and reflect on what it stood for.

The local TV station's website has a video interview with the parents, which manages to work in Vietnam in the first six seconds. If the TV station filmed the homecoming, it doesn't appear to be on the site. I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't have shown the homecoming, unless they regarded the interview with the grieving parents as the full measure they were required to give.

The Commanding Officer who appears on the phone call is the Marine who told me the story. It's a very short part of the television story, but it was an intensely private moment and we need see no more. You might not get a sense of the CO's emotions from the voice on the other end. Trust me: it's a wound, and it's deep. He didn't just make a phone cal;; he left his family at Christmas time to accompany the body and speak at the service - then drove a rental through a storm to get to the airport to rejoin his family for the few days he had left stateside.

So the next time someone talks about the coffins we're not allowed to see, consider all that.

"Nick died as he lived, doing his duty," Sinclair said. "We, his Marine family, were so blessed to have him for a little while."

Palmer enlisted in the Marines despite the likelihood that he would be sent to Iraq and the concerns of his parents, Rachele and Brad Palmer, but he was adamant about serving his country.

"Even at a time of conflict, at a time when the media raises its doubts and politicians take stances and others hold up signs in protest, Nick ... raised his hand and joined the Marine Corps," said friend Perry Carlile.

After the President's historic speech Wednesday night, the media rushed to demonstrate they would pay any price and bear any burden to assure the defeat of his proposal. Those who expected some attempt at balance or open mindedness were sadly mistaken. CBS's Dick Meyer spent six or seven paragraphs ramming home the point: the President is completely alone. Newsweek's Howard Fineman couldn't quite manage to control his contempt, "George W. Bush spoke with all the confidence of a perp in a police lineup." Sheryl Stolberg seized the opportunity to remind readers the President was sElected, not elected before making a series of misleading statements.

On September the 11th, our nation saw firsthand the destructive vision of a new kind of enemy, and once again the men and women of Fort Benning answered the call to protect our country from that enemy. You know, I knew that right after the attacks, the American psyche being what it is, people would tend to forget the grave threat posed by these people. I knew that. As a matter of fact, I was hoping that would happen so that life would go on. But the fortunate thing for this country is that those who wear the uniform have never forgotten the threat. You understand the stakes.

Dear Madame Speaker,

On September 11, 2001 I was deployed in Australia with the 15th MEU. Five months later I left Afghanistan and returned to the states. During that time I was overwhelmed by and immensely proud of our country’s willingness to put aside partisan differences and prosecute the global war against terrorism. Today, I am preparing for a second combat deployment, this time to Iraq, and I am dismayed and saddened by the actions of my countrymen.

I am deeply concerned about the President's new plan for Iraq. I am concerned that it has no hope of success. My concerns are not founded in the abilities of our nation's military or the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces. I am concerned that your party and the American citizens that follow your leadership will fail once again to put partisanship aside and fully support victory in Iraq. I am afraid that the blood of my brother and sister marines will be on your hands because of your unwillingness to do everything in your power to ensure that we are victorious in Iraq.

The plan outlined by the President last night was the last best hope for success. As was the initial foray into Iraq, it carries with it enormous risk and like all audacious plans in war, relies on more than a little luck. Unfortunately, the "incalculable" effect of our national will has not been and will not be brought to bear against our enemies in Iraq because your party has sought to undermine the military effort and the national will ever since we crossed the line of departure into Iraq five years ago. It is painfully obvious that the political defeat of President Bush is synonymous with America's defeat in Iraq.

Mrs. Pelosi, I respectfully request that you stand in the House, with your comrades in the Senate, and give the President and my marines the support we need to make a legitimate stab at final victory in Iraq. The President has provided you with a time table and a benchmark to measure success. If there is no significant progress by November of this year and we have not achieved the metrics outlined last night, relentless criticism is warranted and should reach a crescendo unmatched in the Iraq debate.

Until then, I still believe, as almost all of my comrades in arms do, that we can and will be victorious in Iraq. Please do not undermine our efforts. Please support our mission. Help us to be victorious.

Semper Fidelis.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michael J. Hendrickson
Captain 0302/USMCR

I had the priviledge tonight of observing how the USMC brings home their dead. The thought hit me that I have no idea, nor have I ever seen how our Soldiers are treated. I just hope we are at least as respectful.

Tonight as we arrived at the Louisville airport, the aircraft captain announced that there was a USMC Sgt on board the aircraft who was on escort duty. The captain asked all onboard to remain seated til the Sgt had left the aircraft. As we pulled into our gate I observed a lot of people moving around in the shadows. I naturally assumed it was the detail preparing to receive the body. What actually happened was quite impressive and quite a testament to the Corps and to the city of Louisville.

The receiving detail stood up consisting of a color guard with US flag, USMC flag and the 8 casket bearers, the OIC, several other NCOs and 3 Marines in utility uniform. I must admit I was taken back by the presence of the 3 Marines in utilities as all other Marines were in Dress Blues. I later was able to figure out the purpose. Additionally, there was an honor guard from the US Marine Corps Legion (I believe they are called that, something the Army cannot replicate) and a piper. 3 Delta pilots joined the Marines in the formation. I assumed they were former servicemen or current reservists.

Following the off load of all the baggage, the cargo hold remained open.

Finally the 3 Marines in utility uniform were sent into the hold to prepare the casket, flag and to position the casket. This was a somewhat special moment as only Marine hands touched that casket and it was planned that way.

Have no idea if it was treated the same in Atlanta, but I can tell you only Marine hands touched that casket. As the casket was lowered halfway down the trolley and stopped, the casket bearers took their positions. Then the Marine Corps Legion followed behind them in two ranks, one on each side.

They all presented arms as the casket came out of the aircraft. Then there was stillness.

As if scripted, from across the airport came a long line of cars with blinking lights and the hearse. Once they were in position, the family was escorted to the casket. It was probably around 30 members led by what I assumed was a very young widow and her young son. For about 10 minutes the family mingled around the casket while the Marines and Legioneers stood at attention. Finally, the family was led back to the hearse.

Then the casket was lowered the remainder of the way and the casket bearers moved through a cordon of the USMC Legion folks to the hearse, while the bagpiper piped "Amazing Grace."

There were about 70 of us who had just left the aircraft, still in the terminal watching this entire ceremony for about 40 minutes. I will say, not a dry eye in the place and many, many snivels. The Corps really treated their own with respect.

I have no idea who the dead Marine was. I assume he was a Sgt, as his escort was a Sgt. I don't know who his family was, nor if they had any influence. I just know the USMC treated him with total respect and the city of Lousville did also.

As the young Sgt escorting the body left the aircraft and walked by me, I said, "Semper Fi, Marine." As I have been many times before, I was struck that in 231 years our Army has been unable to produce something similar.

Somehow, Hooah just doesn't seem right at a time like this.

I trust we do just as well. If not, shame on us. These kids deserve all the respect our Army and country can provide. The Corps and the city of Louisville did themselves proud tonight . . . . . in my misty eyes.

By the time this gets published, the body of an American hero, Lance Corporal Brent Zoucha, United States Marine Corps, is on its way back to, if not already arrived at, the small town of Clarks, Nebraska. Brent's body is being escorted by another American hero, his brother, fellow Marine and friend, Corporal Dyrek Zoucha.

Brent left for boot camp June 12, 2005 and was killed in Iraq June 9, 2006.

Dyrek, already a veteran of multiple tours in Iraq, served alongside Brent in 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. In fact, Dyrek had requested and been granted a four month extension in the Marine Corps so he could serve with his brother when he learned Brent was headed to his battalion.

Now he's bringing his little brother home.

The emotions of Brent's death stand in stark contrast to the emotions I felt when I learned of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's death the day prior.

After my time in Iraq I view death differently than before. It is a much more emotional issue. Not that any particularly tragic or traumatic event caused a decrease to my threshold for which emotion about death is triggered. But rather, I believe it's born out of a much higher reverence and respect for life than before. One can easily gain an all new understanding of both the fragility and value of life after some time in Iraq.

So, I never thought I would ever rejoice in the actual death of anyone, until I heard of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's. I thought my emotions concerning death were always going to be of the kind I felt when I learned of Brent's passing. But, I found myself relieved and jubilant about Zarqawi's demise.

His death brought relief to the anger I had felt when trying to work with Iraqis who would no longer visit with me or would send someone in their stead to inform me they couldn't be seen with American's because they'd been taken away, threatened, and shown videos of people being "slaughtered." I don't remember the Arabic word used, but in our conversations, the word "beheaded" was always interpreted as "slaughtered."

Zarqawi's death closes the chapter on frustration many of us felt, knowing we had him trapped in Fallujah in the spring of 2004, when the assault to retake the city was called off for seemingly unknown reasons. This frustration had only grown when we learned that it was Zarqawi himself who had claimed personal responsibility for beheading Nick Berg shortly thereafter.

His death brings relief and elation. Not in the way we rejoice for those who pass away after fighting a long, painful bout with cancer and go to be with their Savior, but simple happiness because he'd been killed and that he reaped what he'd sown. I am happy for the families who lost loved ones at his hands. I am happy for those Iraqi friends who no longer have to fear the rabid bite of that evil being. I am joyful that piece of human debris no longer stalks this earth.

However, Brent's death brings both sorrow and pride.

I take solace in knowing he died doing what he chose to do, what he wanted to do, serving and protecting his fellow Americans, being a Marine. Although we mourn his loss and struggle to cope with his passing, we also understand and honor the meaning and impact his sacrifice has for all of us.

His life will be honored and remembered by those who knew him, loved him, and had the privilege to serve with him. He will always be remembered for what he did, not just because he died. His sacrifice and selflessness will be honored and remembered with each breath of freedom we enjoy.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi on the other hand, will only be remembered for the atrocities he committed, for his evil, for his complete disregard for human life, and the wake of destruction he left through the sea of Christian and Islamic humanity. We will only resurrect his memory from the trash heap of history's most disgusting and diabolical figures when we need to remind ourselves of just how evil men can be and the destruction they can produce when left unchecked.

Lance Corporal Brent Zoucha will be remembered for sacrificing all that he was and all that life had to offer a young man; voluntarily doing so for the freedom and safety of others. His memory and sacrifice will strengthen the bonds of brotherhood that hold Marines together and contribute to the mystique and ethos of "The Few, The Proud."

Some said that Zarqawi's death makes no difference. I agree, because his time here on earth was wasted on purely evil pursuits. Thus, in the end, he didn't make a difference. But during his short life, Lance Corporal Brent Zoucha did. He embodied Ronald Reagan's observation that "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. Marines don't have that problem." Brent's life and death made a difference.

Semper Fidelis, Lance Corporal Zoucha. God speed.

Today, our country faces threats unlike any we have known. Violent extremists are trying to terrorize and intimidate free people into submitting to their will. Their war is more than a contest between opposing sides or societies. These extremists are waging a war against society itself. They have in mind only two outcomes - to control us or destroy us.

Let me say just a word or two about this moment in history and your role in it.

Just before Christmas in 2001, I traveled to Afghanistan and the neighboring countries. I visited with a group of special operations forces that were operating in truly remarkable ways. In preparation for performing a mission the month before, they had asked for the usual supplies, but one item stood out. They asked for horse feed.

From the moment they landed in Afghanistan, our forces began adapting to the circumstances on the ground, as they had to. And they ended up riding horses that had been conditioned to run through machine gun fire. They used pack-mules to transport equipment across some of the roughest terrain in the world, riding in darkness, and along narrow trails with sheer drops.

Some of those forces operating in Afghanistan were combat controllers from the U.S. Air Force. And those Airmen likely thought they would have sooner found themselves riding jet aircraft rather than horses, but they joined the American tradition of daring and ingenuity that has defined Airmen for generations.

Shortly after Pearl Harbor, aircrews from what was then the Army Air Forces replied with a stunning bombing raid on Tokyo that was led, as was mentioned by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. Like the three individuals who were just introduced, I've been around so long that I actually knew Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, and I am sure that when he began flying, he never imagined he would be taking a land-based aircraft off the deck of an aircraft carrier. But he and his Raiders, the three men here today, were determined to accomplish their mission -- no matter what the odds.

And I remember as a boy the electrifying emotion in our country when we learned what that small band of airmen had done what they had done. They inspired our country. They gave the American people the strength to persevere on behalf of human freedom.

That is the force you join today. A force where the improbable can become the norm. Where individuals are dedicated to securing our liberties, no matter the circumstances -- no matter the odds.

Much of their success stems from the fact that we are a nation of optimists -- a country that forged freedom out of a frontier -- a country where our only limits are self-imposed.

Of necessity, new ideas are replacing outdated notions. And when that happens, there's resistance, always.

I remember during my first tour as Secretary of Defense in the mid-1970's, controversy engulfed the B-1 program. I actually approved the B-1 bomber back in the mid-1970's, and then it was cancelled by the next administration, but it was revived by the administration after that.

And interestingly, during the first months of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, that platform -- the B-1B -- that I had approved in 1976, and was designed for Cold War nuclear strikes -- dropped 40% of the weapons and 70% of the precision munitions that helped to defeat the Taliban and the al Qaeda in Afghanistan 25 years later.

The process of transforming a big institution is an enormous challenge. But revolutions have always been challenged and resisted. It's a fact that many folks fought when people tried to end the horse cavalry. And I should add, here at the Air Force Academy, there were doubters who objected to the concept of a separate air service -- the service that today we call the United States Air Force.

Your challenge will be to go beyond simply a change of a process here or of a piece of equipment there. Our country did not survive and become great through timid responses or aversion to risk. Ours is a nation born of ideas and raised on improbability. Your charge will be to challenge inherited assumptions, and cherished habits, and seek out better approaches. I urge you to make that the bedrock of your career.

That is the spirit that made heroes of the Doolittle Raiders, that same talent for innovation that those Americans on horseback used in Afghanistan, and I might add, that same determination that lives in the lives of many of your fellow Airmen today, including a leader who was at my side during two wars at a pivotal time in our history, the now-retired Air Force General Richard Myers, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

As each of you carry on their tradition -- when barriers seem too difficult to surmount -- remember that Americans have a long history of overcoming adversity. Ours is a nation that somehow:

• Molded Founding Fathers out of farmers and shopkeepers; and
  
• Pierced an Iron Curtain and helped bring down an evil empire.
  

I remember in my senior year in college, that was a long time ago, that was 1954, 52 years ago - our country faced many challenges. It was a time when the hardships of the Great Depression of the 1930's were still clear in our minds, when the experiences of World War II and the Korean War were still fresh. It was the dawn of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and of the nuclear era.

A former Governor of my home state of Illinois - had been the defeated Democratic candidate for president against General Eisenhower. He spoke to my senior class, and he spoke about the difficult world we would inherit. His remarks could have been grim, they could have been pessimistic about our circumstance, but they were not. They were filled with hope. They were filled with promise.

Among the things he said to us:

"You live in a time of historic change and of infinite difficulty. But do not let the difficulties distract you. Face the problems of your time, you must. Deal with them, you must ... [Dare] to live your lives fully, boldly. Dare to study and to learn, to cultivate the mind and the spirit."

Most would prefer to live when times are calm -- when we might all peacefully go about our lives. But it is in the difficult times -- when the tasks taken on, and the challenges overcome, have the greatest significance.

Each of you have stepped forward to meet a dangerous threat. You have volunteered to stand on the front lines of freedom's defense. Your decision will help decide the fate of millions of human beings across the globe. And as Adlai Stevenson said to my senior class:

"[You] dare not... withhold your attention. For if you... do not participate to the fullest...of [your] ability, America will stumble, and if America stumbles the world [could] fall[s]."

That is an enormous responsibility. And each of you have seized it. And yours is a truly noble calling.

In this "long war," American forces have accomplished what few have before -- indeed, what few have ever even tried before. Our country has sent its finest young men and women in defense of the ideal that people, when faced with paths leading to either tyranny or freedom, will forever choose freedom.

Today, you volunteer to help lead them. You raise your right hands to say, "Send me to serve others." So to each of you, I thank you for what you do. I thank you for all that you are. Go out and make history.

Somehow Operation Iraqi Freedom, not a large war by America's historical standards, has blossomed into a crisis of expectations that threatens our ability to react to future threats with a fist instead of five fingers. Instead of rallying we are squabbling, even as the slow fuse burns.

One party is overly sanguine, unwilling to acknowledge its errors. The other is overly maudlin, unable to forgive the same. The Bush administration seeks to insulate the public from the reality of war, placing its burden on the few. The press has tried to fill that gap by exposing the raw brutality of the insurgency; but it has often done so without context, leaving a clear implication that we can never win.

In the past, the American public could turn to its sons for martial perspective. Soldiers have historically been perhaps the country's truest reflection, a socio-economic cross-section borne from common ideals. The problem is, this war is not being fought by World War II's citizen-soldiers. Nor is it fought by Vietnam's draftees. Its wages are paid by a small cadre of volunteers that composes about one-tenth of 1 percent of the population - America's warrior class.

Yesterday I returned home from a one-year tour in Iraq, where I served as a military advisor to Iraqi forces.

Although nearly a quarter of my 40 years have been spent living outside the United States during my military career, returning home to the land of the free and the home of the brave remains an emotional experience.

Words fail to convey the sincere appreciation felt for the immense support received from the American public. On our journey home, the aircraft stopped over at several locations. In one country an American citizen saw us and pressed a $100 bill into the senior non- commissioned officer's hand and asked him to buy us something for our thirst later on. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire the entire town came out to welcome us upon our arrival at the local airport as though we were rock stars.

From the near-constant flow of Girl Scout cookies to letters and packages, the showering of attention is truly a humbling experience that I and many others are eternally grateful for. Describing how pleasant on the eyes everything here at home looks is difficult to convey. The green of trees and grass seem to draw my constant stare, as does the simple order, cleanliness, and functionality of the surroundings. It simply overwhelms the senses when compared to the landscape of Iraq and the hardship of the people there. I consider myself and my family extremely fortunate to be Americans, and I am highly appreciative for the bountiful lives we lead and my distinct privilege to serve our great nation and her people.

As an indication of how much I have missed my life here in the United States, I gladly look forward to my 90-minute one way commute into the Nation's capitol. I won't be riding to the train station with armored windows rolled up, sweating profusely in body armor and helmet, carrying two weapons while incessantly scanning the shoulder of the road for trash or disturbed earth indicating a possible improvised explosive device. I will travel among you relatively unnoticeable, with the exception of the strange look of occasional satisfaction for the simple pleasure of being there beside you with no worries to mention when compared to being in Iraq.

My euphoria of returning home to my family remains somewhat dulled in the recesses of my mind as I recognize many of my brothers continue our work in Iraq. I was reminded of the continued sacrifice in my final hours in Iraq as I waited to fly out. I bumped into a few OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilots we had worked with us a few months earlier.

These two warrant officers typify the service and sacrifice of members of the armed forces. I mentioned to them our appreciation from the ground guy's perspective, for their constant presence and in particular their unique aviator ethos. In the city they flew day and night moving to "the sound of the guns" in seconds when trouble raised its head. Unfortunately, one of their aircraft went down and two of those great Americans lost their lives, and three children lost their fathers. In my mind the cliched word 'hero' fails to do justice to these larger-than-life men. Others like them continue to 'get after it' from the mountains of Afghanistan to the cities of Iraq on our behalf.

