An unhappy Veterans Day 2012

Ex-Director of the CIA, General David Petraeus resigned from the CIA in disgrace on Friday due to the uncovered extramarital affair he was having with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Just last week, Broadwell authored a Newsweek article with must-read bullet-pointed leadership advice from Petraeus.

Petraeus was the emergent hero of the War on Terror, held in a high regard within the military and by the public that historically rivaled the military and public regard for Robert E. Lee and Dwight Eisenhower. (George Washington occupies his own level in the pantheon of American generals.)

Petraeus seemed beyond reproach in his duty and endlessly competent, a pillar whom Americans could trust to lead well at a time when few other leaders of our nation's government seem worthy of our trust. Losing him from the nation's service makes for a tarnished, unhappy Veterans Day.

Still, even with less faith and more anxiety for the future of our nation, today is Veterans Day. It's our day to remember, celebrate, and reflect. Remember Ben Colgan. Our guys are still over there, in harm's way, for us. As they have always been.

Eric

Sullivan Ballou's Civil War letter

** Bumped up from original 29OCT04 posting in honor of Veterans Day 2010. **

US Army Major Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter to his wife Sarah on July 14, 1861, made famous by Ken Burns' poignant presentation in the Civil War documentary series with the backdrop of the haunting Ashokan Farewell. On July 21, MAJ Ballou was mortally wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run (aka Battle of First Manassas). His letter has become definitive of the American citizen-soldier, as well as great romantic literature.

Add 29MAY11: youtube clip from the Ken Burns documentary:



Link to the full letter (there are slightly different versions on other websites)

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps
tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write
lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure -- and
it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God,
be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my
country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the
cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how
strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and
how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and
suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing -- perfectly willing -- to lay
down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that
debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly
all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows -- when,
after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must
offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children -- is it weak or
dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the
breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should
struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two
thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps,
before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with
his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a
wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not
find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated
before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death"
have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty
cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country
comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these
chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping
over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so
long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of
future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together,
and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but
few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me --
perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my
loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love
you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your
name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How
thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with
my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the
misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot.
I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the
storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we
meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen
around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in
the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours -- always,
always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or
the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we
shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a
father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my
blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his
childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your
development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's
blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither
my children.

Sullivan

- Eric

Thoughts of the day

Happy Independence Day! Our nation is 233 years old today.

The New York City fireworks display will be on the Hudson River this year and should be viewable from my home. The show will begin at 9:20 pm.

Hard to believe how fast the time goes . . . 10 years ago today, I watched my most meaningful Independence Day fireworks display surrounded by fellow new cadets during Beast Barracks at West Point.

Gotta check this movie out: The Hurt Locker. I wonder what Luke thinks of it?

NYC Prep is Bravo's newest reality-based soap opera. It's the diegesis of 1999 movie Cruel Intentions come to life with over-indulged, narcissistic, hedonistic, jaded NYC youth. The show caught my attention because one of its leads, Taylor, is a Stuyvesant High School student. The high school-aged stars are obnoxious as portrayed, but I don't find that to be abnormal. Teenagers - even ones who grow up to be admirable and respectable adults - are often obnoxious and normally self-absorbed. They are that way because teenagers are in a metamorphising phase, physiologically and socially. As a 30-something, I would encourage teens not to be any more inhibited in their teen years than reasonably necessary. Be daring - explore, try, and learn. As adults, it's our role to enforce standards and rules when teens challenge them, but we should do so with the understanding that their behavior is part of a critical learning curve for them. The world portrayed in the show, although set in my hometown, is alien to me. When I was at Stuy, we didn't refer to ourselves as "public school" and I at least wasn't aware of New York City prep schools. There was us - Stuy kids - and then there was everyone else. We didn't view any high school in the city as above us; we were elitist and thought of Stuyvesant as a school of valedictorians (e.g., see the movie Frontrunners). I'm willing to make the allowance that Stuy kids who interact more with prep school kids may think in terms of public versus prep school, but I still find the "public school" versus "prep school" references odd coming from Taylor.

