Gone to see the elephant

Please, take a moment and read this account.  It is the most cogent account of combat and battle that I have ever read.  I owe a lot to that Army puke writing those words.  Because of him, and the men like him, my war stories involve deep water operations and shipboard things.  I was never in the trenches, pulling triggers, doing what the combat guys do.  But, I do understand the impulse, that you can never go beyond the wire (or into the fire), until your buddies suit up.  You'll be damned if they won't have all the help you can give them.

http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,Galloway_062304,00.html

I can't add anything to his account, it is not in my experience.  But there is one passage to highlight.  A single sentence, "One of them made it, one did not."

That chilling division, the ultimate line of demarcation, is what today is about.  Today is about those who did not.  They did not live.  They did not return.  They did not make it.

But, what they gave, is more precious than all that is contained in Fort Knox.  It is what fuels America, the ideal, the place this is supposed to be and rarely is.  It is the antithesis of what we see on TV and in our politics.  Real moral courage, tested to the ultimate extent, nothing held back, nothing covered over.

I do not deserve to know men such as these.  I am not worthy.  But, I will continue to remind all that they are worthy.  I will continue to say that the last full measure will never be in vain.  I will continue to appeal that we remember them, before we remember some imagined slight, or "offensive" comment.  How silly is your offense at a word, compared to the offense that war made on them?

Stand proud, do not yield, but never be offended.  You are American.  Men and women died for you, to take whatever cheap shot, hateful word gets spoken.  They died for the freedom to speak stupidity and hate, because it goes hand in hand with speaking of compassion and love.  There are only waypoints, there are no absolutes to human nature.

They did not die so that you can post pictures of the flag they were buried under, and claim this group or that group is not American.  They did not die so that you could bear arms.  They did not die so that you could worship freely.  They did not die so that you could have today off.  They died because they believed that America was worth the sacrifice and the loss.  They died because they believed you were worth the sacrifice and the loss.

Stop being angry today, and be mindful.  Be mindful that less and less a percentage of our population knows military service.  Be mindful that the leadership of Congress, the Executive and the Judicial branches of government are almost entirely absent any military experience.  Be mindful that those that are most loud about the rights of Americans are generally those that have never stood on the line, never went down to the sea.  Be mindful that we TAKE FOR GRANTED that our military will win, and yet, flag draped coffins continue to arrive at Dover.

So, today, be mindful.  Think of them.  Ask yourself, why them?  I do.  Why them, and not me?  How did the dice fall that spared me, yet took them?  Would I have the courage to face what they faced, given the risk?  Do I have the courage to stand up and demand respect for them, just in conversation?  Do I have the courage to respect them with my voice and my vote and my participation?

Drive to any Veterans cemetery, stare at those stark white markers in their precise rows, and ask yourself if you would go see the elephant, and if you haven't, why aren't you demanding more from us all, for those that did.  But, do not disrespect the silence that lays over that field.  Their silence, it is their last greatest weapon, and their most beautiful testimony.  On the backs of their burden, we are yet free.  God bless those who have given their all, and God rest their souls, wherever they lie.