Respecting the military

Every time I see the U.S. military in action I think of my dad.

We lost him in Vietnam, before I was old enough to appreciate what a great father God gave me to. I was lucky to have a mother who could make him real to me, even years after he was gone. She made me understand his dedication to duty as a soldier. And when I look at today’s force, I still see all that she told me. Whenever we need for something important to get done, and done right, we fall back on the guys in uniform, don’t we?

Since my dad’s day, I don’t think those guys get enough respect. Guys AND gals I should say. The one thing military service does is train you that getting the job done is all that matters. That’s what I know my father was all about. Get it done, or die trying. It was the same way when I was in the Secret Service. I hate to say it, but I don’t see that kind of feeling anywhere else in our government.

Look at what just happened with Hurricane Katrina. Look at the difference between the FEMA guy who got fired and the Coast Guard Admiral who took his place. Nobody should be surprised. A natural disaster just isn’t like dealing with politics here inside the beltway. It’s a lot more like fighting a war, really. Even if it’s nature, you’re still under attack by an enemy that wants to kill your citizens and destroy your way of life. It only makes sense that the military is best equipped to deal with it.

In law enforcement I learned about Posse Comitatus, and I don’t know if the average troop should be enforcing the law, but he can sure help in civilian disasters. Besides, does anybody today really understand the whole Posse Comitatus thing? Do people remember that the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was pushed through by Southerners to keep the military from protecting my Black ancestors from the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War? As far as I’m concerned, it was written to stop the military from defending one part of the country - the African American part.

Now, Bush has already admitted that he should have sent troops into New Orleans sooner, after Katrina hit. And any idiot can see how much better things went with Rita, with troops there at the outset. And we’re already talking about using the military to help against this bird-flu threat. I think that’s a lot of boogey-man stuff, but good on the President for saying he knows who the right team is to protect us, even from an epidemic.

Yeah, we’d all like to see the whole government work as well as the military does. Like that’ll happen. Face it, we aren’t all born understanding sacrifice to get the job done. Most people have to be trained to think that way. Most parents don’t give their kids that, and that’s why we need an Army, a Navy, a Marine Corps, a Coast Guard and even the Air Force I guess. Civilian government will never get there, because being a politician is the exact opposite of sacrifice and a dedication to getting a job done. So we ought to use the military whenever we need something important done.

And we really need to learn to appreciate them more. A lot more.