An e-mail from Afghanistan
Reader J. is a Naval officer serving in Afghanistan. He e-mailed me today:
Michelle,
I’m sitting in Afghanistan watching the news. First, let me say thank you for your efforts throughout the campaign, and thank you in advance for your continuing fight for conservative principles. I have two thoughts I’d like to share with you:
First, I’ve seen commenters on several sites, including yours, discussing the coming drop in reenlistments and retention. Personally, I don’t see it. I first signed the dotted line in 1997, under Clinton. I had lived in Arkansas for his entire run as governor, so I knew what I was getting into, and that didn’t affect my decision. I don’t do this for the Commander in Chief. I do this for my country, and I will continue to do so. Excuse the language, but I’ve worked for assholes before, so having one a little further up the chain won’t make a difference. I’m not quitting over an election, and I don’t know anybody else considering that either.
Second, and more important, this ain’t over. America is not dead. You nailed it with the “gird your loins” post. I know it’ll be tough, and I’m more than a little worried about what I’ll come home to next year. But we’ve survived tough times before. Hell, we made it through four years of Carter, and what’d we get at the end — the greatest president in history. The next four years are going to suck, no doubt about it. But folks like you and me don’t just quit and walk away. We’re going to make it through this, and I firmly believe that (eventually) the country will be better off for it, just like 1980.
Your site has never been more important than it is now. Keep fighting!!
We are blessed to have so many like J. serving our country. Thank you.I don’t do this for the Commander in Chief. I do this for my country, and I will continue to do so.
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The One wont be commander in cheif he will be Diplomat in Cheif.
So cant really give him any credit for that.
Great email. Thanks for sharing.
Solid!
Go Navy! Beat Army!
I’m Andy Hefty (former Marine Sergeant), and I approve this message.
Nothing makes me more proud of this country than the men and women in uniform. Just reading this post, it does the heart good. And he is a true patriot, he serves the country not the president. God bless him.
Booyah!
Be safe over there J, and keep up the good fight. thank you, and thank your fellow soldiers for all of us here, for your service and dedication.
Amen, and thank you for what you’re doing, J and Michelle both.
That really is the attitude to have. Thank you for posting that it, like most of what you write, picked me back up. Last night was the only time I will allow myself to mourn, time to walk tall and fight the good fight.
God BLESS America !
A true American. God Bless. Be careful out there.
So, what are you waiting for? Start running for congress!
He’s right, and that’s why in another post I mentioned we start with expunging the losers in the Senate — I’m near NV, and I’m going after Reid, many others are also possible turnovers to the R side IF and only IF we have the right folks.
Let’s start today.
He gets it. The country and the Office of the Presidency is bigger than the individual that occuppies it.
great letter, and god bless the sender j for his service and his great attitude. i wish i could be as positive as he is in this new era.
Thank you so much Naval officer J. for your and all in our military who choose to defend our country. God protect you all and come home safe. Your mail was what I needed today to cheer me up a tiny bit. I will not submit!
L
I am thrilled to be reminded that our troops share the blogosphere, and that they take heart in our freedom to speak our minds. God bless our armed forces, and God bless America.
The men and women in uniform will be our salvation.
God bless you J. Stay safe.
I hope the war doesn’t quit him.
Godspeed to him.
I agree with the writer. They serve the country, not the President.
What I would like to see though is a way to get all those so-called patriotic, I support the troops but am against the war liberals to join the military and give a hand in defending this country rather than complaining and criticizing.
If the liberal Dems had to defend this country solely depending on their like-minded backers, we’d lose the war before it even started.
These libs don’t deserve the protection they are now afforded.
Well, if our brave men and women of the armed forces feel we can survive this debacle, then I guess we can.
Thanks for your sacrifice, J.
blame america last, great strategy. all you california conservatives know your vote is wasted, next time register in nevada or colorada and vote there. i don’t know what the rules are in washington and oregon, but they could be in play where california will never be. and if ohio has the same rules next time, i will be one of the homeless living on a park bench and voting there.
I’m not implying voting in NV, I’m talking about working for the guy who will be running against Mr. We’ve Lost the War and volunteering my services, time, etc.
At the rate things are going in CA, I may just move to NV. Much less expensive…
Another letter from Afghanistan-Tribal Regions:
I’m greatful for our Armed Forces now more than ever. God Bless them always!
If the new leaders in D.C. think they are going to abandon the military in the field like they have so many times before, they can guess again.
right message, wrong person:
Country First.
