Questions and Answers.......................

After commenting on one of >Peaceonthat posts, a fellow blogger that I disagree with on quite a few issues, but respect immensely, I was asked the following questions by Mikecch:

mikecch said...
BoldAre you of military age? Have you ever served in any branch of the military? If not, sign up. The Bush administration has extended the enlistment age to 42. Or are you like the people you are defending--not willing to serve but is more than willing to have other people fight and die for you. James, great blog. Keep it up.
1:57 PM


To Mikecch,
I am 43. Yes, I served in the Army- “82-86”. Combat Medic. If you ever visit San Antonio, Texas, slide by Fort Sam Houston. Fort Sam Houston is one of the few military installations where you will see buildings named after lower ranking enlisted personnel, this is an honor that is usually reserved for generals and such. These buildings are memorials to brave Combat Medics that died saving their fellow soldiers during battle. Fort Sam Houston is the place where they received their training. During training you are constantly reminded of their ultimate sacrifice- Some of these men would receive the Medal of Honor, posthumously. It’s a humbling experience, to walk the corridors of the Academy of Health and Sciences, hearing and seeing the stories of bravery everywhere. We had alot to live up to. Being known as and called "Doc" by the soldiers I supported was a honor I take pride in to this day.


My Father was career military, he achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major, He was Airborne his whole career and did two tours in Vietnam. My Father had five sons, five sons that due to his military service and deeds had access to the military academies. I was the only son that ended up in the military, inadvertently. My brothers and I grew up seeing the sacrifices soldiers make and didn’t want any part of it. I ran out of college funds and thought the military would be a great way to get the rest of the money I needed, plus I figured my love of travel could be satisfied in the process. By not pursuing a military career from the start, which would have meant going to one of the academies, I enlisted and started at ground zero-PVT-1- and as anyone out there that has served in the military knows, being an officer has a lot more privileges than being enlisted. The prospect of basic training intrigued me, and I looked forward to it- man was I dumb. A funny thing happened while I was hustling Uncle Sam for college money, ahem…serving my country. I started to appreciate the dedication with which career soldiers serve our country. I came to hold the men and women that served before me, with me, and to this day, those after me, in great respect. It is by and large a thankless job that is truly appreciated only by those who have done it, those that know the work. You damned sure don’t do it for the money- hell I got shot at for 895.00 dollars a month, and since it was not a, “declared conflict”, yet there were rules of engagement, no combat pay was included, but I’d do it again if I had to do it over.

The military inspired in me a level of self –discipline I never dreamt of, a sense of what I was truly capable of. All the petty bullshit and whining that most 20ish young men go through was bypassed. I would come to learn just how cheap life was viewed in some places of this world. My military career lasted 4 years. It was the deal (contract) I made with the Army, and we parted ways. At the end of my enlistment I had a college fund to tap into and the Army had me on inactive reserves for another 2 years. It was a win-win situation for all concerned.

I still have friends that serve in the military. They, most are in their 40’s and are nearing retirement age, have participated in the Iraq war from the beginning- Oh, they also participated in Desert Storm, that U.N. cluster-fuck in Bosnia, and various and assorted missions that aren’t generally kept up with by the public. When I talk about this war on terror and the need to fight it, I am mindful of my friends, very mindful. I fear for their safety but they, like when I was a soldier, volunteered for the job and its consequences. I often hear Liberals accuse President Bush of taking our soldiers lives for granted, of not giving them what they need, of not having a clear plan for them to follow. I ask this, if all that is true, why do soldiers like him so much? I’ll tell you why, the same reason we liked Ronald Regan, the respect he has for the military is genuine and soldiers can pick up on it real well. Soldiers couldn’t stand Bill Clinton, nor his desire to screw the military, yeah, soldiers understood exactly what he stood for. The only good decision Clinton made concerning the military was to basically give a name to the policy that was already in effect in the military concerning gays- don’t ask, don’t tell. Concerning gays in the military, I’ve never understood what being a good soldier had to do with whether one was heterosexual or homosexual.

So, when I talk about war, troops, and all things military, keep in mind, I served and took the risks. Unfortunaty I have experienced the duty of processing Dead American Soldier’s bodies- let’s talk about dead American Soldiers for a minute. Dead American Soldiers to Liberals represent an issue to be used to undermine the war effort. I’m going to give you some insight on dead American Soldiers- soldiering is primarily a young man’s game, by that I mean the boots on the ground. As you age in your military career you move up the ladder into command positions that supposedly are less risky-but you can still find quite a few 30-40 year olds out on patrol, but its mostly youngsters doing the job. With that being the facts, most of the causalities are young men and women under the age of 27, fit, in the prime of their youth. It’s a strange, unreal sight to see such youth no longer alive, especially when you saw them the day before clowning around and joking. The best comparison outside of warfare would be the senseless slaughter of young black males that revolves around the drug trade- such a waste. Think twice about saying or doing anything that makes our soldier’s job harder or more dangerous. It’s the least one can do as an American.

Later’