With regard to the war in Iraq, the work is hard and progress labored. The magnitude of the task at hand is of such complexity that it cannot be exaggerated. Rest assured, though, contrary to the situation portrayed on the news, the sky is not falling every other day in Iraq. While home for two weeks in February, I was startled by the seemingly emergent 'civil war' as portrayed in the media, yet returned to find little had changed in the area I operated in. As I frequently told my Iraqi counterpart, the television is the world's most powerful weapon because of its ability to shape people's perceptions and influence their minds. Resist the Orwellian temptation to internalize all the shouting piped into your homes about Iraq from TV and for that matter all of the other pressing scandalous crisis-like issues beamed to you on a nightly basis.

I recognize it may appear difficult in our daily lives to remain persistently cognizant of the threats that exist to our nation and our way of life. Rest assured there are folks out there coming for our lunch money. I wish our common interest in preserving the longevity of this great nation, our prosperity and our way of life, could transcend the rancorous debate and circus-like folly swirling on a host of other issues across the country. Together our people will never be vanquished, divided we lie susceptible to those hungry for our demise.

As good as the U.S. Army Special forces are at training foreign troops, many of these foreign armed forces now prefer U.S. Marines. This began when some U.S. officers, responsible for assisting in the training of military forces in Third World countries, began declining, when offered Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel. Publicly, the reasons offered are usually couched in terms that suggest the SOF people are needed elsewhere, which is certainly true, given ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. But privately some of the advisory personnel cite the fact that SOF personnel usually bring with them all sorts of specialized equipment that the host country will never be able to afford. Moreover, the capabilities for which SOF trainers provide training for are often much too sophisticated for local, and usually poorly educated, troops to absorb. An additional objection is that the nature of the way in which SOF operates is just too "undisciplined" for Third World forces. Apparently when asked, experienced advisors will ask for American Marines rather than Special Forces. The Marines have been helping out with the foreign troops training since the war on terror began, and the more basic and down-to-earth approach of the Marines has been more attractive to many nations.

The SOF are still very good at organizing and training irregulars. But when it comes to turning a bunch of civilians into disciplined troops, the Marines have an edge.

I have seen many incredible sights living and flying in Iraq the last two months. Two things, the bravery of our soldiers and the importance of completing our mission and building a free Iraq, prompt me to write today.

Let me first tell you about my visit to the hospital on the base at Balad, where all serious casualties, both American and Iraqi, are treated. An increasing number of the casualties are new Iraqi soldiers and policemen, as well as civilians. Viewing the wounded was very difficult and left me a bit shaken.

We took some Tastykakes (thanks, Mom) for the injured soldiers. I wanted to thank the troops on the ground that have been bearing the brunt of our efforts in Iraq.

We talked with several of the American soldiers, and, thank God, none of them were critically injured. One of the Army privates had been shot through the hand by a sniper while he was drinking a Coke. The bullet went right through the can and then through his hand. We joked about how angry the sniper must have been when he saw the Coke explode. The private then thanked me, because, he said, "When you guys show up overhead, we all breathe a little bit easier because we know the bad guys are scared."

Here's a guy who takes a bullet that misses his head by inches, and he's sitting there thanking me? It put things into perspective and, quite frankly, made me feel a little unworthy. The kids who are serving over here are the best America has to offer. Their bravery is evident in their capacity to perform professionally even when scared half to death. They make me proud.

We then went to the ward that cared for the Iraqi citizens. To describe it as "horrible" would not be adequate. The ward was filled with police and civilian casualties from a car-bomb attack that left almost every patient missing at least one limb, and many missing several. Despite the heavy sedation and pain medication, most were conscious, screaming and groaning in agony.

Now, if you ever have any doubt that you live in a thoroughly good, decent and moral country, just recall what I'm about to tell you: In the next ward, doctors and nurses were working just as diligently on the very animals who commit these despicable attacks. I scratch my head when so many back home are unable to make the moral distinction between the ideology that gave birth to the greatest country on Earth and the ideology of our enemy in Iraq. I am sometimes fearful that this moral blindness may one day lead to the downfall of our republic. I only hope I'm wrong.

Let me mention one other thing. When we lose one of our brave Americans, before their bodies are carefully loaded on a C-130 aircraft for transport home, an e-mail goes out for volunteers to serve as the honor guard. Along with the members of his unit, volunteers have the privilege of assisting with the conveyance of the flag-draped casket. It typically happens late at night, on the flight line, with the C-130's rear platform lowered and the engines off. Unless you respond immediately to the e-mail, many others beat you to the chance.

As the supervisor of flying the other night, I was able to witness the ceremony. The silence was deafening, the precision was astounding, and the reverence and veneration were complete. I was moved beyond words. I wept openly. Our soldiers are sacrificing to build a strong democratic Iraq and to help ensure the security of all Americans.

Contrary to what you may hear in the media, there is no "civil war"! I fly over every inch of this country both day and night. Is there serious political tension? Yes. Is there sporadic sectarian violence? Yes. Are there those who are willing to blow themselves and innocent Iraqis up in order to prevent a democratic Iraq from becoming a reality? Yes. Should that be the determining factor as to whether we throw up our hands and give up? Hell, no!

Since when has America been intimidated by bullies? We have a responsibility to the people of Iraq and our own greatness as Americans to finish this righteous cause. This is to say nothing of the myriad other reasons why it was a spectacularly good thing to get rid of Saddam Hussein and his rapist heirs.

The vast majority of Iraqi people are incredibly grateful to the United States for saving them from a bloody and brutal dictatorship. There are, granted, those who do not share this same gratitude, namely the former regime and those who benefited from it, as well as foreign militant Islamists who see Iraq as the battleground for their extremism. That's who we're fighting, not the majority of the people of Iraq.

The democratically elected government of Iraq is our ally, and we are helping the Iraqis with their fledgling democracy, just as we helped Japan and Germany after the Second World War. What we have done in Iraq and what we are doing here now are among the noblest things we have ever done as a country.

We truly are the last best hope of the world. We dare not quash that hope in Iraq, and, in the process, destroy our valiant, struggling friends - and their desire for peace and happiness.

Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists, in Iraq, in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan, in the area near Afghanistan, in any base anywhere in the world, and your families:

Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the cojones in the whole world right now and should be damned happy with yourselves and damned proud of who you are.

Meaning is doing for others. Meaning is risking your life for others. Meaning is putting your bodies and families' peace of mind on the line to defeat some of the most evil, sick killers the world has ever known. Meaning is leaving the comfort of home to fight to make sure that there still will be a home for your family and for your nation and for free men and women everywhere.

Look, soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen and Coast Guardsmen, there are eight billion people in this world. The whole fate of this world turns on what you people, 1.4 million, more or less, do every day. The fate of mankind depends on what about 2/100 of one percent of the people in this world do every day -- and you are those people. And joining you is every policeman, fireman, and EMT in the country, also holding back the tide of chaos.

Do you know how important you are? Do you know how indispensable you are? Do you know how humbly grateful any of us who has a head on his shoulders is to you?

December 7, 2005
President George Bush,
The White House,
Washington, DC.


DEAR PRESIDENT BUSH:

My name is Bud Clay. My son, SSgt Daniel Clay--USMC was killed last week, 12/01/05, in Iraq. He was one of the ten Marines killed by the IED in Fallujah.

Dan was a Christian--he knew Jesus as Lord and Savior--so we know where he is. In his final letter (one left with me for the family--to be read in case of his death) he says "if you are reading this, it means my race is over." He's home now--his and our real home.

I am writing to you--to tell you how proud and thankful we (his parents and family) are of you and what you are trying to do to protect us all. This was Dan's second tour in Iraq--he knew and said that his being there was to protect us.

I want to encourage you. I hear in your speeches about "staying the course". I also know that many are against you in this "war on Terror" and that you must get weary in the fight to do what is right. We and many others are praying for you to see this through--as Lincoln said, "that these might not have died in vain".

You have a heavy load--we are praying for you.

God bless you,
BUD CLAY

MOM, DAD, KRISTIE, JODIE, KIMBERLY, ROBERT, KATY, RICHARD, AND MY LISA:

Boy do I love each and every one of you. This letter being read means that I have been deemed worthy of being with Christ. With MaMa Jo, MaMa Clay, Jennifer .... all those we have been without for our time during the race. This is not a bad thing. It is what we hope for. The secret it out. He lives and His promises are real! It is not faith that supports this .... but fact and I now am a part of the promise. Here is notice! Wake up! All that we hope for is Real. Not a hope. But Real.

But here is something tangible. What we have done in Iraq is worth any sacrifice. Why? Because it was our duty. That sounds simple. But all of us have a duty. Duty is defined as a God given task. Without duty life is worthless. It holds no type of fulfillment. The simple fact that our bodies are built for work has to lead us to the conclusion that God (who made us) put us together to do His work. His work is different for each of us.

Mom, yours was to be the glue of our family, to be a pillar for those women (all women around you), Dad, yours was to train and build us (like a Platoon Sgt) to better serve Him. Kristie, Kim, Katy you are the five team leaders who support your Squad ldrs, Jodie, Robert and Richard. Lisa you too. You are my XO and you did a hell of a job. You all have your duties. Be thankful that God in His wisdom gives us work. Mine was to ensure that you did not have to experience what it takes to protect what we have as a family. This I am so thankful for. I know what honor is. It is not a word to be thrown around. It has been an Honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to. This is as close to Christ-like I can be. That emulation is where all honor lies. I thank you for making it worthwhile.

As a Marine this is not the last Chapter. I have the privilege of being one who has finished the race. I have been in the company of heroes. I now am counted among them. Never falter! Don't hesitate to honor and support those of us who have the honor of protecting that which is worth protecting.

Now here are my final wishes. Do not cry! To do so is to not realize what we have placed all our hope and faith in. We should not fear. We should not be sad. Be thankful. Be so thankful. All we hoped for is true. Celebrate! My race is over, my time in war zone is over. My trials are done. A short time separates all of us from His reality. So laugh. Enjoy the moments and your duty. God is wonderful.

I love each and every one of you.

Spread the word .... Christ lives and He is Real.

Semper Fidelis

"We just noticed a vast number of dead bodies: old women, old men, babies, infants that were dead or wounded," said Thompson, who was 24 at the time.

Thompson and his crew, 19-year-old gunner Larry Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta, 18, flew closer to the ground and what they saw there confirmed their fears. They watched a fellow American shoot a Vietnamese woman at point-blank range.

Thompson landed his helicopter, determined to stop the killing. Then he and his crew did something that could have cost them their own lives or military careers: They turned their guns on fellow Americans and ordered them to stop shooting.

"This was taking advantage of very helpless, defenseless people, and it's not good," said Thompson. "It's not the American way - wasn't my way, that's for sure."

Once the shooting stopped, Thompson did things his way. He had seen villagers run from American troops and take cover in a bunker, and was determined to save them.

But some soldiers were not through killing. When Thompson told the troops he was going to help those in the bunker, one soldier offered to get them out - with a hand grenade.

"I told them to just hold their troops because I [thought] I could do better than that," said Thompson. "Thank God that everybody played it real cool then and they just held their ground."

The frightened villagers at first were reluctant to come out, but they recognized Thompson as the soldier who had stopped the carnage.

As they emptied the bunker, Thompson realized it had hidden more villagers than he had thought and he began to realize the magnitude of the situation.

He had the wounded airlifted to a hospital, but the damage already had been done. American soldiers had already killed 504 Vietnamese by the time he intervened.

Though Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta could not undo the My Lai Massacre, they likely prevented the killing from spreading to nearby villages.

"My Lai was a very bad situation - one that I hope and pray never happens again, but there's some good that came out of it," Thompson said in a CNN interview. "If we can have any of our younger generation, our college students or whatever, high school, stop and think sometime in their life, 'This ain't right. I'm not gonna do it' and put their foot down and go with what's in their heart, it'll be worth it in the long run."

"It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it. As an example of how to do it if you don't see it happening but you're told about it is exactly what happened a couple weeks ago. There's a report from an Iraqi to a U.S. commander that there was possibility of inhumane treatment in a particular facility. That U.S. commander got together with his Iraqi counterparts. They went together to the facility, found what they found, reported it to the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi government has taken ownership of that problem and is investigating it. So they did exactly what they should have done."

Representative Murtha:

During the dark days of the American Revolution the Commanding General, George Washington, seemed unable to win any victories. There were wholesale desertions, troops were starving, the fledgling government was sporadic with money, food and ammunition in short supply. Out of this darkness emerged a genuine American Hero. This officer brilliantly led his troops in combat and though seriously, and almost mortally wounded, won victory after victory for the desperate and beleaguered American Continental Army.

After helping to turn the tide of war in the favor of the Americans, this officer's fame grew as did his prestige, but his prowess on the battlefield, his courage under fire and indeed all of his life, is forgotten because of one act. His name is now synonymous with "traitor" in the dictionary. General Benedict Arnold, like you, had a brilliant military career of courage, honor, and sacrifice. Like you, in my opinion, he was a traitor to his country and to his oath as an American soldier. It is indeed fitting that you are member of the same political party as another traitor and seditionist, former Lieutenant John Kerry USN, who betrayed his country, not only on the very floor of the House of Representatives that you now serve, but also, secretly, in the presence of our enemies in Paris, France.

Unlike you, he is a self proclaimed warrior and you earned your decorations, but the pair of you forgot one important thing. The United States of America and indeed the world are at war. We are at war with an implacable enemy. An enemy of racist, bigoted, fanatics whose sole goal in life is to destroy the people of the United States of America, their culture and their religion. More American civilians have died on U.S. soil in this war than died on our shores in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and Dessert Storm put together.

We are at war, Murtha, and your actions and conduct give aid and comfort to our enemies. Just in case you have forgotten the definition of treason and sedition, I have attached Webster's definition as Tabs A and B to this letter.

A wise man once said, "There are no former Marines, only dead Marines." He was wrong. You are not a Marine. You have lost the right to use that title. You have dishonored all of those who have fought and died up to the day you stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and demanded that we withdraw immediately. You lied to the press, when you said you did not make that statement. I watched you make that statement. Albeit your Bill, submitted, which I have also read, added a caveat, "as soon as practicable." That is pure horseshit and you know it.

Yes, Representative Murtha, you have given aid and comfort to our enemies in a time of war. You have given them hope, which they have fast been losing, due to all of the victories and sacrifice by our sons and daughters on the field of battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have been honored by our enemies on the front page of Al Jazeera. Kerry has a hallowed spot in the Hall of Heroes in the Museum of the Revolution in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

No, you are no longer a Marine. Your soul is dead. Your honor is dead, and without a soul or honor, you are nothing.

Be advised, my son is a Marine Officer. He has commanded men in battle through two (2) tours and he is due to return to Iraq on a third tour. If he should be harmed in any way as a result of your actions on the floor of the House this week, I will do everything in my power to see to it that you are driven from office and that you are charged and tried for treason and sedition.

The Marine Officer whose message was read on the House Floor by fellow member of Congress, Jean Schmidt, was right. You are a coward. Marines do not cut and run.

Fortunately, your obesity prevents you from wearing your Marine Uniform with even a semblance of pride, but I know your face. If I am in a room when you arrive, you will not enter. If you are in a room, when I arrive, you will leave. It is as simple as that.

OUT.

LTC Christopher J. Stark IN USAR

I don't even rate to wear my little blue ribbon yet. You know, the one you get after being in the fleet for 60 days. I haven't even reached the end of my first enlisted year.

According to my friends, I was just recently promoted from shower shoe to go-faster.

I like being considered overly motivated and perky. I enjoy 'oorahs' and 'devil dogs.' I still smile at recruits and return their greeting of the day because I remember what it was like to be there "just a few weeks ago."

My friends around the barracks pick on me when we go out to eat, offering to take me places like Chuck E Cheese's or McDonald's so I can play on the little kids toys while they finish their meals.

Being new to the Marine Corps is like being new to the world, fresh out of the womb. You have so much potential and so many opportunities available.

But don't worry. The wonder and awe of it all fades away quickly. And then you are just another Marine doing your job in the same outfit as everybody else.

But you are still the new guy. As the new guy, you get picked on a bunch. You get sent on gag office supply runs or get stuck taking out the trash every night. You usually get tasked to do the job nobody else wants to do and you are expected to do it with a smile.

It's the life of the new guy, the green blooded, the boot. It's not all bad though.

Earning the title Marine is a big accomplishment that hardly goes unnoticed. Despite getting stuck with the dirty work, there is a bond between Marines that can never be broken. You've proven yourself loyal to the same cause that millions of other people have turned up their nose at or don't have enough discipline to pursue.

Not only have you taken the challenge to better yourself, you have overcome all the obstacles and proven yourself dedicated to the protection of your country, Corps and friends.

I came to this realization when I had the opportunity to visit with many Vietnam veterans at a dinner banquet after I had only served a few weeks in the fleet. They served their country and defended the rights of the constitution so I could live my life with the freedoms our forefathers intended. I considered it a great honor to be invited to such an event.

The retirees and veterans, however, expressed to me what an honor it was for them to be in my company. They knew what it took for me to join the Marine Corps. They understood what a compromise it was for me to leave home for the adventures and challenges of the military.

My lack of experience in the military was of no consequence to them. They held me in the highest regard because I joined knowing that sometime soon I could be returning fire in a giant sand box on the other side of the world.

They expressed remorse in the fact that they could not take my place at the battlefields. Some wanted to return to the heat of the battle, and some wanted to protect the young lady standing in front of them from the horrors they couldn't bear to speak of.

I went to the banquet intending to honor the ladies and gentlemen who had served in a war with my grandfather, a retired Army colonel. Instead, I was honored for being courageous enough to follow in his footsteps.

Being the new guy isn't all that bad. The trash doesn't take itself out, that's for sure. But wearing the uniform of a United States Marine is reward enough, even if it is a little too constricting to climb the rope wall in McDonald's ball pen.

The Marine Corps is an institution. One that you have to prove you have what it takes to join and to survive. We are an organization that develops strong bonds even between Marines who had never met before but hold the same title. We have a saying that reads, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine" because when you get out of the Army or other branches you say I use to be in the Army. Marines don't say "Im a former Marine". We stay Marine and we stay together. We have lost Marines in the past months here. We have lost Marines in the past months back in the states as well. Some by accidental deaths and some by old age. To all the Marines, we salute you and your families for the hardship that you endured. For what you have done in the past and for what you are being trained to do in the future. Semper Fi Marines we hope to fill your shoes and make you proud.

We have a continued commitment to duty to complete what we were sent here to do because we believe in it. Before any service member begins their military career they are sworn in and repeat the below:

I, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

It may be difficult for those who never have been in the military to understand but it's a dedication, an oath. That's right America, an oath to defend and have allegiance to the greatest country in the world. If for some reason you wake up and eat a bowl of dumbass and break what you have sworn, you can and will be tried by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is the military system of law. This a building block to our foundation of defending this great country. We are sworn to do it.....and we will defend it so help us god!

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Holsey really is a hero. A nine-year Army veteran, Staff Sgt. Holsey was serving in the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment -- one of the units I've been privileged to cover in Iraq for FOX News. A roadside bomb -- placed by a terrorist, not an insurgent, not a "bomber," a terrorist -- so severely wounded him that his left leg had to be removed below the knee at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He now wears a prosthetic leg -- yet he plans to stay in the Army. When I asked him why, he replied, "because my soldiers need me. We have a war to win -- and my country needs me."

Marine Lance Cpl. Jake Knospler is another hero. On November 12th, 2004, Knospler was leading his fire team in the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines during the fight to liberate Fallujah from terrorists -- not "freedom fighters," terrorists. An enemy grenade hit Knospler in the face, blowing away his jaw and part of his skull. He miraculously survived his terrible wounds and more than a dozen surgeries since. In the next two weeks, doctors at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center will reinstall part of Knospler's shattered skull that was removed and sewn into his chest until he was healthy enough to withstand the operation. Knospler told me, "I have to get better. My country, my corps and my family are counting on me."

