hillbillycwo
Well-known member
A friend of mine emailed me this. I found it so profound that when I do finally retire from Naval Service I have asked him to read it at my retirement party. I hope it moves all of you Patriots like it did me. Thanks to those of you who have or do serve, and thanks to those of you who support us with your prayers and Thank Yous at the airports and anytime you see us. Lee
As the current saying goes, Our Country is at war, our citizens are at the
Mall.
You're welcome, America!
Subject: Fw: Thank you to the 0.45%
> I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.
>
> My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me
to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had
opened up my admission letter. She wasn't crying because it had been her dream
for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I'd worked to get
in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry
officer. I was going to get that opportunity.
>
> That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the
following: Nick, you're a smart guy. You don't have to join the military. You
should go to college, instead.
>
> I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that
day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is
actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get
admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied
men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won't.
>
> What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending
West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous
disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of
burdens our military is bearing.
>
> In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years.
>
> In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years.
>
> Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on
Terror.
>
> These are unbelievable statistics.
>
> Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden
and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress
consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military.
Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not
regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has
sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their
hearts.
>
> The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The
volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.
>
> You stand there, deployment after deployment, and fight on. You've lost
relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from
kids you'll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional
athletes don't understand.
>
> Then you come home to a nation that doesn't understand.
>
> They don't understand suffering.
>
> They don't understand sacrifice.
>
> They don't understand that bad people exist.
>
> They look at you like you're a machine – like something is wrong with you. You
are the misguided one – not them. When you get out, you sit in the college
classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq
and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can't understand the macro issues
they gathered from books, with your bias.
>
> You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that.
>
> Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while
they ask you to do more.
>
> But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your
country will never pay back what you've given up. You know that the populace at
large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them.
>
> Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal
for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men
and women of this country have done since 1775 – YOU SERVED. Just that decision
alone makes you part of an elite group.
>
> Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so
few.
As the current saying goes, Our Country is at war, our citizens are at the
Mall.
You're welcome, America!
Subject: Fw: Thank you to the 0.45%
> I remember the day I found out I got into West Point.
>
> My mom actually showed up in the hallway of my high school and waited for me
to get out of class. She was bawling her eyes out and apologizing that she had
opened up my admission letter. She wasn't crying because it had been her dream
for me to go there. She was crying because she knew how hard I'd worked to get
in, how much I wanted to attend, and how much I wanted to be an infantry
officer. I was going to get that opportunity.
>
> That same day two of my teachers took me aside and essentially told me the
following: Nick, you're a smart guy. You don't have to join the military. You
should go to college, instead.
>
> I could easily write a tome defending West Pont and the military as I did that
day, explaining that USMA is an elite institution, that separate from that it is
actually statistically much harder to enlist in the military than it is to get
admitted to college, that serving the nation is a challenge that all able-bodied
men should at least consider for a host of reasons, but I won't.
>
> What I will say is that when a 16 year-old kid is being told that attending
West Point is going to be bad for his future then there is a dangerous
disconnect in America, and entirely too many Americans have no idea what kind of
burdens our military is bearing.
>
> In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years.
>
> In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years.
>
> Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on
Terror.
>
> These are unbelievable statistics.
>
> Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden
and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress
consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military.
Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not
regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has
sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their
hearts.
>
> The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The
volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.
>
> You stand there, deployment after deployment, and fight on. You've lost
relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from
kids you'll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional
athletes don't understand.
>
> Then you come home to a nation that doesn't understand.
>
> They don't understand suffering.
>
> They don't understand sacrifice.
>
> They don't understand that bad people exist.
>
> They look at you like you're a machine – like something is wrong with you. You
are the misguided one – not them. When you get out, you sit in the college
classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq
and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can't understand the macro issues
they gathered from books, with your bias.
>
> You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that.
>
> Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while
they ask you to do more.
>
> But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your
country will never pay back what you've given up. You know that the populace at
large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them.
>
> Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal
for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men
and women of this country have done since 1775 – YOU SERVED. Just that decision
alone makes you part of an elite group.
>
> Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so
few.
