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Old Patriot's Pen

Personal pontifications of an old geezer born 200 years too late.

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Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

I've been everywhere That was the title of a hit country-and-western song from the late 1950's, originally sung by Hank Snow, and made famous by Johnny Cash. I resemble that! My 26-year career in the Air Force took me to more than sixty nations on five continents - sometimes only for a few minutes, other times for as long as four years at a time. In all that travel, I also managed to find the perfect partner, help rear three children, earn more than 200 hours of college credit, write more than 3000 reports, papers, documents, pamphlets, and even a handful of novels, take about 10,000 photographs, and met a huge crowd of interesting people. I use this weblog and my personal website here to document my life, and discuss my views on subjects I find interesting.

Friday, January 25, 2013

"Why Does It Matter?"

I've read a lot about Hillary Clinton's testimony to Congress about Benghazi, and her statement of "What difference does it make?"  I'd like to answer that as someone from the trenches, someone who spent the majority of his life in the Military as a mid-rank NCO.

First of all, Mrs. Clinton, we in the military have a policy that is implemented from the bottom to the top:  we do not leave our wounded -- or even our dead -- behind.  Yet not only did the Obama Administration leave people behind, they did so when they had plenty of available forces to rescue them.  That sends a message to everyone that wears a uniform, or who has ever worn a uniform:  this administration doesn't care about you.  Not only did they leave Americans behind, not only did they withhold support that was readily available, but they actually relieved commanders of their position that pushed hard to actually do what they were trained to do, and what had been instilled into them from the moment they entered the military. 

Can any reader imagine what this does to morale among the lower ranks?  Among the officers that have sworn to uphold the Constitution, and to do all they can to rescue any wounded or dead comrades?  Any officer who believes the Constitution is above the petty behavior of elected or appointed official?  It's deadly.  If it were MEANT to destroy faith among the military in their leaders, it couldn't be more deadly. 

The decline in morale among the military is only slightly greater than that among parents and loved ones of those, not only in the military, but anyone who is serving in what could at any moment become a hostile environment.  There is no faith that any member of this administration would go out of its way to rescue hostages, anywhere.  If you work for an embassy, if you're part of the military assigned to an embassy, or if you're part of a military unit assigned to a hostile war zone, you're on your own if you're captured.  If you're just an employee of a multi-national company and happen to work in what could be a hostile place (I.E., Algeria), you can't expect this administration to care.  This administration won't put itself out on your behalf, or even on your nation's behalf, if it might cost them even one vote in the next election, or one bit of bad press.

We've come a long way in the last 100 years, from an armed force that was hardly capable of wiping the nose of a tinhorn guerilla (Pancho Villa) to the finest and best military in the world today.  Yet it only takes one incident like Benghazi to destroy it all  THAT'S what difference it makes, Madame Secretary of State.  Both you and your boss are idiots for not understanding that.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Alaska Paul said...

The question is whether the Benghazi incident is due to incompetence, or evil designs or both. I think that it is more due to incompetence and driven by idiotic ideology. The O admin has done nothing to project real leadership, but rather has projected weakness all over the world in foreign policy actions. There are times to be nice, and there are times to be forceful and strong.

Our adversaries and enemies all over the world smell dithering and weakness in this administration, and they are probing us: North Korea, China, Iran, and many other states and entities. As a result we are going to take some serious hits, which may wake up the American people when they are personally hurt.

This situation cannot stay static. We are in for a rough ride until the incompetents and traitors are removed from office.

9:36 PM  

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