On a very warm Wednesday this past May, during Fleet Week in New York City, a passerby at Ground Zero encountered some 150 astonishingly young Marines in fatigues, wet with sweat after a run, standing at attention on the site's edge, outside the fence. They were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and they appeared to be in the middle of a formal ceremony. Yesterday the organizer of the May event, Maj. Dave Anderson, explained they were laying a wreath to honor the victims of September 11, and that the three Marines chosen to lay the wreath had earned Purple Hearts while serving in Iraq. When the ceremony ended, he said, a woman came out of the crowd, crying, and grabbed his wrist to say that her brother had died in there that day, and she said to him, "When people see you Marines doing this, they'll know that you will take the fight forward."

When I came home from Iraq a couple of months ago, I kept the promise I made while I was still there: I wouldn't watch the news, and I'd step away from the war, ignoring the events that had consumed my life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was time to catch up with my family and make them the focus of my life 24/7.

For about a month I was able to successfully ignore the constant horrid imagery and sensational reports filed from Iraq. But as a public affairs officer and self-proclaimed news junkie, I soon found myself scanning headlines on the Web and tuning into radio news programs, instead of my favorite jazz station.

I don't think the charred skeletal remains of a vehicle-borne explosive device are the watermark of this war. The images I see back here are not the same indelible images I saw in Iraq - those of a resilient country making its way back from decades of oppression - helped by the many friendly nations that liberated them.

But now I'm on the sidelines, and instead of feeling and hearing the car bomb explode and seeing its eerie black plume of smoke rise nearby, I read about it. And rather than witness history as I did for a year, I find myself writing my comrades to get accurate accounts of what is happening in Iraq.

What I saw in Iraq was the boundless bravery of a seemingly endless line of Iraqi recruits gathered to join the Iraqi army, the smiles and waves of Iraqis as we convoyed through the city of Sulaymaniyah, the first flight of the Iraqi air force, and the sound of Iraqi tank guns as they thundered for the first time in years in support of liberty, not tyranny.

I remember the jubilation of my Iraqi friends as they showed off their ink-stained fingers, a badge of honor on their fingertips, indicating they had voted in their country's first democratic election in decades. I remember the Iraqi female military police soldiers who became pioneers for women in that region by joining the Iraqi military, clearing not just personal hurdles, but cultural ones.

Mostly, I remember the thousands of Iraqi and coalition troops that each day hunted the enemy and kept me safe. I remember the drivers and gunners on convoy, the pilots and crew chiefs in the sky, the sentries and tankers at the gates, and all of the warriors who were out there trying to make Iraq a better and safer place.

Someday, probably decades from now, the actions of this generation and its brave men and women will grace history books. The lesson, I'm confident, will be that they left a peaceful and productive imprint on the region and its people, and forever changed the landscape of the Middle East.

Despite what is being reported and what is reflected in media opinion polls, there is no doubt in my mind that the public is behind the troops in Iraq.

While I was in Iraq, I received hundreds of Christmas cards from students at an elementary school and from members of a church in Florida. A sorority from Indiana sent dozens of letters and cards of support, and Americans from all over the country sent me e-mails from places like Chicago, Sacramento, and Texas just to name a few.

Wool caps made by an Internet knitting club kept me warm during the cold winter months in Iraq and donated phone cards kept me in touch with my family who waited for me more than 6,000 miles away. Care packages stuffed with goodies and comfort items were never in short supply at our command. In fact, we had to appoint a "morale sergeant" to manage all of the goodwill pouring into our compound.

When I came home in uniform on R&R, strangers approached me at the airport and shook my hand, patted me on the back, and thanked me. Airline employees did what they could, offering passes to their VIP lounges and upgrades to first class, and those airlines who had nothing to offer did what they could-extra pillows, fistfuls of peanut or pretzel bags and free headsets. But their "thanks" alone was enough for me.

Ask any returning war veteran and I'm sure you'll find their experience was similar. At one point I was so overwhelmed by the outpouring that I found myself in an airport restroom trying to keep my composure after a mother walked passed me with her two sons and one of them said aloud, "Thank you, Soldier," his brother waving anxiously at me.

On my return to the war after R&R, a few other soldiers and I were dining on one last restaurant-cooked meal in the airport when the waitress approached us and told us that another patron had paid for our meal.

We thanked the man but said we couldn't accept his offer. He replied that it was "the least I can do for you guys," adding, "We're all proud of you."

In my town when I came home after the war, I passed homes displaying yellow ribbons and flying U.S. flags. At my welcome home party, a restaurant donated food for more than 100 guests and people all over the city made it a point to express their support and gratitude.

The support I received bordered on immense. Never had I expected such support, and never had I received so much for merely doing my job.

My memories of Iraq will forever be engrained in my mind alongside of the memories of the incredible outpouring I received when I came home. They are one.

Last weekend, keeping true to the promise I made to make my family the 24/7 focal point I attended a baseball game on Father's Day and during the seventh inning stretch there was a salute to U.S. military personnel serving the war on terror.

A singer proudly sang "God Bless America" and all around me, people joined in and sang along.

My personal opinion poll has found, plus or minus a few percentage points, that the American people unconditionally support the soldiers in Iraq. I arrive at this conclusion having experienced their support firsthand, and having been held in their warm embrace upon my return from the war.

And the support continues today. When I recently learned about the opinion poll results I e-mailed one of my stateside supporters who befriended me during the war. I wrote him to say hello, and to restate my appreciation for his support during my deployment.

I asked him if he had heard about the media opinion polls and he replied as I had when I learned of the poll.

"News to me."

Between spending $1.5 million on tripling the size of her suburban New York home, adding a basketball court, a volleyball court,a hot tub, and a heated pool,Trent managed to spend $500,000 in shoes,$5,000 Gucci and Capelli gowns, and Fendi and Judith Leiber handbags, that also go for $5,000 per bag.

The spending did not stop there as Trant spent $70,000 to take six friends to the Super Bowl and another $30,000 for a trip for 20 friends and relatives to the Bahamas.Then add on another $15,000 for her housekeeper,who received the money to buy a home in El Salvador.

(2005-06-11) -- The United States Army, which has missed its recruiting goals in each of the past four months, despite increasing financial incentives, today held a news conference to announce a new recruiting gimmick which it called "duty."

At a Pentagon briefing, an unnamed Army spokesman said that, historically, this little-known concept has motivated more citizens to rise to America's defense than money, prestige or promises of college education.

Journalists at the news conference, baffled by the terminology, unleashed a barrage of questions about why anyone would volunteer to fight for a country that runs a gulag at Gitmo, invades peaceful sovereign nations like Iraq and has no respect for the most Holy Koran.

The Army spokesman further confused reporters with his response.

"Men volunteer to fight, bleed and die for the United States of America because she is the last, best hope for peace and freedom on earth," he said. "They consider the evidence that America has pushed back the veil of tyranny and saved countless millions of men, women and children from imprisonment, torture, starvation, humiliation and brutal death. And they act on that evidence, knowing that the blood of free men is always the price of freedom. While critics jabber about global diplomacy, these men step into the breach to shield us all from the peril of our naivete about the so-called 'basic goodness of humanity'. These men don't think America is perfect, because they know the evil that lurks in each of our hearts. But they devote themselves to preventing untrammeled wickedness from roaming the earth. Their heads are clear. Their hearts are steadfast. And their sense of duty has shut down gulags, death camps and dictatorships for nearly a century. You can't lure this kind of man with money, slick advertising or blue-sky promises. They need money, but money does not stir their hearts. These men are attracted by the grind, the challenge, the moral obligation and even the thrill of knowing that your heart beats, bleeds and may ultimately stop, in service to a dream -- an ideal that has found practical expression in a nation, under God, that we call the United States of America."

For well over a century, our nation has set aside this day to honor those fallen comrades who gave their lives in service to their country. On this Memorial Day, keep in mind that Gettysburg, Soissons, Coral Sea, Iwo Jima, Mogadishu, Kandahar, Fallujah and countless other patches of hallowed ground and sacred waters around the globe are not merely chapters from the pages of our history, but powerful reminders to all Americans that liberty has a cost – that freedom is not a birthright.

Today, as we combat terrorist forces in countless foreign lands, we are engaged in a war unlike any we have experienced. The ideals of selflessness and sacrifice embodied in the example set by those who served before us are as necessary as ever in the quest to guarantee ultimate victory and a safer world. Let us pause today to commit ourselves to continuing their noble efforts as we face the unknown challenges that lie ahead.

Those men and women who gave their lives in defense of our nation and beliefs did so because they truly believed in the idea of America. People throughout the world cite many reasons for our greatness. First among these is our founding axiom that all men and women are created equal and free. Others praise our government institutions, economic might, or preeminent military strength. All of these make America an envied model, but they are more the result than the cause of our greatness. Memorial Day provides an opportunity for all Americans to reflect on perhaps te true source of our greatness: a national spirit that imbues so many with the will to give what President Lincoln called, "The last full measure of devotion" to defend a cause that is larger than self. Your families and your countrymen are proud of your service. Thank you for all you do and for the significant contributions each of you make every day in defending our Constitution and our way of life. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

Semper Fidelis,
J.M. Paxton Jr.
Brigadier General, U.S. Marine Corps

"What follows is Mr. Jackson's op-ed. If you find it sickening, offensive, demeaning, and insulting to our troops, rest assured you are not alone."

If all that soldiers can now accomplish is curse at baffled Iraqi families and berate people in the streets for exercising what we consider the right of free speech to tear up a newspaper, then there is no mission.

In a sign of their morass, the soldiers described themselves in lowly terms far removed from the pre-invasion build-up, when Vice President Dick Cheney said "we will be greeted as liberators." The supervising soldier in Mosul told NPR as his armored vehicle cruised the streets, "If you look on the walls here, you can see all this graffiti. We've really taken to the streets here kind of like a gang unit would in, say, LA. It's a giant gang war, and we've got the biggest gang, so every time we see graffiti, we mark it out, we tag it with 'US Forces,' and we say, 'Hey look, this is our block.' "

Funny, when Bush told us we were liberating the Iraqi people, he said nothing about employing the Crips and Bloods.

"And here we thought our young men and women risking life and limb over there were heroes. Silly us. If anyone feels inclined to differ with Mr. Jackson's labeling of our loved ones as nothing more than lowly gang members, his email address is: jackson@globe.com"

It's all about this great freedom we enjoy here, the freedom of speech. It's a freedom worth defending, and over the years a lot of people have defended it in a lot of different ways, some on the battlefield and others on the protest lines, in the courts and in jail cells.

I'm talking about the reaction of a few people to some photos that were published in this paper last week.

The spread featured some shots of a Marine helicopter and its crew at a student career day event at Gayman Elementary School in Plumstead.

I was attracted to the photos, which bore the headline "Send in the Marines." I thought how excited and interested I would have been as a kid to see a huge CH-53 land outside my school. It's something that doesn't happen every school day.

And I thought about how educational it would have been to go aboard the aircraft and talk to the crew about how it worked and what it was used for.

On another level I was, of course, interested because I'd done a hitch as a Marine helicopter crew chief a long time ago. So if you want to say I'm biased, go ahead. It's one of your freedoms as an American.

But a few readers had different opinions about the helicopter incident.

In essence, they believed that representatives of the military shouldn't be allowed to attend career days at public schools.

One reader said she was "appalled" and "ashamed that our educational system is promoting war and teaching small children that killing and being killed is acceptable and glamorous."

What these readers are implying is that the military should be denigrated because its members are sometimes required to wage war. Well, that's its purpose. And, yes, war is bad, and nobody despises the veil of war more than the warrior.

But to my knowledge, the American military has never started a war. Civilians start wars. It's the military's duty to end them, even when it doesn't necessarily agree with the purpose.

Some people cling to a naive belief that, if we dismantled the military, all of a sudden conflicts would just disappear and our enemies would cease to be.

You might think we're living out the lyrics of some wistful John Lennon song, and that if we'd only give peace a chance, we could all hold hands, love each other to death and skip blindly along our merry, flower-strewn way.

Well, to a certain extent, we can do all those things to a greater degree than many people in the world can.

And a major reason we can is due to the preparedness of our armed forces.

I think every kid should learn that lesson.

Recently, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, insisted, at a press conference, that the US and coalition forces were winning the war in Iraq, and noted that he was confident of a military victory. "I'm going to say this: I think we are winning, okay. I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time," Myers said. Myers' statements, mirroring his earlier pronouncements, as well as those of his fellow joint chiefs, represent a posturing for the public that is not matched by the reality on the ground in Iraq. For every general who speaks of 'winning the war', there are hundreds of soldiers and marines, veterans of the harsh reality of ground truth in Iraq, who believe otherwise.

"When I was in Vietnam, if you asked anybody what he wanted more than anything else in the world, the answer was to go home. (In Iraq)we asked hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, low ranking soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq the same question and the response to a man and woman was, 'to kill bad guys'. And that was startling to me. Morale is just over the top. . . . They perceive that they're making progress. Success will do that to morale."

Interestingly, no one would accuse Marines of a lack of self-confidence. Yet from the moment a brand new recruit steps off the bus at Parris Island his sense of self is under full-scale assault. A good DI doesn't waste time building up a recruit's self-esteem. In fact, it's quite the opposite: everything that happens at boot camp convinces a recruit that there's nothing particularly special about him. He may come in there thinking he's pretty hot stuff, but they shave his head, take away his fancy sneakers and stylish jeans and issue him a funny-looking uniform that looks just like everyone else's. If he screws up, no one makes excuses for him. He gets yelled at as though he were a little kid. It can be humiliating at times. It's designed to be that way. But if he persists, if he keeps coming, if he hangs in there and he works with the team, he will eventually earn their respect and perhaps even the coveted approval of the drill instructor. And at the end of the line, there is The Crucible. Not some touchy-feely pajama party, where sensitive New Age metrosexuals sip Chardonnay and wallow in their insecurities as they affirm their dependence on each other, but an all-out, balls-to-the-wall ordeal where if he can hang in there, he just might earn the right to be called 'Marine'.

And that's something no amount psychotherapy can deliver. Self-reliance. You can see it in the way they walk: I can usually spot a Marine (even a retired one) a mile away. The carry themselves differently. There's a self-awareness, a calm, not-quite-cockiness in their bearing. At my son's police graduation I picked out the gentleman next to him in the lineup, for no particular reason, as a Marine. There was that indefinable something in his eyes. It stays with them all their lives, what they learned in Marine training. The discovery that in many ways, life is like an obstacle course. Many of these young men and women come from less than ideal circumstances. But no matter where they came from, they came to the Marine Corps because they were looking for something. And in recruit training, through challenge and adversity, they find the answer to a question, not outside, but deep within themselves. They find hidden reserves of strength and character they never knew they possessed. And they also find the enormous power that comes from voluntarily disciplining yourself, from working as part of a team. From not making excuses, or whining, or complaining, but simply adapting and moving on when life doesn't turn out the way you hoped it would. Many of them find God for the first time. No, no one would describe Marines as lacking in self-esteem. But it wasn't given to them. They earned it themselves. And perhaps that is the essential difference: what they earned for themselves, they know can never be taken away by life, or by other people.

In Iraq, the most famous soldiers to emerge are PFC Jessica Lynch and PFC Lynndie England, a victim and criminal, respectively. Their public images are the offspring of Vietnam. Celebrity and cynicism have trumped achievement.

Habits die hard, for the press as well as for the rest of us. The disproportionate coverage of seven guards at Abu Ghraib and one quick-acting Marine in a mosque trumped the extraordinary victory won by thousands of Marines and soldiers in Fallujah, now one of the safest cities in the Sunni Triangle. The obsessive spotlight damaged the image of the American soldier at home while failing to assuage our detractors abroad. America is proud of its collective conscience, but self-flagellation has a deteriorating effect.

A nation's selection of its heroes is a reflection of its values. Jihadists like Zarqawi are not idealistic agrarian reformers. We are not a nation of victims. The press ought to make a real effort to show the tough guys who fight for us.

It's a shame that I'm here in Iraq with the Marines right now and not back at Ohio University completing my senior year and joining in blissful ignorance with the enlightened, war-seasoned protesters who participated in the recent "die-in" at College Gate. It would appear that all the action is back home, but why don't we make sure? That's right, this is an open invitation for you to cut your hair, take a shower, get in shape and come on over! If Michael Moore can shave and lose enough weight to fit into a pair of camouflage utilities, then he can come too!

Make sure you all say your goodbyes to your loved ones though, because you won't be seeing them for at least the next nine months. You need to get here quick because I don't want you to miss a thing. You missed last month's discovery of a basement full of suicide vests from the former regime (I'm sure Saddam's henchmen just wore them because they were trendy though). You weren't here for the opening of a brand new school we built either. You might also notice women exercising their new freedom of walking to the market unaccompanied by their husbands.

There is a man here, we just call him al-Zarqawi, but we think he'd be delighted to sit down and give you some advice on how you can further disrespect the victims of Sept. 11 and the 1,600 of America's bravest who have laid down their lives for a safer world. Of course he'll still call you "infidel" but since you already agree that there is no real evil in the world, I see no reason for you to be afraid. Besides, didn't you say that radical Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance?

I'm warning you though -it's not going to be all fun and games over here. You might have bad dreams for the next several nights after you zip up the body bag over a friend's disfigured face. I know you think that nothing, even a world free of terror for one's children, is worth dying for, but bear with me here. We're going to live in conditions you've never dreamt about. You should get here soon though, because the temperatures are going to be over 130 degrees very soon and we will be carrying full combat loads (we're still going to work though). When it's all over, I promise you can go back to your coffee houses and preach about social justice and peace while you continue to live outside of reality.

If you decide to decline my offer, then at least you should sleep well tonight knowing that men wearing black facemasks and carrying AK-47s yelling "Allahu Akbar" over here are proud of you and are forever indebted to you for advancing their cause of terror. While you ponder this, I'll get back to the real "die-in" over here. I don't mind.

I am extremely disconcerted when I hear about “educators” such as Cynthia Richardson, who cannot tell the difference between gang bangers and US Marines in the field who are risking their lives for freedom. It makes me worry about their “critical thinking” skills. It causes me to question every other decision they make.

This sets the definition of political correctness as “Stifling anything you personally don’t like in the name of diversity.”

What happened to common sense? I am fairly sure no school district bans that. Am I wrong?

Unbelievable.

A sister’s pride in her brother. A weapon in the defense of democracy, held by US Marines. Common Sense. Pride in country.

Sacrifice. Courage.

No greater love hath he, than to lay down his life for his brother.

Please tell me this situation has been rectified

J Brock
Major
USMCR Ret

After seeing the article at http://michellemalkin.com/archives/001931.htm I feel compelled to write and say that the photo absolutely SHOULD be displayed at the school. For that matter, it should not only be displayed; it should be PROUDLY and PROMINENTLY displayed. In any case, the entire USA knows about the photo and the school handling of it now, so what harm is there in displaying it? Louis Wilen Olney, Maryland

Dear Ms. Richardson & Baker:

As a Marine Vietnam Veteran, I know we have fought for our freedom and
for the freedoms of many nations in this world. These men and women
who lay down their lives for our freedoms need to be recognized.
Certainly if they are one of our own school alma maters. What High
School would not be proud to count themselves worthy of being one of
the mentoring groups which developed this great American? Apparently
yours.

