For Real This Time.........

I depart for Ft. Benning Saturday afternoon, and a week after that I'll be heading to Iraq. The last week has involved briefings and of course more paperwork. I've seen some interesting things, but haven't really learned much more about what I'll specifically be doing when I get to Iraq. I did find out I'll be traveling much more than I thought. I completed some paperwork today so I could travel in and out of other countries in the region including Afghanistan. Of course I'll write as much as I can about any adventures involving regional travel.

I want to take a little space to cover a topic that's come up a few times in the last couple weeks. I have no intention of turning this into a blog about political ideologies so let me say, as a military officer, I remain neutral in my public political affiliations - I will follow the orders of civilian leadership regardless of the party or person in charge. With that said - what I have to say is my personal belief and is not political in any regard. Several times over the last few weeks, as people discover I'm preparing to deploy to Iraq, I generally receive generic supportive comments, and then invariably something which I find curious takes place. Some people look at me with pity and make a comment about how I must hate that I'm being forced to deploy to Iraq - how I must hope that the troops are all brought home soon so I can get out of there quickly.

I volunteered for this deployment - in fact, everyone in my group is a volunteer. These are well educated, experienced Officers and Senior Enlisted people, most with families. I make this point because I want people to understand these are not people who are blind to the risk and hardship they are about to embark upon. I can't speak for my fellow team members as to their personal reason for volunteering, but I can tell you mine. Nothing is black and white so I don't pretend I can capture my personal reasons in their entirety and complexity in a few paragraphs so here are the broad reasons.

There are professional decisions that played the smallest part of my reasoning. I have two deployments already so I don't really need another one to make my records better for promotion, but let's face it - another one won't hurt. My true reasoning is this. I believe America is in a fight for it's existence. There is an enemy that has nothing less than complete annihilation of our way of life as it's end goal. These people want to kill you - your parents - your kids - your neighbors - your priest - the local kindergarten teacher - everyone. I know there's a large part of our population that simply can't imagine that to be true. In fact - a large part of our population feels there is some sort of internal conspiracy to perpetuate this idea on the basis of some hidden gain for industry or rich people. That is simply ignorance and fear. Ignorance of the world events of the last 20 or so years, and how they relate to the growth of radical Islam and hatred of not just our nation, but democracy and freedom anywhere in the world. Fear, because it's scary to think a group of people want us and our way of life extinguished. It's hard for people to wrap their minds around that - and let's be honest with ourselves - most Americans don't want to think about anything that detracts from their favorite TV shows or the latest scandal surrounding some lame celebrity. We simply want to live our lives and avoid contemplating the ugly, dangerous, evil lurking just beyond sight. To avoid having to face that evil, people will convince themselves it can't exist and will argue with anyone who says it does. To do any less means having to acknowledge it exists, and that's scary - plus it might mess with the fall TV lineup - or God forbid - it could actually mean the slightest sacrifice for the average American. People are simply not willing to accept any of that and will fight to ensure their security blanket of ignorance remains pulled over their eyes.

This is the reason I volunteered to go to Iraq. I believe America is in a fight for it's very existence and I want to do my part. A million debates could be held on whether or not we should have invaded Iraq - I don't know the answer to that and neither does anyone else. Besides - we don't get a do over on that one. Was the enemy there before we invaded? It doesn't matter, they are there now. Did we draw them there by our presence? Probably - but that should make every person in our country very happy because there is one thing I do know with 100% certainty - I know where they were before they went to fight us in Iraq. They were in New York and Washington D.C. I would rather fight them over there than here. This is why I'm going - this is why I want to go - and this is why I wish more people would pay attention to what's happening in the world and less attention to which celebrity is in trouble. Think about it........

Andy