Big Ugly Rant

(OK...I didnt know whether this was any good or not when I posted it...but most people liked it so I'll leave it up.
It just kinda came out in one big piece so it's not perfect but thanks for feeding my ego lol.)

Ive been thinking about what to post and my mind is sort of burnt...so if I ramble or anything..welll...deal with it lol.

It's only been a few days...(2?) since we picked up and I am back into the grind...All the same headaches. All the same hilarious things dumb privates do lol. All the sniveling little pukes crying about wanting their mama and missing their wives and girlfriends and a million other reasons why they can't do it lol. They will be fine though...they always are. Most of them don't want to leave when it's over lol.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

When were men so emasculated as in America today? If you have a philosophical objection to the grounds for a war...that is fine and dandy...but you must ask yourself "which war would I fight in"? Does my objection to violence spring from idealistic thought...or a deep seated anxiety that I may someday be called to action for a policy that did not spring from my own thoughts? What would be enough to stir you from your comfortable circumstances and drive you to venture into a dangerous land ...far from the safety of your padded leather chair and computer desk? Is it only the duty of those who agree to answer the call to arms? Some of the soldiers I work with have their own reservations about the war in Iraq. And I respect their opinion because they have the same sense of duty that I do. And if called upon they will fight and bleed by my side without ever crying and whining about how "it's not fair...it's not perfect".

I am so tired of Monday morning quarterbacks and people who criticize from afar. If you disagree with a policy that you have not helped to implement, keep your disagreement far from my ears. You are free to speak your mind but stay out of my face with it...because I cannot abide the sniping and mewling of a man who has yet to carry a rifle. The sorriest recruit in my new platoon has done more to serve their country than 90% of Americans ever will, just by raising their hand and volunteering.

How many of the people crying about how sensitive we should be, how we should try to "understand" the justifications of murderers and terrorists, have ever been outside the borders of this country and seen how badly some people hate us for what we are...what we have...what we represent? If we gave them everything they asked for it would not be enough. This is not a war about how we hurt someone's feelings. It's not a war about trade policies or economics. It's not a war about any sort of politics at all. It's a war about Liberty, Freedom and those who are threatened by any amount of either. Make no mistake about it...they don't care about your politics. They want you dead. You are a threat to their way of life simply by being a citizen of a free and great Republic.

You inspire the downtrodden and frighten the despot all over the world simply by living your own life. You are free to buy playstations, watch what you want on TV, buy gas, glut yourself on cheap and plentiful food, drink alcohol, protest, voice your dissent in any way imaginable, go to school, be a free woman, live whatever freakish alternative lifestyle you can dream up, worship God, worship Allah, worship Buddha, worship a footstool...a microwave...a rooster, worship nothing, worship everything, wear a Tshirt that says "screw the government", shake your fist in the nose of authority, serve your country, or dont serve your country, be a good person, be a horrible person, be an asshole, be a volunteer, be an astronaut, work at mcdonalds, write a book, write graffiti, write the president a letter...whatever you want to do within the limits of our basic legal system. And if you break the law...you will not be stoned to death. You will not have a hand cut off. You will not be raped by the whole village and cast out to wander alone. You are safe. You will be taken care of.

There are very few truly poor people in America. That is right...I said it. If you have a place to live and food to eat you are far from poor. The idea of any adult being truly poor in our society is ridiculous. Almost anyone can make enough money for a place to live and Rice, Potatoes and Beans. Barring disability or mental illness, there are few legitimate reasons for anyone to go hungry or homeless. How many of the people who are poor would not be in that situation if they would stop using drugs and abusing alcohol? How many households on welfare have a Playstation sitting in the living room? How many households on foodstamps somehow find the money to go buy a sack of dope once (or more) a week? And don't give me that shit about how they are addicted and it's all society's fault...I'm talking about marijuana...a recreational drug without physical addiction. People make poor choices in life...and we will still take care of them because we value human life in this country.

I have seen poverty. I have seen death, disease and horror. I have seen violence for the sake of violence. I've seen people chopped into pieces with machetes and burned in a pile for no more than a rumor of witchcraft. I've seen people's brains on the ground because hungry people stole food. I've seen people bathe in potholes. I've seen miles of shacks crammed to the gills with the hopeless and hungry. But I've never seen an American who couldn't find a helping hand somewhere. Walk into any house of worship or shelter in this country and someone will find you a meal and a blanket. We have roughly 6% unemployment in this country...but how many of those people couldn't get a job picking fruit or doing some sort of manual labor? Hell...most of them could join the Army if they were willing. They want a job but they don't want to work hard for low pay...so they get paid for no work.

We quibble and bicker over ideology and politics while people are killed, raped, tortured, beat, burnt, mutilated and silenced by their GOVERNMENT. We are so smug in our belief that we are the center of the world. We mislead ourselves into believing that other countries are rough copies of this one...that they must hold the same things dear. It doesn't make it true. They don't. We have an opportunity to make the world a better place and we tear ourselves apart because we all have better ideas about how to accomplish it. Shove your head deep in the sand and pretend that the rest of the world thinks like you do. It doesnt make it true. They don't.

People compare President Bush to Hitler because IN HINDSIGHT they think we weren't justified in removing one of the most brutal dictators on the planet. Nearly every Democrat saw the same intelligence and came to the same conclusions about WMDs. France, Germany, Russia, China and nearly every nation in the UN came to the same conclusion about WMDs...they just didnt agree to act on it in the same way. So how can people claim with a straight face that the President lied? The fact that we havent found lots of WMDs doesnt mean they weren't there. But assume they weren't ...SO WHAT? They were never the only reason stated by the Administration. Go back and do some research instead of regurgitating the crap fed you by the people trying to gain power now. Get the transcript for the State of the Union Address before the war. There were dozens of good reasons to prosecute this war...but those who seek power have seized on the one that hasn't materialized as the reason to scrap the entire effort.

We use semantics and wordplay to pick and snipe at a President who decided to ACT instead of talk. And it's a coincidence that Libya scrapped their WMD programs and came clean? Hell no. War without statecraft is insanity...but statecraft without a threat of force is impotent. There come times when the saber must be rattled...and there comes a time when the saber must be drawn from the sheath, scoured clean and raised for the charge. Without the possibility of action, words become leaves in the wind to be ignored at a tyrants leisure.

If you are a person who has never and would never take up arms to serve your country, then go ahead and run your gums about how screwed up America is. I wouldn't stop you if I could. But never expect me to forget my oaths. I will take care of you. I will ensure that you have the right to curse me at the top of your lungs. But don't tell me you are worried about me. Don't try to tell me you are only concerned about the troops. That's bullshit and you know it. You use the memory of my friends for your idiotic political gain. Fuck you. You know nothing about the troops and could never be persuaded to "waste" your life serving others. You sit in your classroom or office and build your future while the Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine spend years of their life earning the freedom they enjoy in this country.

So if you want to be the next President or just the next college student to score at a peace rally, leave me and my soldiers out of it. We have more important things to do than be your political pawns to wring emotions out of a gullible constituency.