I am astounded the Salem educational system is bereft of sound
guidelines to know how to Honor a Great American, in this day and age.
This is not the '60's and '70's, unless you're still thinking that's
the way to treat our troops. To only be able to honor Bill Riecke by
digitally removing the American weapon which he uses to protect us,
himself, his fellow warriors and to serve our free Nation is
ridiculous.

With your logic, one would then think we could not show Firefighters
holding axes, or Police with their SWAT gear or K-9 units, etc., etc.

We need to be honoring our Marines and troops who serve us. Why not
provide a "Heroes Wall" at your school and enlist all the relatives to
place their photos to give thanks for their service????

Now, that would be an American thing....

Sincerely,
william halvorsen

BTW, here's a great poll:

http://www.katu.com/news/news_poll_soldier_in_school.asp

Please tell me this is NOT true … a picture of a GUN (yes I have seen the photo in question) is not a graphic display of violence or even an un-graphic depiction of something evil any more than a picture of a cheerleader is a display of softcore porn …. or anything else evil even though we know that some individuals MIGHT get that impression or thought in their heads. As a veteran of 10 years I am outraged. Pictures of weapons in the hands of brave young man and women fighting and dying in some cases appear through out our history books, and rightfully so … to dishonor the actions of these young men by removing the weapon from the picture in the name of ZERO TOLERANCE is absurdity in the extreme.

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience. - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905 US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863 - 1952)

L. S. Hicks

I have been and remain a part-time teacher. My mother was a long time teacher. My wife has taught. So has my sister and two sisters-in-law. I remain very active in the academic community at various levels and capacities. I am one of 5 children, all with extensive backgrounds in education. I am the father of two children, one in public high school and the other a recent high school graduate.

I am sure you have received a flood of e-mail on this. I’ll be short. You’re completely wrong on this issue and your position is so inherently flawed that it is abundantly clear that your good intentions and otherwise clear thinking have been horribly corrupted by living in the bubble of academia. No amount of logic, illustration or rational argument is really going to help you see this at this point.

Take some time off and refresh yourself before you do any more damage. Go do something else for awhile and then come back to academia when you can do more good than harm.

K. Howard
Oldwick, NJ

Dear Enlightened Administrators.

I'd say just GO for it. Ban the Marine photo and suspend the kid for trying to display a half-nude male figure. Gin up the local politicians to get some cover! You know the folks. Children: Yes, half-nude Marines with disgusting, immoral, tools-of-the-Chimperor fully automatic death spurting machines: NO! Stand up and be counted! Who the heck do these folks think they are fooling with? You're a PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, for Gaias sake!

Not only do that Scot's shield and sword have to go, but the Scot as well. Who is he supposed to be fighting, anyway? If your students fight or carry weapons, don't they get dumped back on their parents laps until they have been to peer anger counseling? And what's with the HE? Isn't that a little suppressive of your female and future transgendered students? And what is a SCOT doing in Oregon? Can't you get a shaman or an indigenous person as some sort as a mascot? Or forget this homosapien centric kind of thinking. Isn't there a snail or a mushroom that can be adopted as an inspiration to learning? The ecosystem is loaded with cedars, breaking waves, gravel, organic substrates, tectonic plates, asexual fungi, and the best you can do is an underwear-free European male swinging a rapier? Someone thought this was GOOD? You could out-patriot these folks by adopting the TSA or a metal detector as the school mascot. How about hybrid cars or the 1040 EZ? Think, people, THINK. At LEAST let's go with a shorebird!

Let's show a little liberal backbone up there!

Robert Langham
Tyler, Texas

When Cpl. Riecke finishes his active duty with the Marines he should consider a film career. Definitely movie star material.

Your principal is a bufoon & I'm so glad you have used your site to highlight the absurdity in her position. Thank you to you, your son, and all the brave servicemen and their families.

Sincerely,
Mary D.

During an interview with KATU News, the school's principal, Cynthia Richardson, asked, "What message am I sending to my students if I post that picture?"

The message this picture sends is that brave young American men are willing to take up arms, go into harm's way, and be ready to do violence to defend the principles that make this country the greatest country in the history of the world, spread freedom through this miserable world, and stand on the wall in the dark of the cold night so that we--even people like Cynthia Richardson--can sleep safe in our beds.

This is nothing new. As a Marine veteran, though, I couldn't let it go without putting in my two-cents worth. (I probably even would've chipped in if your son had gone into the Army!)

Please give my best regards and a hearty Oooo-RAH! to Cpl. Riecke.

Semper Fi,

Bob Engler
USMC (1970-1978)
Newark, Delaware

Dear Ms. Richardson, I have been following the story of the young Marines you refused to honor by rejecting a request to place their photo in your school. Today I finally saw the picture. As the father of a young Marine who served in Iraq all I can say is that seeing that picture shook me deeply and I would like to share this perspective with you. There is not a Marine family member who has not seen their loved one in a similar pose taken during down time in the combat zone with close buddies they lived with and depended upon for their very lives. There is also not a Marine family member who does not feel as I do about their own picture - feelings of deep pride mixed with memories of long days and longer nights fearing for the safety of their own loved one, dreading that knock on the door that might come at any moment. I would not hesitate to say that for most of us this picture is among our most personal and cherished possessions. It is for this reason that I feel the need to voice my own opinion on your refusal to allow this Marine's family to share their own experiences that are embodied in that picture. I find it difficult to put the words together in a way that truly conveys my sentiments other than to say your machine-like allegiance to some arbitrary, unthinking and unfeeling bureaucratic policy is of truly immense proportions. I find your willingness to hide behind these arbitrary regulations despicable and incredibly inhuman. That you are in a position to influence young children on a day to day basis is a crime.

Dan Dumarot

Having become aware of the controversy over the posting of your son's photo at his old school, I wanted to contact you to offer my support. I'm certain that you are justifiably proud of both your children - as you should be. As the father of two bold paratroopers, I know I would be equally appalled should their service be denigrated as your son's has been. Rest assured that your family is in my prayers.

William R. Bridgeman
LTC, USAR, Retired

1st Bde (Abn), 1st Cav Div, RVN, 1965-6
HQ, XVIII Airborne Corps, Gulf, 1990-91

I would definatley put my life in these young mens hands before I would trust my life with any bureaucrat, especially if that bureaucrap had a black robe on.

Principal Richardson,

Are there any text books or books in the school library that contains a picture of members of the military or law enforcement carrying a firearm? If so why haven't these pictures been removed from the school in accordance with your policy? What about a picture of Bonnie and Clyde? Is it acceptable to show a picture of a criminal holding a firearm but not someone in the military?

Joseph O'Neill
Groton, CT

Perhaps your son's photograph will not be displayed at McKay High School, but it is now displayed on Michelle Malkin's website, imported as the background for my computer screen, printed on my printer and will now hang in my office. I can't be the only one who had the impulse to do that. Isn't it interesting how the high school administration's attempt to censor an image has caused the image to spread far and wide? Thank your son for me. We appreciate his service. I hope someday he walks back into his old high school recognized as the hero he is. Wayne Kraft

Good Afternoon, I'm sure you are getting hundreds of emails, at least I hope we can depend on others to stand up for the men and women who are standing up for us by sending you emails concerning your school not posting a picture of a Marine that is holding his rifle. Is this not History? Are these wars and death not discussed in your history classes? Are these men and women not over there defending our freedom, freedom of speech? I'm sure if you sat down and looked through the history books you may find some pictures of Military men and women holding rifles. What is the harm of posting this Marines photo? Isn't it true that your school mascot is holding a sword? What kind of message does that send to your students? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I think your school should be honored and proud to have a graduate such as this young man turn into a fine Marine. This is the real life. War happens in real life. Thank you, Dawn C. Gillespie, Illinois

Why should the school administrators object to a photograph of American workers and taxpayers posing with the tools of their trade just because their trade involves a certain level of danger or violence? Is it any different than showing a mechanic with a wrench, a doctor with a scalpel, an IT specialist with a computer, or a judge with a gavel? Isn't it possible that the mechanic builds tanks, the doctor performs abortions, the IT specialist programs nuclear missile trajectories, or a judge sentences the defenseless to death (RIP Terri Schiavo)? The school administrators should be proud that one of their graduates is risking his life to defend his alma mater and everyone connected with it. Would the school administrators prefer photos of graduates waving white flags to Osama bin Laden, or saluting the U.N. flag. Let all Americans show dignity and pride in their country and chosen profession.

Hi!

First, let me say that I applaud your daughter's pride in her brother's mission on our behalf. And I salute your decision to back her, and, of course, your son.

Second, let me say that I see no reason that a picture of a man with a gun cannot be displayed for whatever reason, in a school.

However, I think that this particular picture just borders on the sensational; and might even cause problems for younger, or less mature students than your 15 - year daughter.

Perhaps a picture of them, in Iraq, but in a more relaxed (unarmed)
pose, like one of the pictures here would have been more appropriate.

If it were necesary for a picture of her brother to include arms, a different picture could still have been used

Thanks,

Frank DiSalle
Viet Nam veteran '69 - '70
New Rochelle NY

As a veteran I can only ask "what are you thinking". Shame on You! Do you dare to try to take away the pride of a family of this Marine by demonizing him AND his brothers in arms?

Is this an attempt at left wing censorship?

Are the pictures of our armed forces so disgusting to you that you feel the need to try to make them into evildoers?

Maybe you would be happier with pictures of the "peaceful" Muslims beheading people here in this country?

That is why we (US) are fighting the terrorists in Iraq, as opposes to Albuquerque.

This decision reflects either "Anti- American" or "Anti War"sentiment, is this your own agenda you are forcing on the students.

OR, ... does freedom of speech only apply to the "appropriate" sentiment?

What message are you REALLY trying to send your students?

As long as I am alive I will do whatever I can to prevent what was done to us in Viet Nam by the liberal "enlightened", so called educators and press.
Stop making the US the bad guys.

As far as your zero tolerance policy. You had better get that sword painted over on you school symbol. That, or, you could use a little common sense or maybe even some good old fashioned pride in what those boys in the picture stand for,.. You're right to sit safe in Salem and be idiots

Patrick Schaar US Navy (Seabees) Veteran

Dear Ms Richardson and Ms Baker, As I'm sure you are aware, the issue of posting a photo of a young Marine in a McKay HS classroom has become well known. As a veteran of 26 years of US Air Force service, including combat flying in Vietnam, I must respectfully disagree with the decision that was taken. Even with the knowledge of what hapened recently in Red Lake, MN, in mind, I can't agree with the decision that only a sanitized photo (e.g. without a gun) of a combat veteran is permissible in the school. That young man and his companions and all who serve over there are continuing a proud tradition of service to the United States of America. It is because of their service, and that of my generation in Vietnam and my parents generation and beyond that the United States remains a free and open society. Th denigrate Marine Riecke's servie by aribrushing away that which is fundamental to his profession is not acceptable. As I understand it, because of a newspaper reporter's question, you are now even considering modifying the depiction of the school mascot, to remove the sword he carries. If the district policy is carried to its logical fulfilment, you have a huge task ahead of you. Every textbook, magazine, library book and sheet of printed material must be reviewed so that any picture that features a weapon of any sort can be removed. That includes any picture of Revolutionary War or Civil War troops, George Washington if he is carrying a sword and all airplanes, tanks, and warships from every war that has been fought by the US. Miss Shea Riecke is justifiably proud of her brother, and, I'm sure, very concerned for his continued well-being, as is her family. To allow only a formal photo of him in uniform is to deny the reality of his profession. Do you similarly prohibit display of photos of police officers or sheriff's deputies who are wearing their service weapons? HOw about pictures of people engaged in the sport of fencing? The possibilities extend much farther than this short message can include.

Most disappointedly,

Cal Taylor
LtCol, USAF (Ret)

Dear Mr. Costa, Saw on 11 o'clock news tonight the flash on your attempt to allow Shea to have a picture of her brother posted in your classroom. And the result of your asking for permission to have it placed in the classroom, the denial, the airbrushing (or other alteration) to take the rifle out of the picture. Not your fault, sir, just another case of political correctness gone amok. Please pass this on to your administration, in case I have not guessed correctly at Ms. Richardson's address: Ms. Richardson, please feel free to share this with the school board - how awful it must be to take one of your students' honorable hero's and dismiss them out of hand. Lets see, a young man, graduate of your high school, who thinks enough of his future and his country to volunteer for service in the U.S. Military... sends a picture of himself in military garb and outfitted appropriately for the conditions in Iraq to his sister... who brings it to school to have it proudly displayed... only to have it rejected by the school administration... unless of course reality can be altered and the rifle in the picture can be photo-shop'd out...(?!). Tell me, does the school have any pictures of Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's fine oil-on-canvas 'George Washington Crossing the Delaware' hanging anywhere in the school? OR perhaps in the library? OR maybe just in a book within the library? Let's hope that book is never opened within your overly PC school; would not want to see the results of your airbrushing out the rifles in that scene. And even poor Mr. Washington with sheathed sword in hand... tsk, tsk. Way to go, you fine supporters of our men and women in service. I'm sure Bill is certainly proud to be a graduate of Douglas McKay High School. Shame on you. I'm sure you all didn't intend for this to become a matter of public record, but it has. Seems only fitting a rethinking of your decision and a public apology would be in order. Now please go do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Stick

Principal Richardson,

I wish to add my voice to the others that should be contacting you.

Efforts to keep our schools children, faculty, and staff safe are very appreciated. What has happened recently in some schools is absolutely tragic.

Please choose policies that really help with promoting safety. Neither the picture of the brave brother posted by his proud sister, nor the picture of the schools mascot is likely to incite any violence.

Perhaps focusing on EDUCATION rather than political correctness and political agenda would help our students at least stay even with students from third world countries.

Ed O'Neil
Salem, Oregon

How sad it is that our society has forgotten the hard work and dangerous living that our young men must endure to preserve freedom.

During World War Two photos like this bolstered the moral of the folks at home and helped us to remember that even though our boys were fighting in some strange place, they were still our boys.

And isn't that really the bottom line for us Marine Corp Parents? There in that hovel are our boys. Look at them in this photo, living thousands of miles away in conditions that the ACLU would find unacceptable in an American prison, yet they smile and joke. These are tough young men taking and passing the ultimate test.

I wrote to the school board and I understand their reasoning. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. To me it's simple: our children should understand the American warrior ethic. They should see our brave young men and women holding the tools of the trade. Only in this way will they come to understand the sacrifices that some make to protect the many.

So please, take this school board to task, remind them of their duty to educate. Point out the history of Americans at war and the fact that our society owes it existence to people like our Boys.

Dear Ms. Richardson and Ms. Baker: May I respectfully suggest that the United States Marine Corps is a military organization whose function is to carry weapons on behalf of all of us and to use those weapons skillfully so that our country can remain free. When you show a likeness of a United States Marine graduate of your school without his weapon in a battle zone like Iraq, you are showing him effectively out of uniform. You might as well show a battleship without its guns or Paul Revere without his horse. Your decision to modify a picture of Bill Riecke to remove his weapon is wrongheaded. It betrays an irrational fear of firearms properly used. You do not need to be afraid of firearms, nor of photographs of Marines handling them. On the contrary, you should be proud that your graduates find the military an honorable and patriotic way to serve their country. I am a former resident of Oregon and my son still lives there. Don't fall prey to politically correct policies. Let Mr. Costa put an unadulterated picture of Bill Riecke up in his classroom. You will not be sorry that you did. Sincerely, James D. Ellen Washington State

Ms. Baker & Ms. Richardson:

I served to my country proudly during the Vietnam Era. When I came home I
was greeted with distrust and questions. What you've decided to censor in a
photograph of a Marine while on duty is another insult to all servicemen
past and present. Did the photograph show anything remotely described as
morbid? Body counts were common during my time yet the media managed to
display morbid photographs with the evening news. Instant worldwide media
today could do such things and common sense forbids a repeat of their past
stupid actions. Pride as a Nation could be undermined with your brand of
censorship. Reconsider your actions and replace the photograph as presented
proudly by the 15 year old sister of a Marine. ( Shea Riecke )

USMC - 1970-74
(name withheld)

I'll give you my name if that is important to you - When you respond with
justification to uncontrolled censorship and disrespect to our Military
Servicemen.

Unless they want to risk violating the school-district's zero-tolerance for weapons policy, Salem-Keizer student marksmen cannot have a pistol embroidered on their letterman jackets. Teen hunters are not allowed to wear silk-screened T-shirt images of themselves standing with rifles and bagged bulls.

And now, a high-school freshman who wants to hang a picture of her brother serving in the military is finding similar prohibitions because the image features a fully automatic rifle and a machine gun.

Last week, Shea Riecke, a freshman at McKay High School, tried to take a snapshot of her brother, Cpl. Bill Riecke, a Marine currently stationed in Twenty-nine Palms, Calif., to her social studies class.

She wanted to display the picture with those of other McKay grads' career choices. Riecke's teacher, Rick Costa, encourages the exhibits.

But Riecke's photo created a little controversy. Actually, it kicked up a sandstorm of grief for the family and school-district officials because of the photo's content. It pictures the Marine hefting a big gun while decked in military desert camies (camouflage). It was taken while he was stationed in Iraq; he will be redeployed there this summer.

The image of Shea's brother does not necessarily convey military service, said Simona Boucek, Salem-Keizer's communications coordinator, and the automatic weapons are the most prominent feature in the photo. The soldiers are pictured casually in a nondescript room.

School officials denied the photo on the grounds the guns in the picture violated district policy. Riecke's mother, Connie Riecke, appealed to district officials including Superintendent Kay Baker. Connie Riecke said she has not heard back from the district but was told that it probably could be displayed if she consented to having the weapons removed, via computer, from the photograph. Riecke said her son insists that it run as it is or not at all. She agrees with him.

"I don't think our school policies are meant to rewrite history. It doesn't make any sense to me," Connie Riecke said. "Are they going to go through every textbook and take out pictures of the Civil War that have soldiers carrying guns? Are they going to go through the library and take out all the Time magazines that feature soldiers with guns? I don't think so."

Connie Riecke said she understands the district's policy but thinks it should make an exception in this case.

"I want educators to be truthful," Riecke said. "This is a career choice, and children need to know that this is an important but dangerous job."

She believes that if the district allows military officers to recruit in high schools, it shouldn't conceal realistic images like the one of her son.

"It's a difficult issue for the district," Boucek said. "We'd be happy to honor her son and his service to our country, but it has to be a photo that's more appropriate for the classroom."

Boucek said an official portrait in dress uniform would work.

"We understand the girl's concerns, but our policy prohibits any display of weapons. This photo just isn't right for a classroom," Boucek said.

The district's caution is understandable, especially when earlier this week, a 16-year-old Minnesota student went on a shooting rampage at his high school, killing five students, a teacher and a security guard. He also killed his grandfather and the grandfather's companion before the attack at the high school, where he later killed himself.

This is a tough choice.

I don't believe that the minds of our high-school students are so malleable that they can be changed by the presence of a photograph, and sanitizing frightens me when government does it, so I wince if schools are doing the same.

But how do we know where to draw the line in this hot desert sand

Ladies, I am writing to express my opposition to a decision made by your administration to alter a photo of a United States Marine for display on McKay High School premises.
I submit to you that this censorship will only serve to misguide the young adults you are supposed to be educating. We have a patriotic duty to acknowledge the fact that the servicemembers currently deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are doing dangerous work in an attempt to spread peace and democracy to a part of our world that desperately needs it. You cannot adequately convey that message by sanitizing photos as you see fit.
Please reconsider your stance on this issue.

