Commitment & Appreciation

Part 1 of my Veterans Day thoughts:
So a little while ago I was listening to a sermon on Commitment and it got me thinking about our current situations in the world. The main thing that I started thinking about when it comes to commitment is the wars that our troops are currently engaged in around the world. When we first went into both of these wars we were "committed" as a nation. Now what has happened? We are in jeopardy of losing because we lack commitment to the just cause of freedom from oppression. We have a problem with commitment in this country.

If you look at the various wars that we actually have fought battles in since the end of World War 2 (not counting the Cold War since there were no real battles that were fought in that war) the US started out committed to the war and then backed off of that commitment. When we went into Korea we were committed to stop the oppression of the people there. We had generals on the ground that were willing to do whatever it took to rid the country of that oppression but the powers that be in our government had lost that commitment and vision and basically gave up on the war and so we were defeated. Now I know you can say well we didn't lose the war, but if you look at it we lost. You now have two groups of people, those that live in the free South, and those that live in the oppressive North. That would not be the case if we had stayed committed to our just cause of giving those people the freedoms we tend to take for granted in this country.

Next we had the conflict in Vietnam. We once again started with a commitment to the cause of freedom but when things didn't have a quick resolution our commitment faded. Now granted part of that was because the enemy in Vietnam used Art of War tactics to turn the public opinion of the war here in the states to get us away from our commitment. We still however turned away from our commitment to give people the same freedom that we have in this country.

From the end of Vietnam to 9/11 we had some small conflicts in which we participated. Sure we had the first Gulf War. But the most notable of these conflicts was the one in Mogadishu that spawned the famous Black Hawk Down incident. We lost our commitment in that conflict and turned it over to the UN.

Then we get to the events of 9/11. We were attacked that day and all Americans had commitment to the fact that we needed to get those responsible for that attack. That was when we went into Afghanistan with the commitment of ousting the oppressive Taliban and hunting down Al-Queda who was ultimately responsible for the attacks on us that horrific September day in 2001. Well now we are 8 years into that conflict and unless we as an American people and our government remember that commitment to freeing those oppressed by the Taliban and Al-Queda we may once again snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. The POTUS that took us into the conflict in Afghanistan lost his commitment on the issues at hand. The current POTUS seems to be doing the same thing though the verdict is still out about the most recent request from the general in charge of that theater of war.

Next we came to the conflict in Iraq. We went in back in the 90s and we lost our focus and commitment and stopped before the oppression of the people was completely stopped and the oppressive leader removed. Because we did not follow through, the leader of that country continued to oppress his people and avoided following through on the promises that he made to the United States and the UN. Finally we had a President that felt we had given enough chances to the leader of that country. Yes we believed that he had weapons of mass destruction because all his actions pointed to that fact. We went back into Iraq to rid the world of a horrible dictator who had no problems killing his own people and posturing with the world that he would do the same to us if he had the opportunity. We went in and accomplished this part of our commitment. The second part of our commitment is where things didn't go so well and we seem to have lost it. We committed to training the Iraqi people to defend themselves and to establish their own government with democratic elections. We started out fully committed to this and when times got rough and we faced the hardships of the insurgency our leaders and the news media seemed to turn against the mission.

On this November 11th, as we celebrate Veterans Day and celebrate the men and women of our Armed Forces that have gone out and put their lives on the line not only for those of us back here in America but in foreign countries all over the world, let us renew our commitment to stand behind our troops and our leaders. We have made many commitments throughout our 233 year history as a nation. On this Veterans Day 2009 let us all make a commitment to our Veterans that have served in previous conflicts, whether that be Korea, Vietnam, etc, and to those that are currently serving in Operating Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, that we the people of the United States of America stand behind them and thank them for the blank check of service that they wrote to the United States. Thank you.


Part 2 of my Veterans Day thoughts (not as organized as previous part):
I watched a video today of a group of WW2 Veterans that were in Washington DC today visiting the various memorials. It is all part of a program where WW2 Vets are given a free trip to DC to check out their monument. This program is not anything provided by our government but by private citizens looking to give back to those who gave to defend our freedoms. This video made me remember back to the last trip I went on with 8th graders to Washington DC. The day we went to Arlington National Cemetery while watching the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown, there were several older gentlemen that were wheeled up to watch this ceremony of respect and honor. These gentlemen were all veterans and were proudly wearing the hat displaying what war they served in. The kids did not see these gentlemen and not may of the adults did either. After we had finished our walking around Arlington and were on our way over to the Iwo Jima memorial we noticed that the entire group of them were there and getting on their bus. We proceeded to give them a standing ovation as we were approaching them and their bus. We were even able to shake some of their hands and individually thank them for their service to our nation. I am not sure if any of these men had ever been thanked for their service to our country or not but it was a great feeling to do just that. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Jarhead. The movie is not all that great but there is a scene that is rather fitting. When the men are coming back from Iraq and are on a bus and getting cheered and showered with praises, an older gentlemen jumps on the bus. You can see that from the way he is dressed he served in the military previously most likely in Vietnam. When he gets on the bus he just soaks in the praise and adoration that these current troops are receiving from the people. It makes me sad to think that there is a possibility that our men and women coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan may suffer this same fate of not being appreciated and applauded when they come back. Whether or not you agree with the leaders we have in office and what their views are on the current conflicts in which we are engaged, we must never take out our personal feelings of disdain on the brave men and women of our armed forces that swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of this great nation against all enemies. So while it is nice for us to show our appreciation for the men and women of the armed forces on Veterans Day, we need to not just stop on at 12:01 Am on November 12th. These men and women deserve to be shown our appreciation every day of the year. So let us never forget to thank those around us that have served because without them we would be in a living in a far different world. Thank you Veterans. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!