Don’t tempt me. Here in Mel Martinez-Land (Open Borders Florida), he received tepid applause at best when he introduced Gipper 2.0 Sarah Palin. If I was to run, I would have my eyes on that seat right there.
Seriously, I have considered it for a long time. Ask CPODug. Pray that I will be guided that way if the Lord wills.
many forget that when in service you defend the Constitution of the United States, not the Crapweasel in Chief( as of today)
Great letter. Clearly a wiser and more eloquent man, by far, than what we presently suffer in Congress. Replaceing Congress with 500+ of our warriors selected at random would be a 1,000% improvement in the quality of leadership.
Our military will not cut and run on us, we should return them the same favor at a minimum.
Obama has definately forgotten that. Lets hope we don’t have to remind him the hard way.
Thank you.
However, Carter was not a Marxist..
An inappropriate interruption to this particular thread, but Drudge reporting that author Michael Crichton has died, a tremendous loss.
sonofdy
Well, if I’m to be honest, it wouldn’t bother me a bit. ……with prejudice , if need be, and I’m not talking racially for the dimwits out there.
That post made me cry, but it also gives me hope. This election has mentally drained me completely. I needed to read that!
God bless our troops, and many thanks.
Thank you for publishing this email, Michelle. I just
had a call from son who lives in VA just outside of DC.
He is so disheartened and forwarding this email to him
just may make a difference.
Thank you again and thank you for the last what seems like a decade of this election cycle.
Priceless!!
God bless you and keep you, sir; and God bless America.
As a doc, my comparatively puny contribution to, and support of that type of attitude and dedication (and yes, I’ve had to deal with a number of a$$ho%&s over the years) is that, as far as I am concerned, I work for the patient – not for the administrator nor the hospital, nor for the boss of the group practice, nor for the doc who happened to consult me.
Again, thank you veterans for service, and God bless all of you, and God bless America.
Navy officer J: Thank you so much for striking just the right chord. Something I think we all needed to hear. Please convey our thanks to all of those serving with you. Stay safe, and know that there are many here who truly appreciate your sacrifice!
Thanks, MM, for posting this.
Oops.
Again, thank you veterans for your service,….
Apologies.
Of course we will…We already survived 8 years of socialist Bush (I should say 5 as he was pretty conservative in first 3 years). We will survive 4 more socialist years.
Thanks for your service J.
To: J. , a Naval officer serving in Afghanistan
You, SIR, are what makes America proud and strong. Thank you!
God Bless and Protect J. and his fellow sailors, Marines, soldiers and airmen.
I’m not quite sure how to respond to that. My very brief military experience was National Guard. What’s the Naval equivalent of “Drive On!”?
Support thr Troops
ENLIST!
Thank you J for writing to MM-
I started worrying for our Best of the Best-thanks to your take-I won’t worry any more!
My Thanks to ALL of the BEST of the BEST!!!!
C-CS
Go ARMY-Beat Navy
God bless you J.
I really needed that shot in the arm today. Thank you for being an inspiration. Please send our dear host more notes through the coming months and years. And I will keep you in my prayers.
Thank you, J. And God Bless.
From my morning reading (I checked but can’t find any attribution):
The Life Heroic
I like the man who faces what he must
With step triumphant and a heart of cheer;
Who fights the daily battle without fear;
Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust
That God is God; that somehow, true and just,
His plans work out for mortals. Not a tear
Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear,
Falls from his grasp. Better with love a crust
Than living in dishonor; envies not,
Nor loses faith in man, but does his best,
Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot,
But with a smile and words of hope give zest
To every toiler. He alone is great
Who by a life heroic conquers fate.
Thanks J. for serving your country.
Thanks Michelle for serving your country.
Add my vote as well. Throw your hat in the ring.
I agree completely with J.
I enlisted into active duty in ‘91 under Bush Sr, served through the Clinton Regime, been activated as a reservist under GWB for the War on Terror, and yesterday, Election Day, reenlisted for 6 more years.
I do this because I love my country, not for who’s in charge.
Thanks. I needed that too and I’ve shared it with friends and relatives.
The Marine Corps was authorized to increase from 175k to 202k total strength. The plan had us reaching that goal in 2011. Right now retention and recruiting have the Marines reaching 202k in 2009. We are already forcing some to take a lateral move of specialties in order to ship over.
Carry ON! (USN/USMC)
Semper Fi! (USMC)
Continue to March (Army)
Happy Hour! (Air Force)
Go Navy! Go Marines!
The scariest thing? If I showed this letter to any of my co-workers, they’d wonder
‘what’s the big deal?’
