sendinghome
02-19-03, 05:34 PM
An Open Letter from a Marine Dad
Dear Mr. President
Most Americans know that you also have the title of the Commander-in-Chief. Most of them don’t really understand what that means.
You command the greatest assemblage of weaponry ever assembled. Just one aircraft carrier has more destructive power than all of the weapons every built or used in all of history up to and including the Gulf War. And we have several of those, not including all the other planes, ship, subs, tanks and other weapons.
You have total and sole final decision on when, how and where those weapons will be used.
But more importantly, it means that you are the commander of over a million men and women who wear the uniform of the military of the United States.
You have total and sole final decision on when, how and where those men and women will be placed in harms way.
I know you and your staff take this job seriously. You have focused on the needs of these warriors and have made more resources available to them after years of neglect and deterioration. You have clearly defined the mission that they are preparing to execute. It would seem that you have given the military leadership the appropriate level of freedom to carry out their tasks to date in an appropriate way.
If developments require you to choose to take further action as their commander, you will do with absolute confidence of their full and unstinting obedience. They are prepared and they will march, sail and fly uncomplainingly into whatever danger there is in direct obedience to your orders. It is an equal surety that more of our finest will die.
That is why I am writing. My son is one of those preparing to obey. He is a Lieutenant of Marines, commanding a platoon of young men that, at the absolute other end of the chain of command, he may well have to order into the guns of the enemy. This weighs heavily on him and, before he left for Kuwait, we spoke often of his not wanting to fail his men or his command, of having someone die because of his mistake or failure. It has driven him in his training from academy days to date and drives him daily in his unit’s preparations to deploy.
I am prouder of him than can ever be expressed, but I know that there are thousands like him of all ranks, each training and preparing. Whether they are on the “tip of the sword” or will remain in the States, they have a sense of destiny right now, a sense of dependence on their leaders to make the right decision, a readiness to respond if called upon.
These are our finest, Mr. President. They are not supermen or super patriots. Anyone who understands the world knows the terrible fact that there are times when their lives are forfeit to the greater good. But we loose something very special when we loose any one of them and I can barely contemplate that being my son, for we would never recover from such.
So I ask, even though I know you take it very seriously, to think and pray carefully and with all the wisdom God can give you before you use this precious resource. And I ask you to even now give them every resource and every chance. Send them more money for training, give them the very best tools, and lose not one more than is necessary. Let no form of betrayal of their trust in you be allowed at any level of command.
I have not personally seen the Private Ryan version of the horror of war. As a marine officer, however, I sat in the officer’s club at Pearl Harbor as the surrender of Saigon was announced. I watched the faces on nearly a dozen officers who had led and bled in that conflict. Between them were many medals for bravery, including one for our nation’s highest. Several still carried shrapnel in their bodies. Also between them were hundreds of deaths of those they had commanded and served with. They had seen that physical horror of war. They are spending their lives living another – feeling that they were responsible for deaths that were needless. They had participated in deaths that did not serve our country. They were betrayed.
So I plead that if the sacrifices are deemed to be necessary, that you will ensure that foremost factor in your decision will be that these deaths are not to occur because of simply inept politics, failed leadership or ego-driven posturing. And I plead further that every effort be made and redoubled that not one death occurs because of inadequate, ineffective or insufficient training or equipment.
Our prayers are truly with you.
Most respectfully,
A Marine Dad
Dear Mr. President
Most Americans know that you also have the title of the Commander-in-Chief. Most of them don’t really understand what that means.
You command the greatest assemblage of weaponry ever assembled. Just one aircraft carrier has more destructive power than all of the weapons every built or used in all of history up to and including the Gulf War. And we have several of those, not including all the other planes, ship, subs, tanks and other weapons.
You have total and sole final decision on when, how and where those weapons will be used.
But more importantly, it means that you are the commander of over a million men and women who wear the uniform of the military of the United States.
You have total and sole final decision on when, how and where those men and women will be placed in harms way.
I know you and your staff take this job seriously. You have focused on the needs of these warriors and have made more resources available to them after years of neglect and deterioration. You have clearly defined the mission that they are preparing to execute. It would seem that you have given the military leadership the appropriate level of freedom to carry out their tasks to date in an appropriate way.
If developments require you to choose to take further action as their commander, you will do with absolute confidence of their full and unstinting obedience. They are prepared and they will march, sail and fly uncomplainingly into whatever danger there is in direct obedience to your orders. It is an equal surety that more of our finest will die.
That is why I am writing. My son is one of those preparing to obey. He is a Lieutenant of Marines, commanding a platoon of young men that, at the absolute other end of the chain of command, he may well have to order into the guns of the enemy. This weighs heavily on him and, before he left for Kuwait, we spoke often of his not wanting to fail his men or his command, of having someone die because of his mistake or failure. It has driven him in his training from academy days to date and drives him daily in his unit’s preparations to deploy.
I am prouder of him than can ever be expressed, but I know that there are thousands like him of all ranks, each training and preparing. Whether they are on the “tip of the sword” or will remain in the States, they have a sense of destiny right now, a sense of dependence on their leaders to make the right decision, a readiness to respond if called upon.
These are our finest, Mr. President. They are not supermen or super patriots. Anyone who understands the world knows the terrible fact that there are times when their lives are forfeit to the greater good. But we loose something very special when we loose any one of them and I can barely contemplate that being my son, for we would never recover from such.
So I ask, even though I know you take it very seriously, to think and pray carefully and with all the wisdom God can give you before you use this precious resource. And I ask you to even now give them every resource and every chance. Send them more money for training, give them the very best tools, and lose not one more than is necessary. Let no form of betrayal of their trust in you be allowed at any level of command.
I have not personally seen the Private Ryan version of the horror of war. As a marine officer, however, I sat in the officer’s club at Pearl Harbor as the surrender of Saigon was announced. I watched the faces on nearly a dozen officers who had led and bled in that conflict. Between them were many medals for bravery, including one for our nation’s highest. Several still carried shrapnel in their bodies. Also between them were hundreds of deaths of those they had commanded and served with. They had seen that physical horror of war. They are spending their lives living another – feeling that they were responsible for deaths that were needless. They had participated in deaths that did not serve our country. They were betrayed.
So I plead that if the sacrifices are deemed to be necessary, that you will ensure that foremost factor in your decision will be that these deaths are not to occur because of simply inept politics, failed leadership or ego-driven posturing. And I plead further that every effort be made and redoubled that not one death occurs because of inadequate, ineffective or insufficient training or equipment.
Our prayers are truly with you.
Most respectfully,
A Marine Dad