thedrifter
11-16-04, 06:20 AM
Marines Celebrate Their Birthday and President Bush's Reelection
November 15, 2004
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by Rick Erickson
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Last week, U.S. Marines stationed across the globe took time to commemorate the 229th birthday of their Corps. Units celebrated with the usual galas. Individual Marines displayed the combat decorations that they earned recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many formally mourned their fallen comrades and honored them with a toast.
There was an especially somber tone this year. One Birthday Ball guest of honor and thirty-four-year retiree commented that he had not seen so many Purple Hearts since returning home thirty years ago from combat in Vietnam.
Another Ball attendee lifted his glass with the artificial limb that he acquired after sustaining wounds during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He explained that he had no regrets and that he would prove to the Marine Corps that his “robotic arm” actually enhanced his abilities to engage in war. If his unit returned to Iraq without him, it would be more devastating to him than losing an arm.
From Fallujah fighting holes to California resort ballrooms, Marine Corps birthday celebrations were filled with discussions about what lay ahead – the battles and the enemies. An equally hot topic of discussion was the reelection of President Bush. There was an obvious consensus and sense of relief that a Republican president would be working alongside a Republican Congress to oversee and administrator the military’s morale and welfare. The alternative to Bush-Cheney was totally unacceptable.
The alternative was also frightening, even for Marines facing down the terrorists in Iraq and beyond. One group of Birthday Ball attendees reminisced about their time in Iraq and praised the words of Marine Lance Corporal Lawrence Romack, who, weeks prior to the election, told Texas radio host, Craig Anderson, that Marines mounting the assault on Fallujah were “terrified” at the prospect of a Kerry-Edwards administration. As with the concern expressed by Romack, a fellow Texas Marine agreed that John Kerry’s election would have destroyed morale and jeopardized the mission.
Another Marine from Culver City, California commended Lance Corporal Romack’s portrayal of the growing divide between service people and a faction of the American electorate that, as a result of President Bush’s reelection, has reportedly been threatening a mass exodus to Canada and even secession. A New York Times article on November 11, 2004, pointed out that this faction of voters was not joking about secession. Marines attending a California Birthday Ball vocally resented how a few disgruntled voters could even suggest such a thing.
At one Birthday ballroom table, there was a heated discussion about how the disenfranchised few could purposefully twist progress in Iraq into something inglorious. One Marine in the group exclaimed, “Progress is progress! You cannot call it something else.” He went on, “When the bullets started flying there, I thought of my family first. There is really no time to think of anyone else. If there is time, I am certainly not wasting thoughts on people out to weaken the mission, aid our enemies and cheapen the job we are doing. I did not risk life and limb for them. I do it for the soul of our country and not some fringe group that would rather live in Canada.”
Another went on to explain his frustration with campaign news coverage that was obviously misrepresented the war in Iraq for Senator Kerry’s sake. “You cannot begin to imagine our amazement with the media’s distortions of the truth,” he said. “I spend way too much time clearing things up for my parents, who cannot help but be misinformed by newspapers and television at home.”
The “soul of America” comment resonated at Birthday Balls this year. This theme went along with the regret that these service people expressed in having to wring hands over the election's outcome, especially in a time of war. In the estimation of one veteran, never since he joined the Marine Corps seventeen years ago had service people been so distracted by a presidential election. Imagine the relief now that it has been resolved in their favor.
Rick Erickson
Rick Erickson is President of Americans for Military Readiness, a non-profit organization devoted to troop morale and combat preparedness. Send comments to media@readymilitary.com.
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/c-e/erickson/2004/erickson111504.htm
Ellie
November 15, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Rick Erickson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week, U.S. Marines stationed across the globe took time to commemorate the 229th birthday of their Corps. Units celebrated with the usual galas. Individual Marines displayed the combat decorations that they earned recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many formally mourned their fallen comrades and honored them with a toast.
There was an especially somber tone this year. One Birthday Ball guest of honor and thirty-four-year retiree commented that he had not seen so many Purple Hearts since returning home thirty years ago from combat in Vietnam.
Another Ball attendee lifted his glass with the artificial limb that he acquired after sustaining wounds during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He explained that he had no regrets and that he would prove to the Marine Corps that his “robotic arm” actually enhanced his abilities to engage in war. If his unit returned to Iraq without him, it would be more devastating to him than losing an arm.
From Fallujah fighting holes to California resort ballrooms, Marine Corps birthday celebrations were filled with discussions about what lay ahead – the battles and the enemies. An equally hot topic of discussion was the reelection of President Bush. There was an obvious consensus and sense of relief that a Republican president would be working alongside a Republican Congress to oversee and administrator the military’s morale and welfare. The alternative to Bush-Cheney was totally unacceptable.
The alternative was also frightening, even for Marines facing down the terrorists in Iraq and beyond. One group of Birthday Ball attendees reminisced about their time in Iraq and praised the words of Marine Lance Corporal Lawrence Romack, who, weeks prior to the election, told Texas radio host, Craig Anderson, that Marines mounting the assault on Fallujah were “terrified” at the prospect of a Kerry-Edwards administration. As with the concern expressed by Romack, a fellow Texas Marine agreed that John Kerry’s election would have destroyed morale and jeopardized the mission.
Another Marine from Culver City, California commended Lance Corporal Romack’s portrayal of the growing divide between service people and a faction of the American electorate that, as a result of President Bush’s reelection, has reportedly been threatening a mass exodus to Canada and even secession. A New York Times article on November 11, 2004, pointed out that this faction of voters was not joking about secession. Marines attending a California Birthday Ball vocally resented how a few disgruntled voters could even suggest such a thing.
At one Birthday ballroom table, there was a heated discussion about how the disenfranchised few could purposefully twist progress in Iraq into something inglorious. One Marine in the group exclaimed, “Progress is progress! You cannot call it something else.” He went on, “When the bullets started flying there, I thought of my family first. There is really no time to think of anyone else. If there is time, I am certainly not wasting thoughts on people out to weaken the mission, aid our enemies and cheapen the job we are doing. I did not risk life and limb for them. I do it for the soul of our country and not some fringe group that would rather live in Canada.”
Another went on to explain his frustration with campaign news coverage that was obviously misrepresented the war in Iraq for Senator Kerry’s sake. “You cannot begin to imagine our amazement with the media’s distortions of the truth,” he said. “I spend way too much time clearing things up for my parents, who cannot help but be misinformed by newspapers and television at home.”
The “soul of America” comment resonated at Birthday Balls this year. This theme went along with the regret that these service people expressed in having to wring hands over the election's outcome, especially in a time of war. In the estimation of one veteran, never since he joined the Marine Corps seventeen years ago had service people been so distracted by a presidential election. Imagine the relief now that it has been resolved in their favor.
Rick Erickson
Rick Erickson is President of Americans for Military Readiness, a non-profit organization devoted to troop morale and combat preparedness. Send comments to media@readymilitary.com.
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/c-e/erickson/2004/erickson111504.htm
Ellie