An Open Letter to My Heroes

To the best of the best, our US military:

I heard a really infuriating thing the other day. A friend of mine stopped a soldier in uniform to thank him for his service, something that is always necessary and always right, whatever time and effort it takes. The soldier told him that he had just returned from the sandbox that day, and that as a group of soldiers were walking through the airport, there was a little boy watching them. He stopped his dad, and pointed at the soldiers. This scumbag of a wannabe frenchman pulled his little son back and said, while making eye contact with the soldier, "Don't get near them. They're a disgrace." Needless to say, the soldier was grateful for the appreciation shown him by my friend.

When I heard that story I was so mad and so sick to my stomach that anyone, for any reason, would EVER say that about MY guys. MY guys are out there risking life and limb so that we can bask in the freedom to say stupid things in public and ruin our children. I hope that little boy grows up to be a type-A commando with a love for country and a sense of honor that is big enough to die for his dad's right to make such idiotic statements.

My input: There is nothing too big, too hard, too difficult that I would not do it for all of you guys who sign your lives over to our country. Whether you are a soldier, sailor, airman, coastie, marine, policeman, special agent, firefighter, paramedic-- You are what makes us great. You are what makes us viable. You are what makes this country the beauty, the envy that she is. Your service is the only thing that keeps us a notch above, even when we make every effort to destroy ourselves with poor decisions. I love you guys, with all that's in me. You are so greatly loved and appreciated by so many. Some people don't know how to come up to a man (or woman) in uniform to tell them thank you, but that doesn't mean they don't feel the sentiment. They're worried that they might look foolish, they might bother you, they might embarrass you... Whatever. I'll say it for all of them. We love you. We FIERCELY appreciate you, and I, for one, would love the opportunity to do anything in my power to make sure that guy's voice is never again heard by anyone who wears (or ever has worn or ever will wear) the uniform. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your honor. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you to your family and friends who carry and support you. Thank you. I love you.

Blessings.
L~

Ranger Up Ladies Stuff

Fans and friends, and odds and ends...

Today I got an email from Nick at Ranger Up (Yes, that's the site I love with all my heart in my links on this page...) asking me for some input for their ladies' gear line. I'm taking ideas here, via facebook, myspace, and email. If you have any thoughts, slogans, suggestions, colors, designs (graphic or clothing), please get them to me!

I'm brainstorming like crazy, and would LOVE any ideas y'all might have. Hey, since I'm telecommuting, I basically live in Ranger Up gear. :D

Much Love.
L~

Prayers for our Troops

Some of you may know this; others may not. I have been a member of a particular military website since September 2003, and within this site, there are various clubs and groups that you can join. I am a member of the Prayer and Religious Discussion group, which was started to remind the members of trackpads.com to pray for the troops, and to do so publicly. Many of the members of this site are military veterans, current military, and military families, so it's not a stretch to think that the troops are nearly always on their minds. Having something on your mind doesn't mean that you are keeping it in prayer, however, and that is the primary purpose of this group. There is a thread on our sub-forum that is exclusively for prayers for the troops. I do my best to post there regularly, but anyone who isn't a member of that group on that website doesn't have access to the thread. Since I don't have permission to use the prayers of others, I am re-posting some of the prayers I have placed on that thread, here. Please feel free to use them or elements of them or inspiration from them as a guide for your own prayers on behalf of the warriors that ensure that we have the option to live as we choose.

Pray for, and support, our soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and coasties.

Much love.
L~


Dear Father,

Thank You for all the blessings that You give us. We know that every good and perfect comes from You alone. Thank you for the men and women who protect us. Please bless them, protect them, guide them, cheer them, and heal them. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. Make us ever mindful of them.

In Your Holy Son's Name we pray,
~Amen~

Our Heavenly Father,

Thank You so much for the protection that You've given us over the weekend. Thank You for acting on our behalf. Thank You for Your loving care, even when we don't deserve it. Please act on the behalf of our men and women who stand in the way of danger to protect us. Please guide them. Please shield them from spiritual attacks, as well as physical and mental. Please strengthen and hearten them, today. Please place Your hands on them and increase them in the way that only You can.

Forgive us for our impurities, in motive, word, thought, and deed. Please heal us and heal our land. Please help us to not repeat the mistakes of history. Draw us closer to you, as individuals and as a people. Return us to You. Put out Your call on our lives and hearts, and send a vibration through our souls. Help us to return to You. Weaken us, that Your strength may be made manifest in our weakness. Decrease us, that You may increase. Make us nothing, that You may be seen as our Everything, our All. Take from us our most precious possessions so that we may be loosed from our dependence on anything or anyone but You. Save us, Lord. That's all we need. Put the desire in our hearts, as a people, to have nothing but You. Lead us to You, because we can't make it on our own.

