A sentimentality

I saw a guy in green camo fatigues at the grocery store, an obvious serviceman. I didn't know him, but I interrupted his conversation to tell him thanks. I really love those guys, and wish I'd been good enough to get in when I was their age. I got choked up and still do just thinking about it. I'd salute every one of 'em.

I will always be grateful to President Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld for showing us that our military has kept its honor and learned the lessons of Vietnam far better than people like Kerry, Murtha, etc. have. Our men and women in the military are no different from the rest of us. Most good, honest and hardworking. All volunteers. A few jerks like Charles Graner, but the vast majority well-trained, well-armed, good at what they do and a credit to their country. We need our warriors, now as ever, and the tradition of service to our nation.

When I was a kid, I heard stories about men among men from those who had served in WWII. I always assumed I would spend at least two years in the service. That's what people did on the way to manhood. But somehow it never happened for me. After listening to others in law school talk about their experiences in the military, even one guy who was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam describing with a grin a firefight he'd been in. I decided that maybe I could serve with a law degree where I didn't have the physique to be a grunt. Both my brothers served in the military, one as a dentist in the Air Force Reserve and the other as an M.D. doing his residency.

But I got turned down for the Navy JAG. The Marine recruiters took one look at my glasses and let me know Uncle Sam didn't need me that much. I guess that rite of passage wasn't for me, and I've always felt like those who went were the real men.

Anyway, the incident at the grocery store reminded me that my lifetime has been an exceptional period of prosperity relative to the parts of the world that were destroyed by war, and that it can't last forever. My parents lived through the Great Depression and WWII. We boomers were born on third base and think we hit a triple. I suspect that our children will see hard times again. Social Security and Medicare and our flagging education system practically guarantee it.

Nevertheless, if we can prevent more world wars, the global economy will continue to grow, and everyone's boat will continue to rise. Dictators will be overthrown and freedom will spread. All that will be possible because of the English-speaking world's willingness to maintain a strong military and head off the threats that are always arising. But heaven help us if we ever allow people like Ted Kennedy or John Kerry to take control or if we listen to the siren song of the socialists who want to spend more and more on "entitlements" (an illusion is ever there was one) and less and less on everything else, especially defense. They remind me of the fairy tale about the goose that laid golden eggs and the fool who killed it in order to get all the eggs as once. (Sometime I'll have to do an essay about the wisdom in fairy tales and how we forget them at our peril.)

In the meantime America will keep the peace and support freedom as long as we can. For that vision to last, we need men and women like those who are willing to go stand up to the Zarqawis and bin Ladens of the world, not for an American empire, but because we just don't like it when innocent people are brutalized and murdered by bullies and power seekers. No matter what liberals say, Americans are still good people who want to help the helpless and protect the fatherless and the widow and those who just want a chance to make their children's lives better.

I celebrate our warrior class, and thank the Lord for them every time I think of them. I hope more and more young people see service as not just an opportunity for training and college and citizenship, but as a chance to prove themselves and give something back. America, for all its faults, is the hope of the world. Let's not squander our blessings.