Sincerely,

Chief Warrant Officer Matt Frazier, USMC

My name is Jennifer, and my son Cody recently returned from his first tour in Iraq (specifically Fallujah). It is, definitely, appalling to hear the school will not allow the picture to be posted in its true form.

Cody’s high school allowed him to attend a full day of Government classes with his best friend Justin (also a Marine in Cody’s company). They spoke to each class, answered questions, and were allowed to be candid and honest in their answers. The truth, Cody felt, was important for his former underclassmen (including his younger brothers Junior class) to know. The local newspaper showed up that day, and printed Cody and Justin’s stories. The media, of course, appreciated the honesty, but the biggest impact was on the students, and all of the educators that made their way into the Government class to see and listen to their former students…now Marines.

I am sending this, also, to Salkeiz…they need to know that this is not a time to hide the truth, but respect it, honor it, and let everyone see and hear it. Cody’s former high school obviously gets it, hopefully Salkeiz will get it, too.

Jennifer L. Kay

Proud Mother of Lcpl Cody 3/1 India Co.

Proud Friend of Lcpl Justin 3/2

I am a Marine that served back in the late 50's and early 60's and I am writing about the Marine's picture that you chose to "edit" so it can be displayed in school. I think that you all should re-consider your actions and stand up and tell the world that you are proud of our fine young people over there protecting you!! Sincerely,

Senior-Vice Commandant

Marine Corps League Post #239

Daniel Cotter

Dear Mmes. Baker and Richardson:

I recently read of a student of yours who brought in a photo of her brother, a combat veteran Marine of Operation Iraqi Freedom--and was dismayed that her teacher was instructed to edit the photo to omit the rifle he was holding.

Are you not intent on educating children in a truthful manner?

If the case exists that you do not agree with the war in Iraq, I say this to you: your politics should have nothing to do with teaching children about the realities of history including war and how wars are fought and the courage shown by those who volunteer to fight in them.

My brother is also a Marine, a combat veteran of OIF, and this direct smack to all brave servicemen greatly bothers me.

As far as I know (having attended a public high school) educators waste no time lauding America's "failure" in Vietnam, and showing movies about wars (I was shown Glory, Good Morning Vietnam and Apocalypse Now) and you're worried about a REAL LIFE HERO holding a weapon who helped free an oppressed country?

I wonder if you have children, I wonder if they have video games, or watch violent movies. I wonder if you know any combat veterans--young or old--and really understand the sacrifice they make to keep America safe and free and free opressed people. Nothing my brother, and your student's brother has ever done has or will make me as proud as serving in the United States Marine Corps.

This is not about politics; it is about history. You have an obligation as an educator to educate your students in a honest manner. Or, are you so politically motivated that you feel whitewashing a picture will help people understand the realities of war?

Remember, you are free because many have died in war for this country.

I hope you take this to heart, and keep in mind the sacrifices made for ordinary citizens everyday by our military.

Sincerely,
Noelle Franzen
"Freedom Isn't Free"

Dear Ms. Richardson, I live in Albany, Oregon and I have two sons who graduated from South Albany High School (2000 & 2004). Two years ago I attended a football game at McKay High School. My youngest son was the starting quarterback for South Albany at the time and we were playing football against McKay that night. During half-time we were treated to a great show. There was a huge parade of McKay student clubs as well a group of motorcyclists, a local Harley Davidson club I believe, who rode onto the center of the football field bearing the American flag. The crowd was riveted and the air was energized with patrotism. The announcer then proceeded to make an awesome and chilling announcement. He was honoring a former record-holdiing McKay football player (I think I also recall that this student's name and photo was still hanging in the locker room at McKay), now a decorated Marine, home from his first tour in Iraq following the American invasion. This honoree, unbeknownst to him that he was even being honored, was standing on the sidelines of the football field talking to former teachers, students and parents. This honoree was Bill Riecke. As his name was announced he waved his hands to the crowds of people in the stands and around the field. The crowd errupted in applause with shouts and offered him a standing ovation ~ an outward expression of admiration ~ an outward expression of gratitude and thanks. I was sitting in the visitor bleachers that night. I was sitting next to two other Albany parents, one whose husband was preparing to leave for Iraq as a member of the National Guard Reservists, and another whose son was also a Marine and would be leaving soon for Iraq as well. I don't know if you were present that night or even if you were associated with the school at that time. But I can tell you that the entire half-time event is something I will never forget. There was such a sense of pride for Mr. Riecke, for McKay High School and for our Country - a crowd of "American's" uniting in their pride and patriotism. I had reason recently to visit a Marine webpage in which I read about the Bill Riecke "Marine photo situation." I would like to express the following observation and opinion regarding this issue. I can not begin to understand or agree with the position you and the Salem-Keizer school district has taken regarding the editing of the photo Bill's sister brought to school. How can your school offer a public tribute acknowledging Mr. Riecke's accomplishments and his former association with McKay High School, and then so blatantly disregard his personal sacrifice as well as his personal request to not edit the photo. If for all of time we edited photos, that in our opinions, might promote evil and/or violence, what kind of history would we have? What could we teach? What we would know to be true? Have you edited all of the history books in your school district to be sure there are no photos depicting soldiers with guns? Have you removed all newspapers with photo's depicting soldiers with guns from your school libraries? We, as a society, may not agree with the truth we live with today. We may not like that our children live in a world in which violence and terrorism is so real. But our children are much more wise and resilient than your policy is gving them credit for. I urge you to reconsider your position. DO NOT edit this photo. Honor your former record-holding McKay football player/McKay H.S. graduate's request and post the photo his sister brought to school in it's original format. Honor Bill Riecke's service to America! A Proud American Mrs. Carrie Pool

They will have to replace all of their history or government books if they are going to stand by this kind of policy and for sure none of those history movie clips that might have guns in them. And, this could carry over to any English class that might have a book about war or heaven forbid a Shakespearean tragedy with any kind of weapon in it.

I am apalled at your decision not to let this teacher hang a picture of a US Marine in his classroom. That same Marine is providing the very freedom that we enjoy today. Its not about your freedom of speech. You people just don't get it !!

Why don't you take the time and explain to these kids that if it wasn't for this Marine and others before him with their guns they wouldn't be enjoying all the freedoms they do have. Teach them to be proud of their service men and woman that VOLUNTEERED to protect them.

People like you are the problem with our society.
If you ever have to confront an enemy with a gun....you would be the one to run and hide behind that Marine and cry help me.

You have made a bad bad choice here.

I will be forwarding this story to all the media.....especially Bill O' Reilly and Shaun Hannity.

Gregg
Proud Marine Dad
Son deployed in Iraq

Dear Ms. Baker, Are you aware that every Marine, no matter what his assigned duty is a Rifleman first and foremost? What would you have our Marines and soldiers enter combat with? Flyswatters? Do you truly believe that removing the "tool" that our fine Marine uses in combat from the photo is going to help the world? Do any of the kids in your high school know what the Holocaust was? Do you? You, Ms. Baker, need a serious reality check. Our Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen are all putting their lives on the line for ALL OF US. You should recognize that they cannot defend us or protect our nation unless they are armed. I thank God you are just a school superintendent, and not our Secretary of Defense. I think you owe the Rieckes and all our military personnel an apology. Get off your PC horse and let kids have ALL the information. They can make up their own minds with out you deciding what is appropriate for them. Good luck, Karey Keel-Stidham Proud Marine Mom

We send our children to school to learn. We trust teachers and educators with our children. Teachers are with them more during the day than with their parents. You have to be a VERY special kind of person to be a teacher or care giver. You have to want to make a difference in a child's life. You have to do something that they may remember their entire lives. Obviously Mr Costa is a very wonderful teacher who continues to remember those students who made a difference in his life. He is trying to teach the kids the real world, not only that these graduates may have been high school heros but the same students have gone on to help make world history. They were given independence and freedom of choices along with educational smarts, but now they have moved on to bigger choices of independence, responsibility, patriotism, freedoms, honor, valor and ethics, all in a days work for any branch of service. They have moved on from high school football heros, class president and honor role students. Why has McKay High School retreated and why is it moving backwards? Unreal! Do you think every graduate has a white or blue collar job...sorry we need our military also. When those kids graduate from high school and come out from the protection of their parents, there is a real world out there filled with terror, pain, heartbreak, fear.....when the lights go out, it gets pretty scary after sunset. They don't have to be taught how to use a gun, but they should be taught what guns are really used for....WAR! Guns should not be used by gangs or people who can't handle life's reality....those are the people who should not have guns but end up having them. They kill innocent citizens. When in war, innocent citizens get killed also sometimes, but so do the insurgents who have destroyed thousands and thousands of innocent citizens for no reason. My son returned last week from IRAQ. Everyone in WAR has a gun and a BUDDY! What should a soldier be holding....a pea shooter? Get real, get back into the real world. These kids have all seen guns, we grew up with war shows and western shows 50 years ago. Everybody got killed with guns, pistol, arrows and shotguns in those shows. There were even cannons and lets not forget about racism about Indians and blacks right here in the USA! Get out of the dark ages and let these kids see real heros. Let them put a face on a hero. When my son left for IRAQ, my 12 year old took a Marine poster to school for a project. As he started to send pictures home from IRAQ, Ryan took those to school and yes, David was holding a gun. It was his brother over there, fighting for freedom, fighting for their safety and their security. When his picture went up, there was a real face to the war. The poster was put in a glass bulletin board and was seen by all kids k-8. Because of the very small kids I did not send a poster with guns, however, I believe high school kids would be able to comprehend the real pictures of war by this time. Those kids were so behind in our project of sending care packages to these troops. They collected 187 containers of powdered juice mix for the troops. They even sent their allowances to me for shipping costs. They wrote cards out for every holiday that I would send over. In those cards they spoke their little minds. All of them said how thankful they were that you are protecting us and hoping they stay safe. Some mentioned how brave and heroic they were for helping children in IRAQ their age. Others asked how they were doing and asked about their familes back home. If grade school kids know what is going on over there, I can't believe high school kids do not have the comprehension of knowing there are people getting killed and saved by the soldiers caring guns for protection and to free a world who has not seen freedom for over 30 years. Come out of your shell because the real world has been out for a long time especially since 911. GIVE ME A BREAK! Your not helping our kids by showing them the truth, you are hindering them from the real world. Keep them away from the news Media who show the bad and get them connected to the Internet and find out about all the good things that these brave men and women do over there. Like you the news media is afraid of showing we are doing good over there, they only want to show the bad. These are our heros, not Video games and Clint Eastwood or other move stars. The ones who fight and lose their lives for your freedom....start giving them the credit they deserve and the benefits they should have. Our sons and daughters are proud of their brothers and sister and parents. Why aren't you proud of them. What are you afraid of? PROUD MARINE MOM OF A BRAVE SON WHO SERVED IN IRAQ! PROUD NAVY WIFE OF A BRAVE HUSBAND WHO SERVED DURING VIETNAM! Sandy Arensdorf, Iowa

At first glance, he seemed no different than any other 5-year-old boy — hyperactive, curious in the way all young children are and, when placed in the adult world, tiny. Yet this kid was worlds away from the designer-clad youngsters who roam shopping malls and fast-food restaurants in the United States. He was an Iraqi child, living in a war zone.

I came across the boy recently while traveling to one of the smaller forward operating bases to check on some of my Marines.

As anybody who has done it will tell you, traveling by helicopter in the Iraqi theater involves a lot of waiting around. Having your flight canceled, or getting bumped from the ones that are running, is just a fact of life here.

It was during one of these long waits that I came across this boy and heard his story. I first noticed him as I walked through the terminal. He was trying to sit up on a cot where he had been sleeping. But both his arms from the elbows down were heavily bandaged, and he couldn’t manage it on his own. As I walked over to help, an American contractor, who was an interpreter, got there first and helped the boy sit up.

I asked the man what had happened to the boy; though he didn’t know all the details, he told me what he had heard. The boy’s father had worked for coalition forces. Insurgents from their town got wind of this and tried to kill him and his family by burning their house down.

Fortunately, everyone escaped, but the boy suffered bad burns on both of his arms. He was treated by American doctors and was awaiting a flight to receive further treatment at another hospital.

As I listened to the story, I looked at the little guy sitting on the cot next to me. He watched our conversation with big dark eyes, though he understood no English. As a father of two boys, I felt bad about his condition. When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a big, white-toothed smile. When kids smile, you can’t help but feel good. So I gave him candy left over from a Meal, Ready to Eat, wished him luck and made my exit to wait for my flight.

Later, I watched the boy play a pickup game of soccer with Marines. He was a better player than the big, heavily armed leathernecks who struggled to keep up with his polished moves. Everybody laughed as, over and over again, he maneuvered the ball around them. You could tell that he and the Marines were enjoying themselves.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was making of the situation — his injury, the big camouflaged men all around him, the weapons. I wondered, when all is said and done in Iraq, how this little boy will remember it all. Will he look at the scars on his arms and think in some twisted way that they were caused by our presence here? Or will he realize the truth — that it was the work of a few low-life thugs?

Will he grow up to embrace freedom and democracy? Or will he be drawn to the dark side of the Islamic religion and end up shooting at one of my sons years from now?

I pray not.

I hope he remembers Marines as the guys who protected his family, got him help for his burns, played soccer with him and gave him candy.

But what I really hope is that when he gets older, he realizes these Marines left their friends and families behind and put themselves in harm’s way to come and help children just like him. That they risked life and limb to give Iraqis the opportunity to live free and without fear.

Sadly, many of those Marines won’t return home. I hope this boy grows up to remember and appreciate their sacrifice.

Only time will tell, but I think we are on the right track, and as that boy’s wounds heal, the nation of Iraq’s wounds will also heal.

Iraqis will have their scars, but they’ll end up better in the end.

To Whom it may Concern-

I am the "jerk" or the "asshat" who wrote the column, "No Yellow Ribbons Here". I really appreciate you people spending your time and energy to go crazy about my column. I'm already reaping the benefits of scandalization with offers to write for some pretty venerable magazines. Please forgive my sarcasm, I'm just trying to pay you all back for the "kind thoughts" you've addressed to my email and personal phone which include:
death threats, the word "faggot", and to my delight, lots of invites to hang out with handsome members of the armed forces!

Here's what troubles me (free of sarcasm):
NONE OF YOU GOT THE MESSAGE. ALL I WANT IS FOR OUR TROOPS TO COME HOME SAFE TO THEIR FAMILIES. If it was my choice, they would all come home today. My column was addressing the fact that these WAL-MART-bought yellow ribbons don't bring back the lives of US SOLDIERS that were lost FOR NO REASON. Its clear that no one can say anything in this country that is percieved to be against the war or Mr. Bush. How sad.

The actual column was not printed in its entirety. If you are interested in reading the full version, email me, I'll be happy to oblige you.

Finally I want to say this (also free of sarcasm):
It was never my intention to harm, disrespect, or disregard the great sacrifice that our troops have made by fighting this war, and I don't think I did. I think about the 1000+ dead soldiers and their poor families and friends EVERY DAY and that is why I wrote my column. Before you judge me, read the entire column and consider that I am a patriotic American who LOVES AMERICA. I will not, however, be bullied or intimidated into jingo-ism while young men and women die overseas, while only 1 of our congressmen has a son or daughter fighting this war.

I know in my heart that my intentions were right. I pray for all of your sons and daughters, wives and husbands, sisters and brothers to return quickly and safely. I pray that they will rejoin their families and live long happy lives.

Thank you for your time

Thomas Naughton

Thomas, you simply do not get it. And you never will. Why? Because you haven't earned the understanding. Intellectual interpretations can only go so far. You cannot separate the man/woman from the mission. You cannot understand that there troops ARE protecting your freedom to receive your offers from "venerable magazines". You will never, ever understand the concept that our men and women in uniform BELIEVE IN THE MISSION! They are not forced or drafted, just simply volunteers. They are not ignorant or lacking in opinion. Truthfully they are mainstream Americans with something more than you will understand! What you believe is just fake patriotism is something so real the blood of our Country flows through it.

Your little vandalism project that you are so proud of is an affront to all of us. You seem to think that WE are the enemy yet I can just bet you believe the terrorists we are fighting are nothing more than "freedom fighters" defending their homeland from an "occupying" force. You also make the assumption that WE do not support our troops, President, and Country. Coming home not having accomplished our mission is a failure. Much as your moral bankruptcy on this issue. Our Armed Forces will not accept or tolerate defeat. Defeat is not an option simply because of what is at stake. Your personal freedoms are directly connected to what we are fighting for. These young men and women are the ones that make it so easy for you to have your fantasy. The blood of generations allows you your opinion without fear of beheading, body parts chopped, or being put feet first through a shredder. You sir are not a pimple on these noble troops collective asses but they will lay down their lives to allow you your opinion. This is frankly something you will never be able to intellectualize no matter how hard you try.

Why do you think you are getting so much heat? Why are the returning troops not plastered all over the TV like they were in Nam? Do you really believe the hatred felt for you is because of your opinion? No, it is your disrespect to all of us that you show through your childish acts of vandalism that has created the sh*tstorm you find yourself in. And you can laugh all the way to the bank for the freedom you have to generate your articles on the blood of those greater than you! Is this a great country or what? Enjoy your selfishness and please, we do not want, care for, or need your support!

I'll leave you with something one of the greatest American statesmen of all times left us for prosperity. Read it, learn it, live it. But alas it'll mean nothing to you and that is apropos of your ilk:

"It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." --Benjamin Franklin

By Thomas Naughton, Collegian columnist

February 23, 2005

Guilt can only weigh on a person's mind for so long before they crave the act of purgation; to get the weighty feelings of shame and responsibility out of the mind - or at least the guilty parties attempt to find some kind of peace if they cannot rid themselves of a screaming conscience that implicates and indicts its possessor.

That said, perhaps some readers will understand why my friends and I rip yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets off of cars or wherever people have affixed them. By ripping off these ribbons, we find a way to deal with our guilt, as though with each ribbon swiped we take back a life that was taken by this senseless war started by our senseless president and those who support him.

I will never say, "support the troops." I don't believe in the validity of that statement. People say, "I don't support the war, I support the troops" as though you can actually separate the two. You cannot; the troops are a part of the war, they have become the war and there is no valid dissection of the two. Other people shout with glaring eyes that we should give up our politics, give up our political affiliations in favor of "just supporting the troops." I wish everything were that easy.

What they really mean is that we should just give up our will, give up our identities, give up our voices to those in power. Perhaps that's just the way people aligned with the right wing choose to get rid of their guilt: blindness and ignorance.

I listen to talk radio very often. It's important to know who your enemies are. The pundits on the radio are the pinnacles of guiltless, shameless wonders, and I am jealous. It must feel good to believe without question, to benefit from the blind belief of young men and women who chose to join the armed forces, to sit in a radio studio in New York and admonish the public to give in like the troops, to just follow orders, to live as just a number that will soon be etched into a gravestone that no one will ever see.

I look into the cars of people with "support the troops" ribbons as I speed past, trying to find some trace of recognition on their face, recognition of their guilt and the fact that they have given up. I usually see nothing; just a mouth moving robotically, singing the pop hits of today or the contemporary country wine of fake cowboys who share a lot with George Bush: no shame.

We say, "support the troops" so that we won't feel guilty about saying "no" to war. We reason that if we say that we support the troops, somehow we aren't monsters for not saying a word when the death tolls of U.S. soldiers climbed above 1,000. Those ribbons are yellow for a reason, they are not the mark of armed forces support, they are the mark of cowards.