My big news. I'm starting law school in the fall. I was accepted to Rutgers Newark, Seton Hall, and New York Law School and waitlisted at CUNY Law. I'll (most likely) begin my studies part-time while continuing to work full-time, but the priority is school and the clock is ticking on how much longer I'll stay in my current job. By the time I start my classes, I will have given two years to this job, a reasonable amount. It's been interesting work, I've been proud to do it, and I think I've done my job well. But it was never meant to be a career. Why law school? I need to specialize and focus on a trade wherein I can develop subject matter expertise, and the law is a suitable profession. I still believe in the importance of creation, with the doing, innovation, and activism, and I understand the law profession is often viewed as antithetical to that - the elevation of rhetoric over real production. But I also believe that creation requires policy and legal coding to make it secure and sustainable over the long term, and falling short of that mark turns creation into wasted effort. Therefore, I hope to become a practical combination of lawyer and activist. To develop my marketability as an SME, I may also try to add another degree along the way. At present, JAG and criminal prosecution interest me the most as career fields, but I'll keep an open mind entering law school as to my eventual specialty. First things first: the 1st year of law school is absolutely critical and I'm not a good student, so I'll need to focus fully on what's in front of me, be smart, and work hard. I'm getting another chance to discipline my mind and make something worthwhile of myself. I'm excited and very nervous.

I recently rewatched Simpsons season 2 episode The Way We Was, the story of how Marge and Homer met. Add it to the formative cultural influences from my youth that shaped my romantic idealism. Homer's reaction to Marge (on youtube) after he watched Marge and Artie Ziff dancing as Prom Queen and King reminds me of my reaction to Traci's rejection:

[Homer sobbing.]
Marge: Homer?
Homer: What?
Marge: Why are you doing this? Why can’t you accept that I’m here with someone else?
Homer: Because I’m sure we were meant to be together. Usually when I have a thought there’s a lotta other thoughts in there—something says yes, something says no—but this time there’s only yes! How can the only thing I’ve ever been sure about in my life be wrong?
Marge: I don’t know . . . but it is!

In fiction, Homer's faith in his future with Marge was vindicated. In real life, my belief in Traci's and my future together wasn't.

The Steel Helmet is a 1951-made Korean war movie. Having served in the ROK and inherited the mission from the GIs who fought the Korean War, I have a soft spot for movies about the Korean War (except MASH, which wasn't really about the Korean War). The movie makes the important point that while the injustices suffered by American minorities - as represented by a WW2-veteran black medic and a nissei 442nd RCT veteran - are real, it's more important to approach American history as a progressive evolution and confront our nation's competitors in the wider world by standing together and sacrificing in common cause as members of the same tribe. The movie also reminds of the sacrifices demanded of WW2 combat veterans, still traumatized by the last war, who were brought back to fight in a possibly more brutal campaign a few short years later.

Eric

Happy Independence Day 2008: "Why I Joined" by Army LT Mark Daily

Ever since I served, I've believed that Independence Day is best celebrated not with fireworks, parades, barbecues, and festive, red, white, and blue bunting. The occasion is better celebrated in the mud, desert, jungle, or claustrophobic streets, intimate with grime, sweat, and blood, and clothed in patriotic colors like khaki, olive drab, woodland camouflage, or now, digital patterns.

Cassandra of Villainous Company meditates upon Independence Day by recalling Army lieutenant Mark Daily, who was killed in action in Iraq in January 2007.

LT Daily explained why he volunteered to go to war on his Myspace page:

Why I Joined: This question has been asked of me so many times in so many different contexts that I thought it would be best if I wrote my reasons for joining the Army on my page for all to see. First, the more accurate question is why I volunteered to go to Iraq. After all, I joined the Army a week after we declared war on Saddam's government with the intention of going to Iraq. Now, after years of training and preparation, I am finally here. Much has changed in the last three years. The criminal Ba'ath regime has been replaced by an insurgency fueled by Iraq's neighbors who hope to partition Iraq for their own ends. This is coupled with the ever present transnational militant Islamist movement which has seized upon Iraq as the greatest way to kill Americans, along with anyone else they happen to be standing near. What was once a paralyzed state of fear is now the staging ground for one of the largest transformations of power and ideology the Middle East has experienced since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to Iran, Syria, and other enlightened local actors, this transformation will be plagued by interregional hatred and genocide. And I am now in the center of this. Is this why I joined? Yes. Much has been said about America's intentions in overthrowing Saddam Hussein and seeking to establish a new state based upon political representation and individual rights. Many have framed the paradigm through which they view the conflict around one-word explanations such as "oil" or "terrorism," favoring the one which best serves their political persuasion. I did the same thing, and anyone who knew me before I joined knows that I am quite aware and at times sympathetic to the arguments against the war in Iraq. If you think the only way a person could bring themselves to volunteer for this war is through sheer desperation or blind obedience then consider me the exception (though there are countless like me). I joined the fight because it occurred to me that many modern day "humanists" who claim to possess a genuine concern for human beings throughout the world are in fact quite content to allow their fellow "global citizens" to suffer under the most hideous state apparatuses and conditions. Their excuses used to be my excuses. When asked why we shouldn't confront the Ba'ath party, the Taliban or the various other tyrannies throughout this world, my answers would allude to vague notions of cultural tolerance (forcing women to wear a veil and stay indoors is such a quaint cultural tradition), the sanctity of national sovereignty (how eager we internationalists are to throw up borders to defend dictatorships!) or even a creeping suspicion of America's intentions. When all else failed, I would retreat to my fragile moral ecosystem that years of living in peace and liberty had provided me. I would write off war because civilian casualties were guaranteed, or temporary alliances with illiberal forces would be made, or tank fuel was toxic for the environment. My fellow "humanists" and I would relish contently in our self righteous declaration of opposition against all military campaigns against dictatorships, congratulating one another for refusing to taint that aforementioned fragile moral ecosystem that many still cradle with all the revolutionary tenacity of the members of Rage Against the Machine and Greenday. Others would point to America's historical support of Saddam Hussein, sighting it as hypocritical that we would now vilify him as a thug and a tyrant. Upon explaining that we did so to ward off the fiercely Islamist Iran, which was correctly identified as the greater threat at the time, eyes are rolled and hypocrisy is declared. Forgetting that America sided with Stalin to defeat Hitler, who was promptly confronted once the Nazis were destroyed, America's initial engagement with Saddam and other regional actors is identified as the ultimate argument against America's moral crusade. And maybe it is. Maybe the reality of politics makes all political action inherently crude and immoral. Or maybe it is these adventures in philosophical masturbation that prevent people from ever taking any kind of effective action against men like Saddam Hussein. One thing is for certain, as disagreeable or as confusing as my decision to enter the fray may be, consider what peace vigils against genocide have accomplished lately. Consider that there are 19 year old soldiers from the Midwest who have never touched a college campus or a protest who have done more to uphold the universal legitimacy of representative government and individual rights by placing themselves between Iraqi voting lines and homicidal religious fanatics. Often times it is less about how clean your actions are and more about how pure your intentions are. So that is why I joined. In the time it took for you to read this explanation, innocent people your age have suffered under the crushing misery of tyranny. Every tool of philosophical advancement and communication that we use to develop our opinions about this war are denied to countless human beings on this planet, many of whom live under the regimes that have, in my opinion, been legitimately targeted for destruction. Some have allowed their resentment of the President to stir silent applause for setbacks in Iraq. Others have ironically decried the war because it has tied up our forces and prevented them from confronting criminal regimes in Sudan, Uganda, and elsewhere. I simply decided that the time for candid discussions of the oppressed was over, and I joined. In digesting this posting, please remember that America's commitment to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his sons existed before the current administration and would exist into our future children's lives had we not acted. Please remember that the problems that plague Iraq today were set in motion centuries ago and were up until now held back by the most cruel of cages. Don't forget that human beings have a responsibility to one another and that Americans will always have a responsibility to the oppressed. Don't overlook the obvious reasons to disagree with the war but don't cheapen the moral aspects either. Assisting a formerly oppressed population in converting their torn society into a plural, democratic one is dangerous and difficult business, especially when being attacked and sabotaged from literally every direction. So if you have anything to say to me at the end of this reading, let it at least include "Good Luck" Mark Daily

Vaya con Dios, sir. And, thank you.

Eric

Happy Independence Day 2008

Photo taken during Chaplain's Prayer for Troops and Veterans, March 9, 2006 at St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University. Holding the flag are a US Army Captain, a US Army ROTC cadet (now Lieutenant), a USMC officer candidate (now Lieutenant), a USMCR Corporal, a former USMCR Marine, and a former US Army soldier (me!), all Columbia students. The NCOIC of the ceremony is a former US Army soldier. The Captain, both former soldiers, and former Marine served in Korea.

Update: With inspiration from the Nathans hot dog eating contest, which Joey Chestnut won again over Takeru Kobayashi, I celebrated the day with hot dogs and Yoo Hoo (Yoo Hoo is an Army nostalgia thing for me) . . . you know what, my stomach just isn't as tolerant as it used to be.

Eric

Happy Veterans Day 2007

Happy Veterans Day to all current and former American servicemen and women around the world. Read the history of Veterans Day here.

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day--Some Thoughts

by Father Dennis Edward O'Brien

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

11/11/98

Eric

Happy birthday, USA.

The Code of Conduct of the US Armed Forces:

I am an American fighting in the forces that guard my country and our way of life, I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.

If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

Should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies.

I will never forget that I am an American fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Bonus treat - "I'm American" by Stuck Mojo:



Bonus treat - "E Pluribus Unum" via the Small Wars Journal blog:



Eric