John Kerry's Apology

(Photo copied from the Drudge Report 11/2/06, courtesy of the 1/34th Brigade Combat team currently serving in Iraq. http://www.minnesotanationalguard.org/units/unit_template.php?unit=134bc )

A man meets a gorgeous woman in a bar. They hit if off, and end up leaving together. They get back to her place, and as she shows him around her apartment, he notices that her bedroom is littered with teddy bears.
Hundreds of small bears sit on a shelf near the floor, Medium sized bears are on the next shelf up, and huge bears line the top shelf. The man is kind of surprised that this woman would have so prolific a collection of teddy bears, but he opts not to make mention of it.

After a night of passion, as they are lying together in the afterglow, the man rolls over and asks, smiling, “Well, how was it?” The woman says, “You can have any prize from the bottom shelf.”

(yeah, I know that I am unoriginal, but I will be damned if anyone accuses me of plagiarism!!! Joke courtesy of Maxim online at http://www.maximonline.com/jokes/index.aspx?joke_id=899 )

That, my friends is humor. Unlike our sour puss Senator from Massachusetts. Earlier in the week, Senator Kerry tried his hand at standup by telling the crowd to which he was speaking "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq," http://washingtontimes.com/national/20061101-122223-6901r.htm.

While I can't find another quote his campaign said was what was written, I believe what his speechwriter meant to say was something to the effect of - Make the most of your education, for if you are intellectually lazy, fail to do your homework, don't study, or are just plain stupid, you are bound to get us stuck in a war in Iraq - just ask President Bush.

While I disagree with his point, I can see some humor behind his statement. Mildly amusing as are most political jokes, but ineffective and forgettable....until the good Senator "botched" it. He has spent the next several days backpedalling, first refusing to apologize - standing up to the echoes of the swiftboat campaign, and finally after members of his own party registered their disgust, responded with the following: "As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop. I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended." http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/release.html?id=37

And in typical thought provoking, tongue in cheek response, our Vice President responded - "Vice President Dick Cheney devoted much of his speech at a campaign event in Montana to Kerry, capped with an unbotched joke: ``He was for the joke before he was against it.'' - http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_carlson&sid=a5KJC9v8VErE

So where does this sit with the folks in the desert? A majority of us feel much the same as the 1/34th pictured above. There is an old saying - you don't have to respect the man, but you must respect the rank. We are professionals, and should I meet Senator Kerry while in uniform, I would not hesitate to salute the rank. But much like the "botched" joke he told, we feel his support is "botched". Aside from the poor little rich kid attitude, who is upset because he can't have his way and be president after all, there is something unbecoming of a competitor that fails to lose gracefully. For someone with aspirations in 2008, it is even more unbecoming. Botched joke or not, it brings into focus the entire thought process and failing logic of the anti-war left - war is evil, and we must only use our military as a last resort, and only in limited means. Thank God these people weren't more popular sixty five years ago - of course, back then they were called Communists.

Bottom line is that there are many opposed to the war - even here in the desert (I know this from personal research having spent some time reading the bathroom stall walls). Then again, anyone who has spent time in a HMMWV hoping that an IED won't turn you into a bloody mist is generally against any action that could prolong your stay in the "cradle of civilization". But even still, the point is that we are here. One could go back through the annals of history and find fault with nearly every conflict we have ever engaged in - Gulf of Tonkin...did they really fire upon us?, Pearl Harbor - we court martialed Admiral Kimmel because he did not "anticipate" the surprise attack, How many generals did Lincoln go through in the Civil War?

The reality of course is that nearly three years later, and almost 3000 gone, we can never go back and change things. To continue to harp upon "faulty intelligence" and "irresponsible aggression" is stupid, disingenuous, and wrong headed - and it does absolutely nothing for the men and women on the ground, but make us feel like what we are doing is not worthwhile. And in the middle of a war, that is the worst possible thing you can do. Regardless of why or how we got here, there is a gunner in a Bradley, a driver in a HMMWV, and a Truck Commander in a Styker right now, driving through the streets of a place that doesn't really want them there. They are sharp, attentive and motivated. Working as a team, these kids HAVE to believe in what they are doing - any other choice would be suicide.

How many of you, driving to work in stop and go traffic every day hate your job, hate your boss, and want nothing more than to run away? How difficult is that drive? How tough is it to even get out of bed? Now imagine that on your way to work, you must be 1000% attentive, because there are snipers, roadside bombs and angry mobs that will kill you, torture you, and mutilate your body if you happen to lose focus for one second. Makes that drive a little more interesting, doesn't it?

Now imagine that same scenario, only the drive to work never changes - eight hours on the road, seven days a week, 365 days a year (longer in the case of some brigades that got extended), to include even Christmas Day. Imagine that you are anywhere from a boot 19 year old gunner, to a "hardened experienced" 26 year old staff sergeant in command of the patrol. In your kevlar, you have a picture of your girlfriend, wife, kids, whatever. You spend downtime playing PSP, computer games, or chatting online. You carry your M16 with you 24/7/365, cleaning it daily as a reminder of when you may have to use it. Now imagine how much harder this would be, knowing that a growing minority of people out there think that what you are doing is wrong, misguided, and that you should stop,......but you are supported!

The myth that we can support the troops, but that we can be against the war is faulty logic and wrong. Botched joke or not, I call it botched support. It gets down to ground truth out here in the sandbox when the bullets are flying - you either support, or you do not support. You are for the troops or against them. You believe, or you go home a wreck, angry, or in a body bag.

Personally, I don't think that Senator Kerry's performance even rated a prize from the lowest shelf - try again next time chump!