Pundits on the radio advise their cowardly listeners to approach men and women in army uniforms and say "thank you." I cannot do that. Every time I pass a person in uniform I look long and hard at them and all I can think inside to say is "I'm so sorry." I want to apologize to them, to their families and to their friends. I feel sorry that we, the people, couldn't control our own government at the outset of this conflict when most of us knew deep inside that it was a mistake.

Where are we now? Are we in a better place? Is the world safer for democracy? No, it is not safer and we are not in a better place. In this war that we are fighting to somehow avenge the deaths of the Sept. 11 tragedy, we have amassed a field of body bags, the number of which almost matches the number killed in the terrorist attacks four years ago. Now, we stare at yet another request for barrels of money for this war by President Bush, while people in our own country search fruitlessly for jobs to feed their starving families, while every public school gets left behind, while our elderly are ensured an uncertain future of unpaid medical bills.

I guess we shouldn't think about those things though, right? We should just buy a yellow magnet and slap it on the butt of our car so we can sleep at night and just let our government do whatever they want. That's supporting the troops, right?

Two years ago my friend Eric called me out of the blue after almost five years of silence between us. We were in a band together when we were teenagers and he had joined the army around the time I was graduating from high school. He had to join the army; he had a son to provide for in the grand tradition of many young members of the armed forces. He called me to tell me that he was going back to Iraq, against his will. He was so sad and angry and scared. He didn't say it, but I know he was calling to tell me that he might die. I didn't say it to him then, but I felt such overwhelming guilt that I couldn't do anything to keep him from going back.

I haven't heard from him since. I don't know if he's dead, and my guilt is alive and well. I hope that all of our family members in harm's way return alive. Until then, I can really honor their sacrifice by demanding that it finally comes to an end.

Each year my video production company is hired to go to Washington, D.C. with the eighth grade class from Clinton, Wisconsin where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation's capitol, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable.

On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history-that of the six brave men raising the American flag at the top of Mount Surabachi on the Island of Iwo Jima, Japan during WW II. Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked, "What's your name and where are you guys from?"

I told him that my name was Michael Powers and that we were from Clinton, Wisconsin.

"Hey, I'm a Cheesehead, too! Come gather around Cheeseheads, and I will tell you a story."

James Bradley just happened to be in Washington, D.C. to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good-night to his dad, who had previously passed away, but whose image is part of the statue. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, D.C. but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night. When all had gathered around he reverently began to speak. Here are his words from that night:

"My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on that statue, and I just wrote a book called Flags of Our Fathers which is #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list right now. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me. Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game, a game called "War." But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of twenty-one, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out; I say that because there are generals who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen years old.

(He pointed to the statue)

You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken, and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph. A photograph of his girlfriend. Rene put that in there for protection, because he was scared. He was eighteen years old. Boys won the battle of Iwo Jima. Boys. Not old men.

The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the "old man" because he was so old. He was already twenty-four. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, "Let's go kill the enemy" or "Let's die for our country." He knew he was talking to little boys. Instead he would say, "You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers."

The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona. Ira Hayes walked off Iwo Jima. He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, "You're a hero." He told reporters, "How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only twenty-seven of us walked off alive?"

So you take your class at school. 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only twenty-seven of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes died dead drunk, face down at the age of thirty-two, ten years after this picture was taken.

The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky, a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, "Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epson salts. Those cows crapped all night."

Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of nineteen. When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. The neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.

The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Kronkite's producers, or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say, "No, I'm sorry sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back."

My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually he was sitting right there at the table eating his Campbell's soup, but we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press. You see, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a caregiver. In Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died, and when boys died in Iwo Jima, they writhed and screamed in pain.

When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, "I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. DID NOT come back."

So that's the story about six nice young boys. Three died on Iwo Jima, and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time."

Suddenly the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero in his own eyes, but a hero nonetheless.

Every American should have the privilege of knowing the caliber of Americans who go off to war to protect us. He's a Marine who nonchalantly gets up and walks around the table to cut his one-armed brother's steak for him. He's a Marine who with one arm closes and lifts his brother's wheelchair into a car. He's still strong — still stronger than I am, for sure — and no enemy's going to take that away from him if he has anything to say about it. He's a boy whose youth shocks you, who is minus a leg, who spent months in a coma, and who has three brothers who have signed up for the war effort in some way. He's Casey Owens, who so many of us saw salute the president on Inauguration Day, from his wheelchair, and who's probably the best spokesman for the war out there. On Saturday night, when a few Marines took the night off from Walter Reed for dinner and drinks at a happening Georgetown restaurant and bar, everyone wanted to know him — and thank him — and never forget him.

There are so many stories from this war that will never be told, individuals most Americans will never know about. He who had the top of his skull blown off — but he'll take his headaches because he is grateful to be alive.

These guys consider themselves the lucky ones, you see. They weren't killed.

Of course, we are the lucky ones — to have them.

On January 30th in Iraq, the world witnessed an important moment in the global struggle against tyranny, a moment that historians might one day call a major turning point. America's men and women in uniform, who were instrumental in the liberation of Iraq, were there to witness this moment as well.

During the struggle to bring freedom to Iraq, many of you have faced difficult times far from home. I suspect there have been moments along the way when some of you may have wondered whether or not the effort would be worth the cost, or whether, even, the people you were trying to help truly stood with you.

Last Sunday, the Iraqi people answered those understandable questions in a resounding way, just as voters had in Afghanistan last October. The world is experiencing a global struggle between freedom and fear -- and you are on the side of freedom. That's the side to be on. And the people of Afghanistan, and now the people of Iraq, have chosen to stand with you.

Consider the courage it took for the Iraqi people to go to the polls when they had been warned that the act of voting could cost them and their family members their lives. Think of the determination they must have possessed to risk becoming targets for bombings or beheadings.

And yet the Iraqis voted -- millions of them.

Voters arrived on crutches and donkey carts, passing by graffiti warnings on the walls that said: "You vote, you die"; Iraqis came to a polling station to vote even after a rocket attack had killed three people several hours earlier; children waved Iraqi flags as they witnessed the birth of their new, free system; elderly women with tears in their eyes held up their voting cards; and voters displayed their ink-stained fingers as badges of honor in the fight against extremism.

Iraq's security forces also deserve recognition for their bravery and their willingness, despite the threats, to wear their country's uniforms and to provide security on Sunday for both the millions of voters and the thousands of election workers.

These are times of consequence. In the past few months, 50 million free people in Afghanistan and Iraq have begun to build new futures. They have rejected the extremism that fuels attacks on civilized people. And you have made that possible. Have no doubt: the courage and sacrifices of U.S. forces have helped to create the environment in which Afghans and Iraqis are developing the ability to take hold of their countries.

Now these free people continue to seek your help in building free, democratic and peaceful nations in some of the world's most violent regions. No one treasures peace more than you who have endured the horrors of war.

So to all of you who are serving on freedom's front lines, and to your families, I offer my deepest appreciation and respect. To those who have lost friends or loved ones during this conflict or who have been injured in defense of our freedom, find comfort in knowing that your sacrifices have historic meaning. And know that one day, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan will find a way to thank you, as I do, from the bottom of my heart.

May God bless you and may God bless the United States.

Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense

The night before last at dinner, I listened to General Mattis speak of another helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Desperate for a replacement, he contacted Washington and obtained one from the command back home. Later he learned that, that evening, the young widow of one of the men who died in the crash, seven-months pregnant, showed up with fresh-baked brownies to bid farewell to the outgoing crew as it headed out to Afghanistan.

That is why I continue to believe in the United States Marine Corps. I wish every American could have heard some of the stories he told. As long as our Marines and their families have spirit like that, there is no army on this earth that can beat us. They haven't given up yet. And stories like this are not unique to the Marine Corps - we are a team, working side by side to make this happen.

It's so easy to say you support the troops, regardless of which side you come down on in the issue of the War in Iraq itself. Yeah, you can send care packages and put yellow ribbon magnets on your car to make you feel all warm and fuzzy that you're doing your own small part. You can do as I do and use forums such as this one to expound the viewpoint of the folks we send in harm's way, hoping that someway, somehow, someone who can make a difference may read your rant and actually do that something that makes a difference.

But right now, folks, we have a rare opportunity, a seldom-held power for ordinary citizens, to actually do something for the troops that will bring them more comfort than any supportive letters or boxes of cookies and candy ever possibly could. You see, right now we have the ability to provide them with comfort of mind, to lift a mental and emotional burden that they all carry with them when they enter any theater of combat. We hold in our collective hands the ability to grant them assurance that should the worst befall them, we, their grateful nation, will provide for their loved ones in a manner that will approximate what they would have provided in the normal course of their lives.

Under current law, Uncle Sam is a rather parsimonious patron when it comes to providing for the families of fallen warriors. For example, when an American is killed in combat, the surviving spouse receives a one-time death gratuity of $12,400. Service Member's Group Life Insurance coverage (SGLI) up to $250,000 is available for those service members who can afford to pay the premiums. If the fallen trooper has been in service for an extended period of time, the surviving family may also qualify for the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which is paid up to age 62 or until the spouse remarries. This SBP benefit is limited to 55 percent of the soldier's retirement pay, in the pay grade at the time of death. With so many combat deaths occurring among the youngest service members, we must keep in mind that this is frequently a pay grade that actually qualifies the family for food stamps and aid for dependent children.

The annual base pay of a sergeant E-5, with six years of service is less than $30,000. With twenty years service his retirement benefit is half of that. Think for a moment what 55 percent of less than $15,000 amounts to. Think about being a young widow trying to raise small children on less than $700 a month. And for lower pay grades, which constitute the majority of combat deaths, the situation is even grimmer because most of them will not have served long enough for their families to qualify for even this miserly benefit. Even if the service member is insured to the maximum amount, an unlikelihood for younger troops, think about how little $250,000 amounts to over the twenty-plus years required to raise and educate children in today's world.

Now think about the benefits conferred by our government on the survivors of 9/11. Yes, think about it long and hard: millions awarded to families because their loved one happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Millions handed to them not because their loved one had volunteered for the hard service of fighting in combat, but had simply shown up for work. Tell me, America: where's the justice in this situation?

Fortunately, there are some in government who have taken notice of this gross injustice and are preparing to attempt a legislative correction long overdue. Senator Joe Lieberman, D-CT, and Senator Jeff Sessions, R-AL, are scheduled to introduce the Honoring Every Requirement of Exemplary Service (HEROES) Act on January 24th. This legislation will increase the benefit paid to the survivors of military personnel killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and future conflicts, from $12,400 to $100,000, retroactive to October 2001. The benefit for non-combat deaths will remain at $12,400. The Act will raise SGLI Insurance coverage from $250,000 to $400,000, with the government paying the premiums for the first $150,000 for military personnel serving in a combat zone, also retroactive to October 2001.

So you say you support the troops? Then as soon as you finish reading this, start hammering that keyboard and let your two senators and your congressman know that you expect no less than their full support for early passage of the HEROES Act. To a person, they all swear they support the troops, regardless of party affiliation or individual positions on the war. Let them know, their future electoral efforts will, in your mind, be dependent upon their actions on behalf of those troops and those families who have given that "last full measure of devotion," to their nation.

Want a place to start? For a list of sites with congressional contacts, go here.

Get off your butts, America and show you really do support the troops.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Something struck me as odd this fall as I watched a U.S. satellite news broadcast here in my Baghdad office. Something just didn't seem right. There was the usual tug-of-war between presidential candidates, a story about the Boston Red Sox and a blurb about another explosion in Iraq. The latter story showed the expected images of smoke and debris and people frantically running for cover - images that have become the accepted norm in the minds of many Americans thanks, or should I say no thanks, to the media.

There were no smiling soldiers, no mention of rebuilding efforts, no heartwarming stories about honor and sacrifice. I could swear I've seen that "stuff" here.

I've become somewhat callused to this kind of seesaw reporting because every day I work with the news agencies that manufacture it. However, many service members shake their heads in frustration each time they see their daily rebuilding efforts ignored by the media in favor of the more "sensational" car bomb and rocket attack stories. Not to say that tragedies don't happen - Iraq is a war zone - but there is so much more happening that gets overlooked if not ignored.

Army Sgt. Addie Collins' Kicks for Kids program is an example of this. Three months ago this Army Reservist from Los Angeles asked her friends and family to forgo sending the usual box of goodies, and instead send a few pairs of kid-sized shoes, which she would hand out to Iraqi children she'd seen walking barefoot. Friends and family told friends and family, and today, 10,000 pairs later, Collins is outfitting an entire Ramadi community with sneakers, sandals and boots.

Where's her morning talk show appearance?

Many others, military members and civilians who truly care about the Iraqi people and rebuilding their nation, have stories that mirror Collins'. Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen are working hand-in-hand with the Iraqi people to build schools, pave roads and train police officers. In the process we're re-instilling the citizens of Iraq with a sense of national pride that years of oppression had smothered.

I may just be a good ol' Kentucky boy, but if my voice counts for anything, I'd say we're doing a bang-up job.

Semper Fi.

Today we stand just a few weeks away from historic elections in Iraq. The choices made by Iraqis will set the course for generations to come. The stark differences the Iraqi people face between the insurgent enemy and the prospect of a democratic future are indisputable.

The insurgent or terrorist is intent only on one thing: the grab for power at any cost. The insurgent has no plan for the betterment of Iraq or its people. He destroys. He kills innocent civilians. He delays, obstructs and divides the people by playing on their fears. There is no glory or honor in what some call the resistance. What is he resisting? The Iraqi government and the multinational forces are clearly intent on supporting the full independence of the Iraqi people through a government recognized internationally. What is he resisting? Construction and repair of the infrastructure of Baghdad is under way, and the insurgent has attempted to be an obstacle every step of the way. What is he resisting? The government will hold internationally monitored Iraqi-led elections. What is he resisting? The Iraqi security forces are growing in size and skill, and more and more responsibility for the security of the people is coming from the Iraqi security forces.

Also important, why is the insurgent resisting? He is resisting the will of the Iraqi people because he has a private agenda and he is terrified of what the Iraqi people will have to say at the polls. He is resisting a safer, economically sound and free Iraq to protect his self-interest. He is wicked and he has malicious partners within the country and from foreign lands that do not care about the Iraqi people. Consider that Osama bin Laden, not an Iraqi, has laid the terrorist -- labeled the terrorist Zarqawi -- not an Iraqi -- an emir or prince of Iraq. None of these people care about the people of Iraq. That is their only unifying theme.

Ultimately, the people of Iraq realize this as fact. They will not turn away from a free future. The insurgent will fail, but he will continue to fight in the near term.

To that end, we have a message for the insurgent who attempts to operate from the area and disrupt these elections. We will find you, we will watch where you move, we will listen to you speaking to each other, we will fight, and we will defeat you. You cannot sleep, eat, move or meet without the clear understanding that you may be killed or captured at any moment. Cease your operations now and you'll be choosing to live. Cease now and Iraqis can join in the progress being made in Baghdad.

"Going to the polling stations is a victory for the Iraqi people," said Ali Danif, a 45-year-old writer.

"The elections are more important than the candidates," insisted Jamal Karim, his garrulous friend.

Not to be outdone, a smiling Suheil Yassin jumped in. "It's one of my wishes to die at the gate of the polling station," he said, a gesture that was self-consciously dramatic. "I want to be a martyr for the ballot box."

Danif, Karim and Yassin, friends who gather every Thursday at the cafe, smiled as they talked about the vote. Like others, they knew little about the candidates, the parties or their platforms. But they celebrated what the elections represent.

"I don't trust anyone in politics," said Karim, 48. "I only trust the Iraqi people."

Yassin sipped his tea, then spoke up. "With the election," he said, "the pages of the totalitarian order will be turned and never opened again."

Despite our intention to keep divisiveness out of the Most Inspiring Person this year, even acts of heroism are viewed through the lens of politics. Judging from online comments and our conversations with people about this year's nominees, it seems those who see mostly tragedy in the Iraq war are most inspired by Spc. Joseph Darby, who blew the whistle on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, or Margaret Hassan, the director of Care in Iraq, who devoted her life not to killing but healing. We would hope that all of us could see the extraordinary courage in all four of them. Surely war supporters can admire Margaret Hassan for staying in Iraq, at obvious personal risk, to help suffering Iraqis (the point of this war was, after all, to help Iraqis) or understand that one cannot promote a moral war while concealing the immorality of prison torture. Surely even the war's most outspoken opponents can appreciate the sacrifice evident in Pat Tillman?s story or the extraordinary courage and valor of Jason Dunham, who flung his helmet and possibly himself on a live grenade to protect the lives of others. Dunham won our "People's Choice" award among Beliefnet users. As one friend of Dunham?s wrote, "What he did for his fellow soldiers and for mankind in beyond comprehension. In our small town of Scio he will NEVER be forgotten."

In the end, despite the great physical or moral courage of all four of them--and the incredible stories of the six other most inspiring finalists: Christopher Reeve, Nancy Reagan, Fantasia, Smarty Jones, Mukhtaran Bibi, and Curt Schilling--we choose Pat Tillman as the most inspiring person of the year.

Tillman, who walked away from a multimillion dollar NFL career to volunteer for service after 9/11, was deployed in Afghanistan, where American soldiers successfully overthrew a tyrannical regime that was subjugating its population and harboring Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Tillman was killed there in April.

I'm against the war precisely because of men like Cpl. Dunham. He deserved to serve and die in a war worthy of him. I don't think the one in Iraq is it. I hate the casual way in which the administration is using our courageous men and women. They deserve far better.

Killing yourself doesn't take as much courage as living. Killing yourself is over quickly. Living and striving through hardship is much harder than dying. The glory of God is the person fully alive. I say vote for one of the people who lived, and honor life, not death.

Is there really any difference between Jason's actions and those of the suicide bombers who he chose to confront? Being willing to die for unjust causes is not a quality of heroism, unless one is a member of the cult of death that supports the particuliar cause. The fact that the US military adventure in Iraq to control a fifth of the world's oil has murdered in excess of 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians and lost the faith of the Iraqi population in it's attempt to install it's CIA puppet makes the whole venture catastrophic and immoral. Would you have voted for one of Hitler's troops for this award sixty years ago?

This is the time of year when we want to give special recognition to the men and women in uniform -- volunteers all -- who defend our Nation and the cause of freedom.

But it is appropriate to go beyond a usual holiday message to put in context what is taking place at this time in our country's history. What the men and women in uniform are doing today will prove to be a pivotal chapter in the history of America's meaning and mission.

Since this great Republic's founding, Americans have stood at liberty's front lines. In its earliest days, the United States was the world's only democratic nation. But as the centuries have passed, the audacious and powerful ideals of freedom and self-determination that defined the American experiment have swept across the world.

We have seen it in recent times, in nearly every region of the world: in the joy of reunited Germans dancing atop the crumbling Berlin Wall; in the face of the lone young man who stood defiantly before the line of tanks in Tiananmen Square; in the millions of Afghan women who braved violence and intimidation to cast their votes in Afghanistan's first-ever democratic presidential election; in today's passionate debate over free and fair elections in Ukraine; and in the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have volunteered to come to their newly liberated nation's defense.

These momentous events would not have been likely had it not been for the daring and determination of America's founders, and for each of the many generations of Americans that followed who kept the flame of liberty alive at home and nurtured it abroad. This is the meaning and mission of America – and no one is more important to that mission than the American soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine.