Thank You for Your attention to us. Thank You for Your patience. Thank You for not reacting to our unbelief and unfaithfulness the way a human would. Thank You for remembering that we are dust.

It's in the Name of Your holy Son we pray all these things.
~Amen~

Our Heavenly Father,

Thank You so much for the willingness with which our men and women in (and out of) uniform sacrifice themselves. Thank You for their decisions that have brought them to this place of service. Help them to know that their nation supports, loves, and admires them. Help them to draw strength from the value we place on them. Thank You for them and their place in our hearts and minds. Please protect and keep them this day.

We ask that Your Hand of grace and mercy be put on those who have suffered or are suffering from battlefield and combat-related injuries. Please step into their lives and hearts and heal them. You alone can heal the hurts that go deeper than flesh, bone, and blood.

Please touch our warriors who have been scarred mentally and psychiatrically. Please heal these mental wounds that so affect the way in which they live and the lives they choose. Protect their families, friends, and loved ones from the wounds that overflow into others' lives.

Please step into the lives of the men and women who choose to rebel against You, knowingly or unwittingly. Please go after them and do not let them rest until they desire you with every breath in their bodies. Pursue them and let them know that they are being hunted by a Holy God, and return them to You.

We ask your protection over our protectors. Please place them in the forefronts of our minds and cause us to always be in prayer and supplication on their behalf. Bless and encourage them and give us opportunities to support and love them.

Thank You for Your unending grace that envelops us through it all.

In the name of Your precious Son, our Savior, we pray.
~Amen~

Dear Father,

Please act today in the lives of our troops. Move their hearts and minds ever closer to you. Protect them from those who would do them evil. Shield their minds and thoughts from unhealthy influences. Give them strength of spirit and the ability and drive to move forward. Give them peace in their hearts, and let them know how very much they are loved.

Keep them in our thoughts and prayers in each moment and bless them.

In Your Holy Name we pray.
~amen~

Dear Father,

Thank You for the men and women who serve. Thank You for the blessing that they are to us. Thank You for their protection, devotion, and sacrifice. Thank You for their training and their willingness to put it to use on our behalf. Thank You for them. Please help us to be a blessing to them.

Lord, You know the needs of each one of these individuals who keep us safe and secure, and You alone know how to meet each need. At this moment, You know the needs that are pressing on my mind, and You know the soldiers and their families. You know their hearts, and You know their paths and their futures. For all three of these young men, I pray healing. For all three, I ask that You reconcile them to You. Please draw them inextricably closer to You each day. Pursue them with Your mercy and grace. Touch their lives and hearts and renew their minds. Remove the influences that keep them away from You and protect them from the attacks leveled at them. Only You can act on their behalves. Only You can guide them home. Only You can reach so deeply inside of them to heal their scars. Those around them have lived so much pain already. Please protect the ones that love them from destructive behavior patterns. Please heal their pain. Protect the children from the habits of their parents and extended families. Heal these homes. Reconcile them to You. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Sometimes it seems like there are no answers. Sometimes it seems like there's no way to right the wrongs. Sometimes it seems like even the best solutions are not enough. In these times, we ask Your guidance. We plead for Your grace. We NEED You to make the paths straight before us. We, Your people, ask on behalf of those we love, when they are too far gone to ask for themselves. Please honor our prayers and the spirit in which they are offered. Please make our motives pure. Please help us to see Your provision and Your hand at work. We know You are working, but we don't see from Your perspective. Sometimes we're just too small to see the big picture. Help us to trust You and allow You to make all things beautiful in Your time. Perfect Your work in us. Help us to not grow impatient when we don't see what we think we should. Help us, Lord, for we are weak. Be exalted in and through our weaknesses.

Lord, we want so badly to be a blessing to others. We want to be effective. We want to be Your ambassadors to the world, but sometimes it all seems to be so much more than what we can do. Please help us to do what You've called us to do and not get sidetracked by the enormity of need. Protect us from complacency and from being overwhelmed. Give us eyes so we may see and ears so we may hear. Guide us and give us Your Spirit and Will. You are the God of miracles. Magnify our efforts and our prayers to the point that they can meet the ever-growing needs around us. Help us to be worthy of Your name.

Please bless our warriors, today. Please protect them. Please meet their needs. Please guide them into Your will and make them walk in Your way.

We ask all these things, through Your mercy, in the name of your Holy Son.
~Amen~

Father, please hold the men and women in our Armed Forces and law enforcement in the palm of your hand. Please protect them, keep them, guide them, and touch them. Please draw them closer to you, with each task they are asked to perform. Draw them ever nearer to you, and bless their work for all that they sacrifice for others. Encourage them and remind them of the love we have for them. Thank you for them. Help us to remember them and pray for them with every breath.

