Friday, May 20, 2005
A soldier runs for Congress
Major K.'s Counterintelligence Chief, Lt. C., is running for Congress. Lt. C. has his own blog, and would quite obviously make an excellent Member. On the matter of women in combat:
He would have my vote in a trice, and will get my dollars once he is home and campaigning.
His opponent in that battle would be Maxine Waters. I think it is safe to say that a blog-financed campaign against Rep. Waters would raise a lot of money.
Lt. C.:
I suspect that in the next three decades there will be many politicians emerging from the more the many hundreds of thousands of Americans who will have served in Iraq by the time the dust settles over there. I have no idea what their impact will be on American political discourse, but it will be profound.
UPDATE: Austin Bay wrote about the "new greatest generation" last fall.
Keep your eyes open, and you will see America's next generation of leaders grow up on the battlefields of the Middle East. Hire them if you can, and remember their names. They will be running the country in thirty years.
The House of Representatives (The very house which I hope to one day be a member of) is attempting to (once again) pass a resolution barring women from front line combat. News flash honorable ladies and gentleman elected to high office to serve and execute the public trust. There is no such thing as a front-line. Not now, nor ever again. Minding your own business here can see you killed by a snipers bullet. Standing in line to get a drink in the DFAC (cafeteria) can get you blown up. Driving in an armored HMMWV can get you killed. PFC Sam Huff, was 18. She was barely a woman, and barely old enough to vote. She died in combat. To say that women should not serve in combat is degrading, if a woman chooses to serve in the armed forces then the risk that is inherent to service should be shared and shouldered by all.
He would have my vote in a trice, and will get my dollars once he is home and campaigning.
His opponent in that battle would be Maxine Waters. I think it is safe to say that a blog-financed campaign against Rep. Waters would raise a lot of money.
Lt. C.:
I suspect that in the next three decades there will be many politicians emerging from the more the many hundreds of thousands of Americans who will have served in Iraq by the time the dust settles over there. I have no idea what their impact will be on American political discourse, but it will be profound.
UPDATE: Austin Bay wrote about the "new greatest generation" last fall.
A new greatest generation is emerging -- in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in the other, less-publicized battlegrounds of the War on Terror.
Focused on the U.S. political cycle, America's press elites are missing the extraordinary story of the 19-through-35 year olds who are winning this war. The detailed history of this new cohort of American and Free World leaders -- the people who will shape the 21st century -- is being written by themselves, chiefly on the Internet, via email or web logs.
This is a battle-honed bunch with exceptional talent and motivation, young people with a mature balance of idealism and realism, youthful cool and professional competence. I saw this cool and competence on every patrol and convoy I made this past summer in Iraq.
Keep your eyes open, and you will see America's next generation of leaders grow up on the battlefields of the Middle East. Hire them if you can, and remember their names. They will be running the country in thirty years.
1 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Jun 22, 09:14:00 PM:
THE JOURNEY HOME - PFC. SAM HUFF
(Arlington National Cemetary)
Lay no garland wreath
At her lifeless feet,
Nor sprig or bough
Upon her silent brow.
Her laurels are our tears;
We, too, shall pass this way--
Our lives are in arrears
When also we come home to stay.
She was a soldier to the end,
And to those she knew, a friend,
And to our last and final day
We'll remember when she came home
to stay.
--Michael John Beisch
