As I listened on Saturday to an articulate young pure-blooded Korean who is a proud American citizen express his personal thanks and those of his parent’s country for the sacrifices young American men made to save South Koreans from a tyrannical enemy from the north, I was saddened to remember what has happened to our military during those 60 years since the end of active hostilities in the Korean War and what is happening to our military personnel and veterans currently.
I recalled the end of WW II and “turning our weapons into plow shares,” only to be awakened five years later on a Sunday morning in 1950 realizing we were once again engaged in warfare totally unprepared. Cooks, mechanics and clerks were handed a rifle and thrown into battle in Korea hardly trained to survive, much less fight to win a war. The best of our youth paid a price in blood and lives for decisions by politicians to cut-down the military to a “peacetime level.” The unnecessary losses in Korea due to unpreparedness on the part of elected officials was so embarrassing, no one wanted to talk about it. So it became the forgotten war.
Less than a decade after the fighting ended in Korea, our politicians became mired in Vietnam. This was the second war overseen by the United Nations and the first that the military had to fight “with one hand tied behind their back.”The political leaders in Washington were afraid to allow the military to win the war for fear of offending the Communists in Moscow and did not have the political courage to bring the troops home and declare surrender. So they prolonged the bleeding and death until Richard Nixon became president, interdicted the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia and bombed Hanoi. After the Tet Offensive in 1968, the war had been won. But a win by U. S. forces was unacceptable. A gutless Congress cut off all funds for American forces and the Vietnamese Army, allowing the Communists to ride into Saigon virtually unopposed, abandoning an ally we had pledged to protect.
The morale of the Armed Forces was at rock bottom after Nixon left office. It was not until Ronald Reagan arrived on the scene that sanity was restored to the Pentagon and the White House.
The Clintons “loathed” the military and made no bones about it, yet the troops somehow survived the Clinton dynasty.
George W. Bush, Vice president Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld were hated by liberals, but the military trusted them, because many in that administration had served in uniform in some capacity, and they understood the needs of the troops.
From day one, Barack Obama and his misfit Pentagon appointees have systematically followed a dastardly plan to destroy the fighting ability of the United States Armed Forces. They have elevated a yes-man to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is implementing the administration’s programs that are designed to ensure a disaster the next time the United States faces a well-trained and equipped enemy force.
While the President, Vice President and their wives are posing before cameras with military personnel and their families, the administration is implementing plans to cut the forces to the bone and decimate the benefits for veterans and especially retired career military personnel.
The behavior of the President and Secretary of Defense and State during the Benghazi attack is despicable. These people abandoned Americans under siege, including a U. S. Ambassador, and continue to lie about it. No American on foreign or American soil can trust their government to rescue or send them help when in danger nor ensure them justice on the domestic scene. Troops in battle are no longer allowed to seek and obtain help and comfort from their Creator.
The most despicable act to date may be throwing women into combat as members of combat units.
Lt. Col. Bob McGinnis USA (Ret), a knowledgeable author I have met and admire, has written a book titled: Deadly Consequences: How Cowards Are Pushing Women Into Combat. It deals factually with women in combat.
As a young soldier I was taught this old poem that helped me to understand how defenders of truth and freedom are treated:
God and Soldier we adore, in times of trouble, not before.
Trouble gone and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.