‘Why does that letter make you cry?’
‘Why do you care what that guy does or says–I don’t?’
So, I’ll keep this pearl of a letter, and not cast it before swine.
J., I take off my hat and place it over my heart, the civilian salute (Barack HUSSEIN Obama doesn’t know it).
Due to having severe asthma when I was young enough to enlist, I never had the opportunity to serve.
This is why we have the greatest military in the world.
GO ARMY!!!
Good on him and I believe this will be the sentiment of most of our armed services…..
I forwarded that to my Navy son. He knows that he’s not alone in his feelings…but it is nice to hear that others feel the same way.
Bravo Zulu
ammo john,
Thank you, be safe, and God be with you.
L
Thanks AC. “Carry on!” exists in the Army, but as I recall it’s more of a routine command. “Drive on!” is used when someone is showing the determination to carry on in the face of difficulty, and I believe that applies here.
From a fellow squid. Godspeed J.
tre
by having said what you did, never worry about that which you couldn’t achieve. You do this Marine proud by supporting those who served and considering us who already have, as your compatriots. We must band to together as the proverbial brothers that we are, Obama and his minions intend to decimate us .
Hey. How can we clone you friend?
We are forever grateful. Semper Fi!
Thanks MNUSMCDavid.
Thank you for your service, J. You said this as well as I ever could. I enlisted in ‘75 and retired in ‘95, serving under the Presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. I would serve now if the Army was accepting applications from members of the Retired Reserve list.
“This We’ll Defend”
“Strike Swiftly”
“Ready and Forward”
ECS
CPT, Armor
US Army (Ret.)
Yes, I picked up where you said co-workers and not friends. Swine indeed.
Jump Back is another Dogism from a bygone era.
To stick up for my former service the Air Force has changed from the happy hour culture over the last couple of decades to a take care of your wingman mentality (thanks to the fighter pilot mafia that have almost run this branch to the breaking point). Go Air Force beat Navy (which they did more than once at the Air Force Academy when I resided in Colorado Springs)!
We also have these young kids doing a hell of a lot more than they signed up for in this branch of the service that once upon a time normally sent our special operators and aircrew members into harms way. Monday morning I watched a young airman receive the Air Force equivalent of the Combat Infantry Badge for surviving a near miss with an IED a few months ago in Iraq. He was able to keep his head under intense fire from the enemy able to bring his wounded vehicle through the “kill zone” and somehow make it the last few miles to Camp Victory. This young man normally drives crew buses along with other utility vehicles at home station. These young people receive a crash course (pardon the pun) along with our Security Forces personnel right before they deploy to the combat zone, and obviously the training they receive works because we have had a great success rate in our convoy troops coming home in one piece. Troops like this are only one example of why I will not have any trouble crawling out of bed tomorrow to go out and fight the battle of the budget.
Reader J. thank you for your service and stay safe over there Sir!
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
Boomer
my son is in the USAF in said Security Force….. with your permission and the others here I’d like to forward this entire thread to him.
Please do this generation of heroes needs to know there are people in this country that understand and appreciate the sacrifices they are making on our behalf.
The Mission of United States Air Force is to Fly, Fight, and Win!
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
I agree. I applaud “J.” And I, too, thank you, Michelle for standing tall and being our conduit to truth and honor.
Boomer, tre, Captain ECS, David, CPODug, and all other Veterans of our glorious Armed Services:
Happy upcoming Veterans’ Day. On Sunday evening, I will be speaking at my church, with the topic “Why we served.” If anyone wants audio, video, etc., click my link to find my e-mail, and I’ll send what I can.
Immediately following, the wife and I are celebrating 24 years of her putting up with me. So the thirteen children get to babysit each other while the most wonderful woman in the world gets some much-needed rest. Thus, I won’t be posting for a few days.
And if anyone is interested, I am doing a post-mortem on the election tonight on FirstCoastNews.com at 7 p.m. Be there. Aloha.
And Semper FI!
Andy Hefty
Former Sergeant
USMC 1982-1990
And yes, tre, for those who tried but couldn’t, I grant a personal honor because of their willingness. Thanks for your support.
First of all, my thanks to Reader J. for his service. Our military is the finest and most selfless force the world has ever seen. And I do mean “ever.”
Never before, and perhaps never again, will such a group keep the global peace so effectively, selflessly, and compassionately.
And his words are reassuring – but they are only the words of one man.
My fear is that this time someone is going to wake up and realize that the country they enlisted to defend has disappeared. The next four years feel very much more to me like the Kennedy/LBJ era than they do the Carter era.