In these difficult and trying times, I ask our men and women in uniform to remember this: There is perhaps no greater calling in life than what you are doing -- standing on freedom's front lines. And there could be no finer legacy to bestow to future generations than being part of our nation's forward strategy for freedom and contributing to a safer and more peaceful world.

So to all of you who are serving our nation -- I thank you for your courage. I thank you for your commitment. And to your families and loved ones, I extend my deepest appreciation for your sacrifices. And to all of those who have lost loved ones in this global struggle against extremism, and to all of those recovering from the wounds of battle, know that all who have served our country have been part of something that history and future generations of Americans will honor for decades to come.

Please also know I am deeply grateful to you and that you have my full respect. You have my very best wishes for the holiday season.

Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense

The days are long, yet the years are short. These words have been resounding for me this past week, as I look over the days of 2004 and the year of 2004. Often I wonder, where did the year go...seems just like yesterday that we were putting up decorations and baking cookies, yet I know that 300 and some days have passed. My perception of time changes from moment to moment. Some moments take forever like waiting to see our Marine at the gate in Hawaii for the first time since his return from Iraq, to the moments that are over in a heartbeat, like the two weeks we spent in Oahu on his turf, his permanent duty station. 2004 has been a year of personal and spiritual development and I am certain 2005 will be the same in diverse ways, ways I have never dreamed possible or probable.

Would enjoy seeing a reality show of soldiers and Marine's loved ones back home. Meeting people and sharing about our son's military service is always a unique experience. Never knowing if this revelation will bring out the wrath or the respect of the person I am speaking with Sometimes I am asked, "How do you do this?" So, for a slice of reality, I'll share how many military parents feel on a day to day, minute by minute basis. I received portions of this in an email, and the author is unknown....I have changed bits and pieces to reflect my life, my thoughts and emotions.

You see me everyday going about my life as usual, or so it appears to you. I am your co-worker, your neighbor, the person sitting next to you at church, or at a ball game. I shop at the same grocery stores and fill my car at the same places you do. You can find me anywhere; you might see me anywhere, but do not be deceived by the normalcy of my actions and words. I have not been "normal" for months. I am the mother/father of an American soldier/Marine.

I am the one with the frayed yellow ribbon or photo of my son/daughter pinned on my clothing. It was fresh and new when our loved one first deployed months ago. We know the war is not over and will not be over...the war on terrorism is with us to stay. My child is in a place where bullets and grenades are as common as the birds singing outside your windows. I am dedicated to wearing my ribbon or pin until he comes home, because this reminds me and others to pray for him. So please, when you see someone wearing a yellow ribbon or a support your troops pin, whisper a prayer for their child or children and for all the others still protecting our country while facing the holidays and birthdays and celebrations without their families and friends.

My house is the one with the faded yellow ribbons and the United We Stand placards. Always remembering how our lives were changed on September 11, 2001. There is an American flag on a pole attached to the front porch, and black ribbons get attached on days of rememberance. A small red and white banner with a blue star in the middle hangs in a window. We were presented with this by our local American Legion. Gold Star parents are the ones whose sons or daughters do not return home. Our hearts are in a constant ache for them and a piece of our heart and soul is with them.

When you drive by a house with a banner or military flag waving, please pray for the family and the son or daughter who may be overseas or homeland choosing to defend our ways of life, which we take so very for granted.

My heart is warmed each time I pass a home or car with a yellow ribbon or support your troops magnet as I know you have an idea of the sacrifices being made. Thank you. For many emails are received sporadically as well as phone calls, yet at times, there are no calls or letters for weeks at a time, and the papers are filled with stories of wounded and casualites or negative comments and it pierces our souls.

When I read of a soldier or Marine that has been killed and the name has not yet been released by the Department of Defense pending notification of family, restlessness, depression, insomnia and even physical illness can rule my life until 24 hours have passed and the men in dress uniforms have not appeared at my door. You learn how to scan your neighborhood before you pull into your driveway, hoping there are no government cars parked outside your door. You then feel guilty as the relief turns to grief as you know others will be getting a visit. The days of taking a full breath are long passed, we sometimes need to remind ourselves to breathe.

Going to the store is a chore that many of us avoid until the cupboards run bare. If you see someone standing in front of the snack foods, with tears streaming down their face, stop and give them a hug. If you see a man and woman at the store buying tuna and crackers, beef jerky, hand sanitizers and baby wipes take a moment and see if they are filling a care package, and if you can, ask what you can provide. If you see a woman buying more than 3 sympathy cards at one time, and tears rolling down her face, know she is a part of an online support group who sends cards to those parents whose child has paid full price.

I am here among you, trying to carry on a semblance of a normal life and my holiday table will have a place setting and chair ready for our loved one whom we know will not be with us. Like so many others I am the parent, the mother of an child serving in the military. Because of their sacrifices, we sleep in our bed at night safe and free. Your prayers and words of love mean the world.

May your holy/holly/holidays be filled with the Light of Spirit, the love of the Divine, the Joy of Creation, and the Compassion of the Eternal. As always, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and look forward to sharing a new year filled with wonders and joys. May each moment of your life be overflowing with blessings, prosperity, love and grace.

Merry Christmas dear friend, I'm inspired, you know,
But the Mrs should get all the thanks
It's her time and effort that makes this site go,
While I'm here dodging helos and tanks

So few minutes to spare out of each busy day,
but so many things cry for attention
there's no time for issues that seem far away,
so most of them get not a mention

While sometimes in our vehicles politicians ride,
'round V-beds and mortars detected
I still think we GIs can help them decide,
how much armor could keep us protected

And reporters with pens that kill us the same,
as things in Iraq or a 'Stan
and enemies here with unpronounceable names,
will get a few words when I can

But there's nothing here now and few posts I recall,
unrelated to things military
That's what MilBlogs are about, after all;
it's sad that you find us so scary

Among the MSGs at this post we have two fresh from combat in Iraq, and itching to go back. These youngsters, one 19, the other 21 (both younger than my kids!), seem genuinely puzzled when we civilians ask, "So what was it like?" They can't seem to believe that anybody would be interested in, much less amazed by hearing about coming under mortar attack or driving a truck at high speed down some "Hogan's Alley-type" street lined with crazed and armed Jihadists. They relate it in a shy, matter-of-fact manner, full of military jargon. And they want to go there, again.

Watching these guys as they pulled toys out of the big "Marines' Toys for Tots" box in the Embassy lobby and hearing their cheerful shouts of "Oh, cool! Check this one out!" I couldn't help but think, "They're kids. They're just kids. Probably not much older than the orphans to whom they'll give those toys." I kept thinking about my own kids, living safely in the States, and the fact that they're older than these kids, these Marines.

But then I went with the "kids" out to the gun range. Suddenly they became deadly serious. The "kids" disappear; no goofing around; strict discipline and concern for safety kicks in. They certainly know firearms, and treat them with respect and care. It was quite a sight to see the former "kids" deliberately, methodically pumping out rounds from their M-4s -- single shot, three-shot bursts, full auto -- punching out quarter-size groups in targets I can barely see. They don't look like kids, anymore. They look like Hollywood's idea of Marines; like the actors John Wayne "led" in "Sands of Iwo Jima." Now my thinking shifts to, "I wouldn't want to go up against these guys." And for a brief, very brief moment, I almost feel pity for the poor stupid thugs in Falluja who had dared tangle with the Marines, "You jerks haven't got a chance. Just call Dr. Kevorkian and get it over with."

Why did the United States go to war with Germany in WWII? Those certainly weren't German Stukas and NAZI pilots over Pearl Harbor on December 7th. It was because Hitler supported Japan-not because they ever attacked us or had plans to do so. Pearl Harbor was specifically the result of a US oil embargo placed upon Japan as a result of the Japanese occupation of formerly French Indochina.an occupation permitted by the Germans who had recently conquered France and controlled its holdings-but the embargo was place upon Japan-not Germany. So, how did the United States interpret the 12/7 attacks as a final step into war with both Japan AND with Germany if Germany had nothing to do with 12/7?

"It is difficult to find a parallel to the unwisdom of the British and the weakness of the French Governments, who none the less reflected the opinion of their Parliaments in this disastrous period. Nor can the United States escape the censure of history. Absorbed in their own affairs and all the abounding interests, activities, and accidents of a free community, they simply gaped at the vast changes which were taking place in Europe and imagined they were none of their concern."
-Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War

"By the autumn of 1933 it was plain that neither by precept nor still less by example would the British effort for disarmament succeed. The pacifism of the Labour and Liberal Parties was not effected even by the grave event of the German withdrawl from the League of Nations. Both continued in the name of peace to urge British disarmament, and anyone who differed was called "warmonger" and "scaremonger." It appeared that their feeling was endorsed by the people, who of course did not understand what was unfolding."
-Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War

True, America's allies were in trouble and asking the U.S. to help them, and a handful of Americans privately did before 1942 (see also Flying Tigers, Eagle Squadron, Hemmingway in Spain etc.). Another interesting aspect is to try and find a smoking gun in pre-Aunschlus Germany. It can't be done. There were violations, but nothing individually causing a war. Even Pearl Harbor was not the single reason for America's entry into WWII. No war should ever start for a single causus beli, and few do (including WWII, 911, and the war in Iraq).

"There was no moment in these sixteen years when the three former allies, or even Britain and France with their associates in Europe, could not in the name of the League of Nations and under its moral and international shield have controlled by mere effort of the will of armed strength of Germany."
-Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War

"Until the middle of 1934 control of the events was still largely in the hands of His Majesty's Government without the risk of war. They could at any time, in concert with France and through the League of Nations, have brought an overwhelming power to bear upon the Hitler Movement, about which Germany was profoundly divided."
-Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War

The United States went to war with Germany because Hitler declared war on the US (as had Saddam and Bin Laden both throughout the 1990's), because Germany and Japan were allies (as were Saddam and Al Queda...see also 1998 indictment of UBL and the 1993 non-aggression agreement between them), and because there were repeated, close, high level TIES between Hitler and Japan (just as there were repeated, close, high level TIES between Saddam and Al Queda). Al Queda is not Japan, but it is a nation without borders (just not a nation-state after the fall of the Taliban).

"Don't believe that anyone in the world will hinder me in my decisions [to invade Austria and Czechoslovakia]! Italy? I am quite clear that they are with Mussolini: with Italy I am on the closest of terms. England? England will not lift a finger for Austria.And France? Well, two years ago when we marched into the Rhineland with a handful of battalions [breaking the 1991 Treaty of Versailles]-at that moment I risked a great deal. If France had marched then we should have been forced to withdraw..but for France it is too late!"
-Adolph Hitler, 1938

So, on December 11th, 1941, the United States went to war with Germany because Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. Germany had no knowledge or involvement in the 12/7 attacks, was not involved, but Hitler had a relationship with the Japanese, had declared war on the US, and hadn't followed the terms of the Versailles Treaty (ie, the WWI armistice agreement/cease-fire had been broken repeatedly by Hitler). Hitler didn't have an air force (the WMD of the day), but he had the capacity to build one rapidly-as most of Europe would find out by 1943. Following the declarations of war, the United States acted quickly to strike back at the Japanese with the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, and finally halting Japanese free reign of aggression in at the Battle of Midway just 6 months after Pearl Harbor (note: 6 months after the 9/11/01 attacks, the Taliban were routed, Bin Laden was driven from his safe haven and pinned down in the mts of Pakistan, and Afghanistan was already starting to rebuild).

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke

So, where are the historians? Where is the generation that saw the right thing to do, AND had the courage to do it? Half of America has seen the right thing to do (specifically 51%), and has the courage to endure it. The other half prefers to ignore history, seek appeasement and isolationist policies, and to politicize the war on terror. Half the nation sees the history, and has learned from it. The other half continues to replace the cold realities of the 21st Century with political conspiracy theories piled upon each other as their own means of denial.

After a while, the conspiracies get harder and harder to grasp. Pres Bush (a man constantly painted as a moron by his political opponents) apparently stole the 2000 election by controlling 1/3 of the govt, the Supreme Court, and pulled off the greatest conspiracy in American history. THEN, this alleged Happy Meal-without-the-fries managed to pull off the greatest conspiracy in the history of man; he created the 911 attacks with the help of the Pakistanis who actually committed them using Saudi hijackers.

Why? So he could invade Afghanistan to get access for the natural gas pipelines to fund his invasion of Iraq which he used to fund his 2004 theft of the Presidential election. One conspiracy alone is tough to realistically put faith in, but for President Bush (purportedly the dullest knife in the drawer) to have pulled off 4 of the greatest conspiracies in the history of man (each one dependent on its predecessor) is just impossible. With four successive coups the odds become exponentially smaller and smaller; 4 of the greatest in mankind? Millions of people are grasping at straws in denial, and there's another 4 years yet to start. Why do they grasp? What DON'T they grasp?

Given the hundreds of thousands of people who have looked into each one of these conspiracies, the independent, foreign, and bi-partisan investigations that have disproved them, the reason that people still cling to them can only be described as political denial, as historical denial, and as proof positive that those who have ignored the lessons in their history classes truly have been doomed to repeat them.

"Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of NAZI rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender; and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the Old." ie, "Bring em on"
-Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War

"Let's Remember Pearl Harbor" was America's battle-cry on 12/8/41....maybe it should be once again?

There are so many different aspects of the job: training, the field, combat. During each of these times, the job varies. I could explain each of these experiences at great length and detail but as with many experiences, words don’t adequately express what it means to be a grunt. But I’ll try to give you a picture anyway.

Training: Four words sum this experience up: “Any clime and place.” This means you go complete a Combined Arms Exercise at Twentynine Palms, Calif., in 100-degree plus heat, or a cold-weather package at Bridgeport, Calif., in negative 14-degree weather with 40 mph winds. Spending a month in Jordan to cross-train with the Jordanian military or carrying out a range on Guam in the pouring rain are just other ways to use our time. Sitting eight hours in the back of an AAV sucking diesel fumes and getting a headache while being jostled worse than any roller coaster I’ve ever been on. Even when we’re not doing ranges, we stay busy with endless classes on radios, Marine Corps martial arts program, close quarters battle, first aid, crew-served weapons and nuclear, biological and chemical training, all so that we can deal with problems quickly, cleanly, decisively and with swift violence when necessary.

The Field: Next I’ll move to the field, where the motto is, “If it ain’t raining, you ain’t training.” This aspect probably wouldn’t be that bad except that contrary to popular belief, we rarely use tents. You will also eat the best meals of your life as a grunt. I’m not joking either because believe me when I tell you that the meal you eat after spending four months eating Meals Ready to Eat will be the best meal of your entire life no matter what it is. The MRE you eat after a day of patrolling or a 12-mile hike with an 80-pound pack will taste pretty good too.

Combat: It’s a lot easier than training. After all, it’s pretty easy to get shot at. Most of the time combat is boring, waiting for something to happen followed by a few quick minutes of excitement. In those hours of doing nothing, you try not to think of everything you miss back home. Playing cards passes the time and if you don’t know how to play, don’t worry because you’ll learn, with spades, hearts and rummy being the most popular games. In the meantime, you’ll run endless patrols and search house-to-house all day long. You’ll crawl through an Iraqi sewer and climb to the roofs of many buildings so you can clear from the top down. After exhausting yourself all day, you’ll dig a fighting trench so that you can bed down for the night. In the interest of speed you make this hole just big enough for you and your partner so that you can get as much sleep as possible, since during war you’re usually at 50 percent firewatch. This results in closeness with your fellow grunts that I don’t even share with my wife at home. Despite all these occurrences, there are fun times; the joy of blowing up a bus on a demo range, fast roping out of a helicopter, conducting a live fire range at night with just tracers. The camaraderie you feel with fellow grunts as you complete a mission and bed down for the night underneath the stars. These are the parts of the job that make what it means to be a grunt.

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

A. Lincoln October 3, 1863

The motto of the US Marine Corps is Semper Fidelis, or “always faithful”. And faith is exactly what the Western media eschew in their relentlessly cynical coverage of the American Armed Forces, which plunged to a new nadir last week with the outrage at a Marine who shot dead an injured and unarmed Fallujah terrorist. Their determination to portray the Americans as trigger-happy louts and the Iraqi terrorists as mere “rebels” slanders the former, sanctifies the latter and betrays everybody who trusts journalists to be objective.

Each American transgression is covered exhaustively and reproachfully, while triumphs, such as the trouble-free elections in Afghanistan and the reconstruction of Iraqi infrastructure, are treated as background noise. The torture of a few dozen prisoners in Abu Ghraib, for example, received far more attention than the restoration of the Marsh Arabs’ homeland.

And this bias predates the Iraq war. If you get your news from Channel 4, you probably believe that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are wide-eyed young gadflies who were enjoying an innocuous 18-30 holiday in glamorous Tora Bora before being kidnapped by rampaging Navy Seals. The truth is that many are al-Qaeda members who fought coalition forces during the invasion, but whose crimes are too legally vague to guarantee a conviction in court. America is therefore faced with the choice of releasing known enemies or detaining them indefinitely. That they choose the latter is not only sensible but generous — any of history’s previous superpowers, such as Soviet Russia — would have shot them on sight.

Jack Nicholson’s “you can’t handle the truth” routine in A Few Good Men has become an iconic monologue of modern cinema, but the point he was making is rarely grasped. The injustice Nicholson laments is not that we expect a noble minority to pay the blood price for our security — it was ever thus — but that we demand the right to tell them how to do it. Shackled by laws, norms and protocol concocted by legalists, the US Armed Forces — who have done more for freedom of the press than all the world’s journalists combined — are put in an impossible position. It is nauseating enough that they are now casually disparaged as “hicks” and “rednecks” by do-nothing civilians, without the supposedly objective media joining in.

Staff Sergeant Aaron White, USMC was killed in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2003 in Iraq. Here is an excerpt from his last letters home to his wife Michele and to his baby daughter Brianna.

"What keeps me up at night is thinking you may never know what you mean to me.... If I don't come home, please tell Brianna that her daddy loves her more than life....

Brianna, it breaks my heart to have to miss your first birthday. I hope that you will forgive me.... I fall asleep every night with visions of you and your mommy in my head, reminding me of all I have been blessed with. I will be with you every day, if not in body, then in spirit. I love more than my words could ever say..."

Aaron was killed two days after Brianna turned one. When an American in a military uniform is killed his or her family receives a one-time death gratuity of $12,000. The surviving family may also qualify for Survivors Benefit Plan (SBP) paid up to age 62 or until the widow remarries. SBP amounts to 55% of the soldier's retirement pay, pay that is already so low that it qualifies many military families for food stamps. These "benefits" are contingent upon fulfilling many petty regulations. Michele did not qualify for SBP because Aaron was in the Corps just under10 years service. Several further benefits, like the income-based Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), may or may not pay out about $800 per month and $200 per child depending on the case. Michele did not qualify because of several arcane technicalities. Michele and Brianna's medical benefits will end three years from Aaron's death. However Michele did receive some modest insurance compensation because Aaron paid for coverage out of his own meager salary.

A just released study by the Rand Corporation found that the families of civilians killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 received on average, $3.1 million in government and charitable compensation. The families of the firemen and cops who died received even more. Their average compensation exceeded $4.2 million.

Our soldiers are being killed on a daily basis but most of us seem to feel little personal connection with them. If we did their widows and families would be better compensated. Our idea of "supporting the troops" is to stick magnetic yellow ribbons on our cars. Those Americans who do not serve or do not have family serving are disconnected from our all-volunteer forces and their families. I know. I never served in the military and before my son unexpectedly enlisted in the Marines, then went to war in the Middle East for eleven months, I looked at our military as made up of people who had little to do with me.

