Think of all the things you enjoy. That cup of hot, steaming coffee you have in the morning as you get up to start your day.
The people surrouding you as you eat your daily meal.
The satisfaction of having a job so you can provide for your family.
The freedom of worshipping at a church, synagogue, temple of your choice.
The freedom of making decisions, deciding what you want to do in life, what college to attend, deciding to join the military or do something else if you feel the military is't the right thing for you to do. (And the military isn't for everyone. It takes a very brave man or woman to sacrifice their life in order to defend our country from our enemies, both foreign and domestic.)
Knowing you live in a country where you don't have to worry about bullets flying overhead, seeing bodies littering the streets, hearing the explosions, seeing the smoke of bombs bursting 400 yards in front of you, the percussion of the blasts knocking you to the ground, worry about whether the next person you meet is going to blow you up at will because he doesn't like how you look--or what you are.
People, you have these freedoms because of people like us. Those who risked their own lives to defend the things that you cherish so much. Things that a lot of you often take for granted.
See, I am a veteran. I have seen the ugly side of the world: war. People getting shot/killed right in front of me: men, women, even little children or babies, people who didn't ask to be killed or hurt. Yet that's the price of war: innocent people often end up getting hurt or killed.
I have seen too many of my buddies dying or getitng hurt, their lives changed forever by a single bullet or bomb blast. Many of my injured comrades are now blind, deaf, missing limbs, crippled, leaning on crutches or canes as they navigate their twisted bodies along life's road.
Yet a great majority of them don't complain; they felt they had a job to do, so they joined the military, such as I did when I was younger.
I may be crippled now--missing my leg, using a pair of crutches to get by--, but if I had the chance to defend my nation again, hell yeah, I'd go again, in a heartbeat. I love my country too much than to risk her getting attacked again like it did six years ago on September 11, 2001. I don't want to see that happen again; this was one of the main reasons why I joined the military.
The Marines. The few, the proud. The United States Marine Corps.
I went to Afghanistan, to try to find that bastard who did this to our nation; six yars later, they're still looking for the motherfucker. Don't know if they'll ever find the wily weasel, but they sure as hell are going ot keep trying. He's Public Enemy #1. He was the perpetrator behind September 11, the cunthead must die! This is the main reason why we are now at war; he started it; now it is up to us to finish the job, get'er done.
No, I don't like the war any better than the rest of y'all, but I figger if I didn't do something, then we'd just be sittin' ducks, waiting for the next attack--and the next attack might have been much worse. Very much so.
Compared to the evil hearts of those people, they have nothing better to do than to kill Americans--anywhere, anytime, any way. They hate us. They hate what we are and what we stand for. In their sick, twisted minds, we are the infidels; they want nothing more than to harm us. They are evil. They are the scum of the earth. And these fuckers must be stopped--and the sooner, the better!
This is why I get crazy when people down our troops, call them baby killers, charge them for murder when they are only trying to do their job: get rid of the enemy. I mean, weren't we taught in the military to defend ourselves from the enemy?
Why are people raisin' holy hell about OUR men killing innocent men, women, and children when the enemy is using their OWN people--their women, their children, their elderly, even their handicapped??--as human shields in order to do their dirty work? Do they get charged?
No! They don't.
Instead, they dance in the streets, praising Allah, burning our flag. They get away with it. Every fucking time. I'm sick of it! It's time we show these goddamn jerks that we won't stand for any more injustice, particularly against our military: wipe the slate clean, get rid of these dogs! They are the enemy; they must be stopped!! Case closed!! They don't have a heart; they don't care; they would rather see us die than them!
We kill the enemy, we get charged. Too many of our veterans today sitting in jail, waiting to be tried, disbarred from the military, when all they were doing was their goddamn job! Protecting us from the enemy! WHY?? Why is this happening??
Why are we not protecting our borders? Why are we letting all these illegal immigrants in when all they are doing are taking away our jobs, our freedoms, our langauge? They need to be shipped back to wherever they came from and our borders need to be locked tighter than a kettle drum! Take our jobs back from them, teach them ENGLISH--NO exceptions--, or tell them to get the fuck outta' here! We don't need them here!
I'm sorry if I sound so ugly, so bitter, so down; yet I am sick of how crazy our country has become. We've become callous, bitter, apathetic; we no longer care for each other, we have become a divided nation: rich against poor, white against black (or brown), can't celebrate holidays like -----mas without offending someone who doesn't believe in G--, can't discipline our kids without getting the CPS up our ass, run the risk of sitting in jail for trying to teach our kids right from wrong.
It's nuts! We can't even pray out in public or metion G--'s name without someone getting all bent out of shape about it; yet we can read books by Stephen King, watch porno flicks to our hearts content, or call someone a n----- without blinkin' an eye!
This is why I, as a veteran, am saying this to you, especially you young people. You have no clue what it truly means to be an American. You smirk at us when we are parading by--I see you giving us the finger, hear you calling us "fuckin' babykillers", the like--; you don't even have a clue what we went through in order to give all that you enjoy.
If you went through what we had to do, you'd probably wouldn't last a day. You'd probably end up running, crying for your mommies or daddies to protect you from the big, bad bombs. Well, I've got news for you, kid. This is war. This is what war is about; it's not fun and games; war is serious, serious business, and unless you know what you are doing, then shut the fuck up and leave us veterans alone!
Learn about what we have done to preserve your freedoms. Listen to our stories, look at our twisted, maimed bodies, feel our scars, touch our stumps, look at our braces, crutches, and see why we use these things. We did this for you, kid, and if you don't like it, too fucking bad. You then have an awful lot of growing up to do, and if I were you, I'd be getting down on my hands and knees, and thanking God for people like us. We saved your ass from further attacks; if you can't appreciate our valiant efforts, then I feel sorry for you, man!
Happy Veteran's Day, kid. I hope you're happy. You've made another veteran cry.
None are so blind as those who WILL not see. What we see we interpret as best suits our own comfort zones, but you tell it RAW, Karen, and it is powerful and smacks of so much truth and brute courage - physical, mental and in conviction. Spoken from the guts and heart. Bless you for shouting loud and clear. There can be no excuse for ignorance of others great sacrifice and pain. Love, Kate xx
War is serious, ugly and yes people die regardless of age, gender or religion. In the heat of battle there may not be time to decide if someone is really a bystander or combatant. Try as we like to protect the innocent we must win the battle or we will be killed. War is sad but sometimes a necessary evil and if we decide to fight, we must decide to win.
Thanks for the story, enjoyed it.
Ron
The few and the proud, the United States Marines Corp.
One day perhaps the citizen of our Nation will discover that we existed once, some gave all.
Semper Fi
Georg
Learn about what we have done to preserve your freedoms. Listen to our stories, look at our twisted, maimed bodies, feel our scars, touch our stumps, look at our braces, crutches, and SEE...
And a wonderful place to do this today on Veterans Day, or on any day of the year, is at a Veterans Hospital, right near their own homes.
I think every U.S. citizen should be required to visit a Veteran's Hospital - and finally SEE.
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