Get Back In Line

I was reading an article on BlackFive today regarding comments that CJCS Gen Pace made regarding Rep. Murtha’s assessment of the suitability of military service today:

“In an ABC News interview aired on Monday, Murtha was asked whether he would join the military today. “No,” replied Murtha, who in November called for a pullout of U.S. Forces from Iraq. “And I think you’re saying the average guy out there who’s considering recruitment is justified in saying ‘I don’t want to serve,’” The interviewer said. “Exactly right,” Murtha replied.

He goes on further to once again blather about how this war is unwinnable, and how we’re not making progress. After the daily briefing I attended the other day, I searched through news articles regarding the suicide bombing in Ramadi the other day to find one detail that I wasn’t sure if it was classified or not. It took me an hour of searching throughout the day and about 20 news articles (funny how again, the MSM fails to mention critical details) to finally find what I was looking for on DefenseLink.

These freaks of nature detonated a bomb at a line outside a police recruitment station, instantly killing 30 people (mostly recruits) and injuring scores of others. So what happened afterwards? And not the next day, not the next month, but immediately afterwards? The remaining potential Iraqi cops picked up the body parts, cleaned the debris, and got back in line.

I got chills down my spine when I heard that. These guys are unarmed, and standing in line to hopefully support the war raging in their country. We are winning this war. Support for the bad guys is rapidly collapsing. How can we possibly tell our own recruits that it is a bad idea to join the military now, when you see things like what happened in Ramadi?

Even with the comments he made earlier I still held a lot of respect for Rep. Murtha due to his respectable military service. But it appears to me now that he has let politics and the wave he has created recently twist his views of “support” to the U.S. Military. I wish I could have a moment to talk to the man so I could tell him this story. At the end of it I would suggest he do the same thing the Iraqi heroes did—the same thing I would do if my military commitment ended today.

Get back in line.