In Jesus' Name,
~Amen~

Interesting Day

It was an interesting day, yesterday.

I had signed up to donate plasma at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), which is supposed to be about an hour and a half long procedure. For those who don’t know how this works, they put a needle in one arm and draw the blood out of it. The blood runs through a machine that separates the plasma from the rest of the blood. They put a catheter into the other arm, and once it’s through the machine, return the unused portion of your blood to you through the cath site. This process is called apheresis. (If you’re interested in more info about giving blood in support of military hospitals, click here.) Most people know about whole blood donation. That’s when one donor provides whole blood that helps usually only one or two patients. Fewer know about apheresis, which allows one donor to help up to 3 patients. Whole blood donation can only be done every 56+ days because of how long it takes the body to manufacture the blood to replace the deficit. Apheresis can be done every 2 weeks, because the body isn’t running on less blood, so it can work more efficiently to replace one type of cells in the blood.

For those of you who don’t know, I started giving blood in an effort to squelch my irrational fear of needles. (It works. When they want to give you a shot with that tiny little teensy barely-there prick of a needle, it’s NOTHING compared to the 14 gauge, or whatever it is, that they use to draw blood.) For this reason, it’s not entirely logical to jump to the conclusion that I’d be all about the whole apheresis process, since it requires 2 equally large needles going into two arms respectively.

I got there and checked in, and they took me into the room where they do the procedure. I got all comfortable in the really stinking kewl chair they sent me to, and the young gentleman came over to prepare me to insert the needles. First he had to decide which veins he was going to use. He looked at my left arm and identified 2 likely candidates. The first was the fire-hose vein through the center of my elbow, but it’s a bit deep, and the second was the vein that runs across the top of the inside of my elbow. He looked at my right arm and settled irrevocably on the center vein in my elbow. He did all of the sterilizing stuff, then proceeded to stick the needle in my arm. He poked and prodded, and he tried to get into that big vein with no luck, so he called over another person to try. He poked and prodded, and he tried to get into that big vein with no luck, so he pulled the needle out. He sterilized the other site, stabbed the needle straight into it with no problems, and I proceeded to gush blood all over everything. He cleaned me up and got the catheter all ready to go and drew a half dozen vials of blood from that site, then the first guy went to my right arm. He stabbed right into that big vein in the middle, but couldn’t get it seated properly, so he poked and prodded until he was happy with where it was. He hooked me all up to the machine and got my blood flowing.

************
A side note—since this procedure usually takes about 1.5 hours, I had brought reading material. When you have needles in both elbows, you cannot bend your arms. This makes reading a less desirable past time. I did manage to finish one book (which only had a few pages left, anyway), but then I took the movie option. They have a huge library of movies to watch.
***********

All was flowing well, and I was very comfortable, and the machine started to beep. The young man came over and readjusted the needle; the machine stopped beeping. A few minutes later, the same thing happened. A few minutes later, the same thing happened. A few minutes later, the same thing happened… you get the picture. He decided my hands were cold, so he got me some warm IV bags to squeeze instead of the foam ball. (I’m a very warm-natured person. I overheat at the very thought of “room temperature”. I was entirely OK with the concept that removing blood and putting it back in cools you down. I was perfectly comfortable with this process. Cooling off is no problem. I didn’t want to get warmed back up, but they made me. Sigh.) Several more shifts of minutes going by and needle adjustments happened. Finally a THIRD guy came over and grabbed the needle to rummage around in my vein a bit, untaped everything, re-seated it, re-taped it. A few minutes later, the machine was beeping again. The second guy came back and stripped the line. He said, “oh, it’s just clotting. No big deal” and we went on. After a half dozen more times of readjusting the needle and stripping the line, they finally decided that it wasn’t flowing well enough to continue. They removed the line to my right arm to try to get some vials out of it. Nothing. Nada. No flow coming through that needle. Apparently I had managed to clot up the whole works from inside the needle. They let the blood continue to flow back in through the cath site, then they had to remove the catheter and reattach the other thingie so they could take more vials out of my left arm, which was also beginning to be sluggish. Eventually, they unattached everything and bandaged me all up. They let me finish the movie (and even brought me snacks), gave me a t-shirt, and sent me off on my own. Apparently, I have very good platelets. haha

I’ve had a friend in the hospital there for more than a week, and I had been trying to reach him to let him know I’d take him to lunch while I was there, but to no avail. So, since I’d visited previously, I just went up to the ward where he had been. I was told that he’d been moved. They checked the computer, and he had been moved to ICU! I was shocked. He’d been on the mend when I’d seen him last, and he had been told he was going to be released. What in the world?!? So I hauled my cookies down to the ICU, where I was immediately presumed to be his wife and escorted into his room. I spent a few minutes there, holding his hand as he slept, and then I asked if it’d be alright if I came back. I was told that I could come anytime I wanted to, and I left to go to an orientation class that I was required to attend at 1.