Let's strip away our yellow ribbon sentimentality for a moment and admit the truth: we treat our military like second-class citizens. I'm glad the 9/11 families were generously compensated but it's time to ask why the family of someone who has done no more for his country than show up at a stock trading office on the wrong day should receive hundreds of times more compensation than a soldier who volunteered to leave his wife and child to defend the rest of us.

Most of the dead from our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being buried in small towns and the blue collar or middle and lower middle class sections of our cities. Our politicians seem better able to identify with the needs of stock trader's widows (not to mention the businesses and airlines that were also generously compensated), than with the needs of the families of our soldiers. This is a scandal.

In his second to last letter home Aaron wrote: "Believe me I am not having a good time here. This is an ugly hasty land. I hope [our] people appreciate the blood we are to spill." Judging by how we are taking care of his widow and daughter apparently the answer is that we do ot.

Something happened to me that I'd like to share. I've always been a patriotic person. I've always loved my country and I enjoy serving it. My mom and dad taught me, by example, to honor the American flag and to pray for our country. When people sing the Star Spangled Banner, I've always gotten that chill of pride down my back. In the past when I have said or have heard other people say, "God bless America", to me America was a place I cansidered home. God bless America meant, God bless the place that I live and the military that protects me and the government that makes me free. As of yesterday, that has changed for me.

My unit has picked up NATO soldiers at hospitals here in Kosovo that in the states we would consider condemned. Hospitals where there are no pillows, blankets, or sheets and wires are hanging from the cieling and there are holes in the floors. When we arrive the NATO soldiers always look up at us with gratitude in their eyes and say thank God please get me out of here. Yesterday I did a Med Cap in town. I was giving out medications to over 200 people and being very buisy when one old woman grabbed my arm demanding my attention and stoping me from working. She held my hand with one of hers and with her other hand she patted my cheek. For a moment in my own self righteousness I shuddered from her touch. All I could think about was the filth and the stench of the woman and what she could be transmitting to me by touching me. But then she began saying something in Albanian over and over again. I turned to ask my interpreter what she was saying and he told me that she was saying, "God bless America, God bless America, thats all I can say is God bless America."

I was too busy to think about it just then but last night I couldn't sleep and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I realize now that with that old womans touch the only thing she gave to me was a gift I will never forget. She let me know that when I think that America (home) is thousands of miles away, to her it is right here, in me. I AM AMERICA! To the rest of the world it is not a place. In their time of need, it is the representation of what we believe. We are one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL! So now when I have a moment of homesickness wondering why I am here and why the US doesn't let us come home and stop worrying about the rest of the world. I will remember that old woman. She gave me a sense of purpose and taught me a wonderful lesson, and it could not have been more appropriate than now, this close to Veterans Day.

If I didn't share this story with all of you I just wouldn't have felt right. I made a deep impact on me. Please pray for all of those people who are deployed and also pray for the people in those countries who's lives have been destroyed by war. We are all Gods people.

"Samarra is a beaming success story over here," writes Lt. Col Jim Rose, a Tennessee Marine whose parents live in Old Hickory. "We were getting ready for a take-down there right after Najaf. We told the locals, 'Hey, see what happened in Najaf? Is that what you want? Cause we're coming.' It took the locals about two days to get the bad guys out."

Rose is based in the Sunni Triangle. That's where most U.S. casualties occur, where the Sunnis are supportive of terrorists coming in. Fallujah is there, along with Samarra and Najaf, where Marines drove terrorists out of one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Rose verified a message I received from another Marine officer in Iraq. He provided perspective missing in the media: "Those achievements, more than anything else ? account for the surge in violence in recent days ? especially the violence directed at Iraqis by the insurgents. Both in Najaf and Samarra, ordinary people stepped out and took sides with the Iraqi government against the insurgents, and the bad guys are hopping mad. They are trying to instill fear once again."

Rose asked: "Why isn't the media covering Samarra?"

Instead, we get what reader Jim League of Smyrna complains about. He cited a picture and story featured at the top of Page 13A in Saturday's Tennessean:

"The perhaps 100 protesters get front-and-center billing, and the impression is that all of Iraq is unhappy. What is missing is perspective. Imagine a foreigner perusing the front page of The Tennessean. He reads about a 15-year-old-boy being chained to his bed for six weeks. Would he be justified in believing that all parents in America constrain their children? If he had no perspective and if his impression was selectively reinforced by subtle media or political pundits, this could be possible."

Exactly. And what we get on TV is also just one side. Consider this story Rose saw reported: "I was going through the battle damage assessment at my desk with NBC's Today on the TV. The attack occurred in the middle of the night. I had the footage of the attack on my computer, and here's Katie Couric (or whoever hosts it) showing the same bomb location.}

"I had pictures of the bombed vehicles, which is how I knew she was talking about the same location. The next shot is kids being carried into a hospital. We had eyes on this for a long time. If there were kids in there, they were toting weapons or the terrorists used them as human shields. ?"

"I went to our Combat Operations Center and walked into them watching the same thing. I verified what I thought and spoke with our intelligence guys. They said the whole thing was staged and probably old footage. They track the footage and have seen repeat footage shown in the past. They also said to look at the footage and see if it makes sense. More often than not, it doesn't ? pulling a child from rubble with relatively clean clothes. "

Is NBC wrong and the Marines right? Americans deserve both sides to make up their minds.

"The Najaf shrine ? HUNDREDS of dead women and children were brought out after Sadr left," Rose wrote. "They (Sadr's supporters) rounded them up during the battle and brought them in to be executed. Why? Because they anticipated the Americans would eventually enter the shrine and walk into a media ambush. We never went in. The people of Najaf love us right now because of that. They hate Sadr and want him dead."

''Have you heard that one yet (in the media)?''

No we haven't. We just get one side. That's bad journalism ? by a news media acting in concert with Kerry.

Dad, you asked me what I would say to America from Iraq on 9/11 if I had a podium and a microphone. I have thought about it, and here is my response. Your Son, Kevin

September 11, 2004
Dear America,

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -George Orwell

The Marine Corps is tired. I guess I should not say that, as I have no authority or responsibility to speak for the Marine Corps as a whole, and my opinions are mine alone. I will rephrase: this Marine is tired. I write this piece from the sands of Iraq, west of Baghdad, at three a.m., but I am not tired of the sand. I am neither tired of long days, nor of flying and fighting. I am not tired of the food, though it does not taste quite right.

I am not tired of the heat; I am not tried of the mortars that occasionally fall on my base. I am not tired of Marines dying, though all Marines, past and present, mourn the loss of every brother and sister that is killed; death is a part of combat and every warrior knows that going into battle. One dead Marine is too many, but we give more than we take, and unlike our enemies, we fight with honor. I am not tired of the missions or the people; I have only been here a month, after all. I am, however, tired of the hypocrisy and short-sightedness that seems to have gripped so many of my countrymen and the media. I am tired of political rhetoric that misses the point, and mostly I am tired of people "not getting it."

Three years ago I was sitting in a classroom at Quantico, Virginia, while attending the Marine Corps Basic Officer Course, learning about the finer points of land navigation. Our Commanding Officer interrupted the class to inform us that some planes had crashed in New York and Washington D.C., and that he would return when he knew more. Tears welled in the eyes of the Lieutenant on my right while class continued, albeit with an audience that was not very focused; his sister lived in New York and worked at the World Trade Center. We broke for lunch, though instead of going to the chow hall proceeded to a small pizza and sub joint which had a television. Slices of pizza sat cold in front of us as we watched the same vivid images that you watched on September 11, 2001.

I look back on that moment now and realize even then I grasped, at some level, that the events of that day would alter both my military career and my country forever. Though I did not know that three years later, to the day, I would be flying combat missions in Iraq as an AH-1W Super Cobra pilot, I did understand that a war had just begun, on television for the world to see, and that my classmates and I would fight that war. After lunch we were told to go to our rooms, clean our weapons and pack our gear for possible deployment to the Pentagon to augment perimeter security. The parting words of the order were to make sure we packed gloves, in case we had to handle bodies.

The first Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom was in my company at The Basic School, and was sitting in that land navigation class on September 11. He fought bravely, led from the front, and was killed seizing an oil refinery on the opening day of the war. His heroism made my emergency procedure memorization for the T-34 primary flight school trainer seem quite insignificant. This feeling of frustration was shared by all of the student pilots, but we continued to press on. As one instructor pointed out to us, "You will fight this war, not me. Make sure that you are prepared when you get there." He was right; my classmates from Pensacola are here beside me, flying every day in support of the Marines on the ground. That instructor has since retired, but I believe he has retired knowing that he made a contribution to the greatest country in the history of the world, the United States of America.

Many of you will read that statement and balk at its apparently presumptuous and arrogant nature, and perhaps be tempted to stop reading right here. I would ask that you keep going, for I did not say that Americans are better than anyone else, for I do not believe that to be the case. I did not say that our country, its leaders, military or intelligence services are perfect or have never made mistakes, because throughout history they have, and will continue to do so, despite their best efforts. The Nation is more than the sum of its citizens and leaders, more than its history, present, or future; a nation has contemporary values which change as its leaders change, but it also has timeless character, ideals forged with the blood and courage of patriots. To quote the Pledge of Allegiance, our nation was founded "under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." As Americans, we have more freedom than we can handle sometimes.

If you are an atheist you might have a problem with that whole "under God" part; if you are against liberating the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Asia, all of Europe (twice), and the former Soviet bloc, then perhaps the "liberty and justice for all" section might leave you fuming. Our Nation, throughout its history, has watered the seeds of democracy on many continents, with blood, even when the country was in disagreement about those decisions. Disagreement is a wonderful thing. To disagree with your neighbors and your government is at the very heart of freedom. Citizens have disagreed about every important and controversial decision made by their leaders throughout history.

Truman had the courage to drop two nuclear weapons in order to end the largest war in history, and then, by his actions, prevented the Soviets from extinguishing the light of democracy in Eastern Europe, Berlin. Lincoln preserved our country through civil war; Reagan knew in his heart that freedom is a more powerful weapon than oppression. Leaders are paid to make difficult, sometimes controversial decisions. History will judge the success of their actions and the purity of their intent in a way that is impossible at the present moment. In your disagreement and debate about the current conflict, however, be very careful that you do not jeopardize your nation or those who serve. The best time to use your freedom of speech to debate difficult decisions is before they are made, not when the lives of your countrymen are on the line.

Cherish your civil rights; I know that after having been in Iraq for only one month I have a new appreciation for mine. You have the right to say that you "support the troops" but oppose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have the right to vote for Senator John Kerry because you believe that he has an exit strategy for Iraq, or because you just cannot stand President Bush. You have the right to vote for President George W. Bush if you believe that he has done a good job over the last four years. You might even decide that you do not want to vote at all and would rather avoid the issues as much as possible. That is certainly your option, and doing nothing is the only option for many people in this world.

It is not my place, nor am I allowed by the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, to tell you how to vote. But I can explain to you the truth about what is going on around you. We know, and have known from the beginning, that the ultimate success or failure of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the future of those countries, rests solely on the shoulders of the Iraqi and Afghani people. If someone complains that we should not have gone to war with Saddam Hussein, that our intelligence was bad, that President Bush's motives were impure, then take the appropriate action. Exercise your right to vote for Senator Kerry, but please stop complaining about something that happened over a year ago. The decision to deploy our military in Iraq and Afghanistan is in the past, and while I believe that it is important to the democratic process for our nation to analyze the decisions of our leadership in order to avoid repeating mistakes, it is far more important to focus on the future. The question of which candidate will "get us out of Iraq sooner" should not be a consideration in your mind. YOU SHOULD NOT WANT US OUT OF IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN SOONER.

There is only one coherent exit strategy that will make our time here worthwhile and validate the sacrifice of so many of our countrymen. There is only one strategy that has a chance of promoting peace and stabilizing the Middle East. It is the exit strategy of both candidates, though voiced with varying volumes and iffering degrees of clarity. I will speak of Iraq because that is where I am, though I feel the underlying principle applies to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The American military must continue to help train and support the Iraqi Police, National Guard, and Armed Forces. We must continue to give them both responsibility and the authority with which to carry out those responsibilities, so that they eventually can kill or capture the former regime elements and foreign terrorists that are trying to create a radical, oppressive state. We must continue to repair the infrastructure that we damaged during the conflict, and improve the infrastructure that was insufficient when Saddam was in power. We should welcome and encourage partners in the coalition but recognize that many will choose the path of least resistance and opt out; many of our traditional allies have been doing this for years and it should not surprise us. We must respect the citizens of Iraq and help them to understand the meaning of basic human
rights, for those are something the average Iraqi has never experienced. We must be respectful of our cultural and religious differences. We must help the Iraqis develop national pride, and most importantly, we must leave this country better than we found it, at the right time, with a chance of success so that its people will have an opportunity to forge their own destiny. We must do all of these things as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we are not seen as occupiers, but rather liberators and helpers. We must communicate this to the world as clearly and frequently as possible, both with words and actions.

If we leave before these things are done, then Iraq will fall into anarchy and possibly plunge the Middle East into another war. The ability of the United States to conduct foreign policy will be severely, and perhaps permanently, degraded. Terrorism will increase, both in America and around the world, as America will have demonstrated that it is not interested in building and helping, only destroying. If we run or exit early, we prove to our enemies that terror is more powerful and potent than freedom. Many nations, like Spain, have already affirmed this in the minds of the terrorists. Our failure, and its consequences, will be squarely on our shoulders as a nation. It will be our fault. If we stay the course and Iraq or Afghanistan falls into civil war on its own, then our hands are
clean. As a citizen of the United States and a U.S. Marine, I will be able to sleep at night with nothing on my conscience, for I know that I, and my country, have done as much as we could for these people. If we leave early, I will not be able to live with myself, and neither should you. The blood will be on our hands, the failure on our watch.

The bottom line is this: Republican or Democrat, approve or disapprove of the decision to go to war, you need to support our efforts here. You cannot both support the troops and protest their mission. Every time the parent of a fallen Marine gets on CNN with a photo, accusing President Bush of murdering his son, the enemy wins a strategic victory. I cannot begin to comprehend the grief he feels at the death of his son, but he dishonors the memory of my brave brother who paid the ultimate price. That Marine volunteered to serve, just like the rest of us. No one here was drafted. I am proud of my service and that of my peers. I am ashamed of that parent's actions, and I pray to God that if I am killed my parents will stand with pride before the cameras and reaffirm their belief that my life and sacrifice mattered; they loved me dearly and they firmly support the
military and its mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. With that statement, they communicate very clearly to our enemies around the world that America is united, that we cannot be intimidated by kidnappings, decapitations and torture, and that we care enough about the Afghani and Iraqi people to give them a chance at democracy and basic human rights.

Do not support those that seek failure for us, or seek to trivialize the sacrifices made here. Do not make the deaths of your countrymen be in vain.

Communicate to your media and elected officials that you are behind us and our mission. Send letters and encouragement to those who are deployed. When you meet a person that serves you, whether in the armed forces, police, or fire department, show them respect. Thank the spouses around you every day, raising children alone, whose loved ones are deployed. Remember not only those that have paid the ultimate price, but the veterans that bear the physical and emotional scars of defending your freedom. At the very least, follow your mother's advice. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Do not give the enemy a foothold in our Nation's public opinion. He rejoices at Fahrenheit 9/11 and applauds every time an American slams our efforts. The military can succeed here so long as American citizens support us wholeheartedly.

Sleep well on this third anniversary of 9/11, America. Rough men are standing ready to do violence on your behalf. Many of your sons and daughters volunteered to stand watch for you. Not just rough men- the infantry, the Marine grunts, the Special Operations Forces- but lots of eighteen and nineteen year old kids, teenagers, who are far away from home, serving as drivers, supply clerks, analysts, and mechanics. They all have stories, families, and dreams. They miss you, love you, and are putting their lives on the line for you. Do not make their time here, their sacrifice, a waste. Support them, and their mission.

I value this opportunity to talk to those of you serving in our armed forces, and I want to thank you, personally, for your commitment to our country.

As you know, this week we lost the thousandth servicemember in Iraq. Some ask whether the global war on terror is worth a thousand American lives. It's an understandable question, but the answer should be clear to all who have studied our nation's history.

And I want you to know what I believe the answer is to that question.

First, we need to recognize that we passed the thousandth casualty mark in the global war on terror a long time ago. On September 11th, 2001, alone, we lost over 3,000 men, women and children. Since that time, the extremists have killed many more innocent men, women and children all over the world.

While some may feel we have been at war only since September 11th, the enemies we face have been at war against us for a good deal longer. Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in 1993. They bombed our airmen in the barracks at Saudi Arabia, they attacked Americans at our embassies in East Africa, and they killed the sailors aboard the USS Cole.

During that same period, Saddam Hussein's regime tried to assassinate a former U.S. president, regularly fired at American and British aircraft that were flying in the Northern and Southern No-Fly zones over Iraq, and Saddam Hussein was, of course, paying the families of suicide terrorist bombers $25,000.

President Bush was faced with a choice – to confront a repressive dictator plotting to get his regime out of the international inspection and to amass the world's most lethal weapons – or wait until Saddam had succeeded. The president was faced -- as presidents always are -- with the risk of acting versus the risk of failing to act. But after September 11th, our country could no longer accept the risk of failing to act.

Because of your courage and commitment, some 50 million people from Afghanistan and Iraq are now experiencing freedom. Other regimes that also sponsored terror now support our cause.

Because we are eliminating the havens of those who seek to terrorize our nation, our country is safer today. And that is why the important work you are doing is worth the cost, and why it is so deeply appreciated.

Throughout history, brave Americans have come to the defense of our freedom. Today, that task falls to you.

Over my decades of service, I have been fortunate to meet a great many of our servicemen and women. And I always come away impressed – impressed by your dedication, by your professionalism, and by your devotion to our country.

With you on the front lines in this global struggle against extremists, this global war on terror, I know we will not falter, or tire, or fail, or yield. Our country is deeply in your debt.

May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

Donald H. Rumsfeld

Marines, Sailors and Marine Civilians,

September 11th will forever be a date America will mourn and never forget. As we take time today to recognize the tragic events of that day, we should all reflect on the importance of 9/11 and how it has changed our lives.

During the three years since September 11, 2001, we have been steadfast in our solemn duty here aboard MCRD San Diego to recruit and transform the very best young men and women this country has to offer into United States Marines. The recruits who have marched across this parade deck over the past three years have played a crucial role in defending freedom and fighting terrorism throughout the world. Many of the young men and women we continue to recruit and make into Marines will ultimately go into harm?s way around the world in the ongoing global war on terror.

The past 12 months in particular have seen many Marines make the ultimate sacrifice abroad, so that all Americans may continue to enjoy freedom and security at home. Throughout Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq, Marines have displayed heroic valor and determination in the face of a ruthless and cowardly enemy determined to attempt to keep freedom and peace from innocent people.

Places such as Ramadi, Fallujah, and Nasiriyah now take their rightful place in Marine Corps lore with Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, and Khe Sahn as historic battles where Marines of today have continued to uphold their time honored reputation as the world?s finest fighting force.

This date will forever remind us of how precious the freedom in our country is, the importance of preserving our freedom and way of life, and how our mission at the Depot is crucial to ensuring this country never again experiences the catastrophic events of September 11th. As we pause to remember all who have given their lives on and since September 11th, let us be ever vigilant at the mission we have as Marines and the ultimate task we have as Americans in preserving freedom and democracy.

Semper Fidelis,
J. M. Paxton Jr.
Brigadier General, U. S. Marine Corps