Monday, March 21, 2005

Well (now that's a deep subject)

I'm not really sure where I'm going and I'm not too sure exactly where I've been. I can tell you that I've done alot of things in my life. I can say that I've been to countries in Asia, I've been to Austrailia. I've gone through the "shellback" ritual when I crossed the equator onboard a naval vessel. I've hung from a rope underneath a helicopter 500 feet above the ground. I've seen the sunrise and the sunset on the open ocean. I've seen a nighttime sky that was so clear you could see satellites in orbit. I've looked at Saturn with high powered binoculars and seen it's rings. I have seen the scourge of war and the defeated. I've witnessed the burning of oil fields and seen the first signs of nature's regrowth. I've seen sea spouts, flying fish, whale sharks, and sea snakes. I've witnessed a burial at sea and had the experience of friends dying.

Most people see that I support the war in Iraq and they feel that I am a hatemonger, a hawk and that I kowtow to the whimsy of the Bush administration. They read my blog and they feel that I am unjust in my attitude towards Kerry. The truth is, with my experience in the military I feel each death a little bit more than non-military people do. I've seen with my own eyes what war is, what it does and what it looks, feels and smells like. So when I hear that another soldier has fallen my heart feels pain. But having been in the position of the fighting man, I also know that I volunteered for that task. I sweated in training, and trained for a long time to become the warrior that I was. When I went to war that training was invaluable to me in the accomplishment of my various missions. I had pride in what I was doing. I believed, not necessarily in war for war's sake, but in the greater picture. I believe that these young men feel a sense of pride, a sense of devotion and a sense of greater good to their purpose.

So to those of you that call me a "hawk" I guess that's what I am. I believe that war will always be with us. I believe that the more one sweats in training the less they will bleed in combat. I believe that the American fighting man is the epitome of what he should be. For the most real look into why the American fighting man is so good, watch the movie "We Were Soldiers." So support the troops, even if your ideology differs from the ideology of he who sent them. They believe in their mission, so should we.

No comments: