A proud salute

To every service person fighting for this great country, God bless you and may you stay safe.

That line sums up the gist of my blog. No, don't stop reading, cause I'll say a lot more, but I want to express my extreme pride in our armed forces my admiration for what they do. Seemingly day after day, I read about another handful of Marines killed by some car bomb, or some "suicide" bomb, or who knows what else. And each day, they steadfastly continue to do their duty and follow out the orders given to them.

I was originally planning on putting up some of my writing, but I'm putting that off until Saturday. This was just something I wanted to write, had to write amidst another several days of unfortunate death. Recently, I came across a blog, The Replacements, and it's a Lt. in Iraq writing about being on the front line. His descriptions literally pick you up and place you right in the middle of the drama and tension. His leadership and integrity keeps you pinned to the screen, and glad to have him in charge. Seriously, go read it, leave comments of encouragement. Perhaps even more incredible is that his mother leaves comments on the blog quite frequently, and I can't possibly imagine how difficult it is for her to read some of these stories about her son being in danger.

These are the people that make up the strong fabric of this country. (By the way, I might get political. I don't like getting political because it's such a hot button for so many people, and most people don't argue or debate with logic, most do it with emotion which renders their arguments irrational at times. But oh well, I can't help it.) This man, his courage, bravery, dedication, and pride for his men and his country, make up the backbone of this nation, literally. They are the ones who don't flinch, the ones who put their foot down and protect us, who understand that this nation was built upon the fallen masses of our forces who fought for our freedom.

My father is another man I speak and think highly of and admire him for his duty to our country. In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about his service, and I will mention it again. He was in Vietnam for a few years of his life, right smack in the middle of combat and action. He worked with the green beret's, was a tunnel rat and actually survived it. (Tunnel rats were the ones to go into unknown tunnels with a flashlight and handgun to see what's in the tunnels. Several times, there were Viet Cong in the tunnels, waiting to kill you. Not a safe or fun job) I admire him for his service, I thank him for his service and will never forget what he sacrificed for this land.

As far as I'm concerned, they should receive the highest praise and acclaim from us all. Screw the politicians who sit in safety in their offices getting PAID to be off during the summer. These "public servants" who bloat the budget with pork barrel items that take much needed money away from our most important issue: Protecting ourselves, and protecting the ones who fight on our behalf. In essence, that's what they are doing. Every serviceman and woman out there is fighting for me, is fighting for you reading this right now.

Don't you dare disparage them because of your aversion to fighting. Don't you dare look down at them like killers with no emotion. Don't you dare let any Veteran's Day or Memorial Day go by without saying thank you to every single freaking one of them. Don't forget that it is the armed forces that have provided you the freedom the go on the internet and look at whatever you want; the freedom to disagree with policies and decisions; the freedom to make your voice heard; the freedom to practice whatever religion you choose. You want to disagree with Bush and get mad at his decisions? Go ahead. (I like Bush and I would still vote for him over Kerry, even though he's taking 5 WEEKS OFF during this tense time. Dear Lord man, you can't take 5 weeks off right now, that's ludicrous.)

I tried to stay away from politics as best as I could. I don't like democrats for the most part, I don't like the fact that they attribute Bush's win to all the "rednecks" that vote for him. I am not a redneck, I am not dumb, and I'm smarter than 99% of you. I don't like how I'm looked at as stupid for voting for Bush. This mostly happens because I live in Massachusetts, where the liberals and their dresses are everywhere. (So much for not getting political) *sigh* Sometimes I get discouraged with where this country is going, and how incredibley and disgustingly politically incorrect it's becoming. Then I read that man's blog, and I think of my father, and I realize that there are still good people out there.

God bless our troops and their families.