Only more so.
Barney Frank has already stated, openly, that he wants to cut defense by 25%. Who’s going to stop him?
When do you think Obama is going to declare a “second Peace Dividend,” and begin the cuts?
Who’s going to hold blithering idiots like Murtha accountable when he declares verbal-war on our troops. John “Raping and Killing” Kerry? Chuck Schumer? Nancy Pelosi? Harry “Victory at all Costs” Reid?
Jimmy Carter was a graduate of the Naval Academy, and never held the troops in scorn. Clinton had Newt Gingrich counterbalancing him.
Obama?
J., I’d say “keep the faith,” but I’m not sure *in what*.
AC
Just as an aside, I might be a wee bit hung over on the 11th what with the Marine Corps Ball and all in Bloomington, MN Monday……. OOOHRah and Semper Fi. I just love birthday parties!
Beautiful sentiment for us all to remember in the coming days of liberal gloat (best to avoid NBC and the networks entirely!), but I can’t help but worry about our soldiers and their coming orders to invade Darfur and the third war we’ll soon have in Iraq. Obama’s inexperience is about to play out on the world stage.
J… thank you for your service. And thank you for reminding us, as Michelle has, of why we’re here and what should be doing and thinking at this point in time.
Stay safe. We’ll keep a light on for you.
Exactly. God Bless you Navy and thanks for sharing Michelle.
As the hero, Navy Captain John Paul Jones was quoted saying “I have not yet begun to fight”!
“J”
great comment. Thanks for the upbeat comment. And thank you and all your brothers and sisters in uniform and have worn the uniform.
Thank you “J”. God Bless you and the other service members protecting this great country.
Actually, it absolutely does make a difference. The “asshole” at the top of this chain decides what your job will be. You may not quit, and I applaud your decision, but there is no question your job is about to become unnecessarily more difficult because of the “asshole” at the top of the chain, and his fellow “assholes” in congress. And with the 25% cut they are proposing, you may not have a choice in leaving the military.
We also got surging Islamic fundamentalism, 9/11, an enpowered Iran, etc….all of which leads back to Carter. We may come out ok, but it’s not 1976 anymore, and Reagan isn’t coming to save us 4 years later. I hope the cost isn’t too great.
Thank you for your service.
Well hell…if folks in the military are willing to hang in there until the next election, who am I to call it quits?
I guess it’s time to hunker down and power on ahead, hoping that our time in the sun will come.
Thanks Reader J.
I would like to apoligize to you, your fellow servicemen, and 100’s of thousands of veterans including my father, both living and passed away for what over 1/2 of so called Americans did to you yesterday. It is beyond belief. Such disrespect. Thanks for e-mailing Michelle and nearly 1/2 of what’s left of America will continue to keep you all in our prayers. God Bless you for all you do for the America that you love and the Americans that love you.
Thank you soldier, you and your cohorts fighting for America and defending our freedom around the world. Do be safe soldier.
Me, too. I wasn’t feeling this way until I read the officer’s letter. I consider myself chastened. God speed, Sir. Hope you’re back with your family soon.
Thank you, sir, for your letter and your service. However, this doesn’t make me think the country isn’t letting you down, when you and your fellow servicemen and women especially deserve far better. We screwed the Vietnam vets, and it appears we’re going on a reality hiatus with you and your service generation. Half of the voting population just turned their backs on you, IMHO. Godspeed and be safe.
I am an American Airman.
I am a Warrior.
I have answered my Nation’s call.
I am an American Airman.
My mission is to Fly, Fight, and Win.
I am faithful to a Proud Heritage,
a Tradition of Honor,
And a Legacy of Valor.
I am an American Airman.
Guardian of Freedom and Justice.
My Nation’s Sword and Shield,
Its Sentry and Avenger.
I defend my Country with my Life.
I am an American Airman.
Wingman, Leader, Warrior.
I will never leave an Airman behind.
I will never falter,
and I will not fail.
Your nation’s Airmen recite this regularly. I’ll be proud to hand over
‘my’ Air Force to them some day.
Go to youtube and search on Airman’s Creed. Yes, that is a tear in my eye.
Don’t be drama queens. Let’s actually see how he does before we start writing off the next four years, shall we?
Thank you j! You are a blessing to all of us. We appreciate all of you, wonderful men and women in our military.
Btw, Barack Obama does not agree with, and complained about, the Constitution. How can we expect him to uphold it? Will his oath of office remove reference to the Constitution?