The Ditch

As both a military veteran and curious American, I hailed a cab on a dreary day in Washington D.C., to see the much talked about Vietnam War Memorial, which was still under construction.

Soon the cab driver pulled to the curb, collected the fare, and pointed to an empty open field said "It's over there! Just walk into the field and you'll find it". In the drizzle and chill, I began trekking across the field. I was still puzzled until it came into view. But, that's not a wall, that's a ditch in a field with a wall built into the side of the ditch.

The Vietnam Memorial was being built in remembrance to those who lost their lives in that war. The design of this memorial with the names engraved high overhead is very emotional and tearful. There is a ramp going down in the ditch with only a few names on the wall. With each step into the ditch, more names. Then you are at the bottom of the ditch among roll after roll of names. You are caught in a quagmire of tears and emotion.

As you make your way across the names to the upward ramp, the heaviness begins to lift. When you are finally out, you look back at the anguish you just walked through and realize the wall in not just a symbol of great honor, but also a symbol of the dishonor to the Politicians that dug the ditch and took our nation through that quagmire.

We lost honor as a nation, but gained military leadership as to how not to conduct war in the future.

The question today is, Have we learned our lesson? Some forty years have passed, we are now engaged in another war, a different war. This enemy does not wear a uniform or belong to any country and he wants to kill us. This enemy kills by remote control. He kills himself and his innocent own just to create carnage. He kills just to kill. This enemy comes from the past to keep us from the future.

Much of our warrior force fighting this war are from close to home. The Reserve and National Guard. When someone dies or is wounded, it is not just a soldier or marine from someplace else. It is your National Guard neighbor, Your reservist brother or your son.

The parasitic politicians that rose this nation against this enemy, that voted for this war, are now digging the ditch. They are looking for a way out while they have given themselves a pay raise. A pay raise and digging is more important than supporting, funding and winning. Political advantage is more important to them than victory.

Without victory this war just may last another year, five years, ten or even twenty years. To fight and come home with victory is our only option. Our politicians are copying what did not work forty years ago. They are digging a memorial to defeat.

We as Americans all are soldiers in this war. We are the Aunts, Uncles, Brothers, Fathers and Mothers of the Soldiers, Marines, Guardsmen and Reservist; the warriors fighting this war are us.

Recently, I witnessed a man stand in front of a church congregation to make an announcement. With a tear in his eye and a lump in his throat he proudly announced that his eldest son, who had recently graduated from High School, Just enlisted in the Marine Corp. This announcement was met with an immediate long applause.

The Memorial for this war will come. Let us pray that it is not another ditch in a field. Let us build a Memorial that we can look up to and proudly salute. Let us build a Memorial from Victory and not ditch digging.