I went to the auditorium, found a seat, got comfortable, and was prepared to be there for a few hours when I began looking around. I thought, “What’s with all the vestments?” I asked another lady, “Is this the Command Orientation?” She said, “No, this is Catholic Mass.” It was Ash Wednesday, so that made sense, but I had a schedule that said that I was supposed to be there, so I went to check. Surely enough, Command Orientation was cancelled for the day, and it was not communicated. At all. No signs. No emails. No notes. Nothing. A friend of mine told me that there was a Protestant service up in the chapel, and she thought it was at the same time as the Mass, so I headed up there. I figured it would be good for me. It turns out that the Protestant service was at 11, and all was long over and done.

So I ran a few errands in the building, made some necessary visits to a couple of offices, and I went out to my car and got another book and went back up to the ICU. No one had asked me how I knew him. I was allowed to bring in a chair and sit by him and read. He slept most of the time. He was a very sick boy. He only awakened enough to talk and make sense twice, for a few seconds. When he was slightly more conscious, he would squeeze my hand. I was very concerned. Everyone who came in, though, (doctors, nurses, techs, etc.) assumed that I was “family” and told me basically everything they would have told him if he was awake. It was really interesting. I was even given instructions to tell him things when he woke up, which he didn’t do again while I was there.

Eventually, I got my things together and left. By the time I headed home for the evening, I could do nothing but laugh at all the misadventures of the day. I successfully gave plasma, albeit a shorter batch than what they usually take in essentially twice the time it usually takes to give it. I didn’t get the orientation completed, and don’t even know how to go about finding out when it’s to be re-scheduled, which was the main reason I was at WRAMC in the first place. I got to spend time with a friend, who, admittedly, wasn’t entirely conscious of the fact that I was there, and I made some new friends in the hospital. All in all, I have to say, it was a very interesting day.

Much love,
L~


Post Script: I did speak to my friend's nurse, today, and was told that he is doing considerably better. He’s awake, alert, and functioning almost normally. They were preparing to move him back to a regular patient ward, pending the results of some tests. I will see him tomorrow in his new room, when I’m back there, but his condition is much improved. Please keep him, and all our recovering warriors in your prayers.

Friday Night on the Corner

I work a corner at Georgia and Elder in NW Washington, DC on Friday nights. No, this isn't a career change for me (dirty-minded people), despite the recent fluctuation in my job situation. I spend several hours at the main entrance of Walter Reed Army Medical Center visibly supporting the troops.

Around 2 1/2 years ago, some idiot communist came up with the moronic idea of protesting at Walter Reed. (There are a handful of moonbats that stand out on the street, from 7p-9p on the dot, in front of one of the oldest and most prestigious military hospitals in the country to make a political statement by carrying signs that don't make sense.) Well, shortly thereafter, a group of patriots decided that there was no way that this political statement could go unopposed. So, they got together and took up post at all four corners of the main entrance to Walter Reed from 6:30p-9:30p (or whenever the buses show). This has been a weekly event for 134 weeks, now. Rain, shine, snow, sleet, wind, hail (OK so none of those last few exist in the DC area, but you get my drift), Tropical Depression Ernesto, etc.-- that corner is manned EVERY Friday night.

I have joined this group for the last couple of weeks (Click here for the after-action report and pictures from last week), and I just gotta say-- I'm not sure I can quite come up with a better way to end my work week. It's refreshing and energizing to do something for someone else. Even though the weight of the week has worn you down, when you stand in support of these warriors and wave and smile and express your appreciation, you feel lighter, happier, and more effective. I was trying to explain to my mom how much fun it was to stand in the drizzly rain a couple of weeks ago. She said, "Standing outside in the rain and getting cold and wet is not something I would think of as 'fun'..." The thing is, after you get cold and wet, you get to go get warm and dry again. We have soldiers (and sailors and airmen and marines and coasties) out there in weather of all types. They don't get to go home and drink hot chocolate after a few hours on their feet. How hard is it for us to stand in support of them for a little while?? How little that requires!

What we do is this: We gather on all four corners of the intersection. We hold signs and banners. We wave flags. We wave and smile at the cars coming and going. We call out "thank you" to the military personnel driving in and out. We get a lot of support (thumbs up, smiles, waves, honks, thank yous, etc.) from the cars going by. We've been told by several passers that they go out of their way to pass that corner on Friday on the way home, just to see us. I suppose it can be summarized by saying that we step just a little out of our comfort zones to honor those who have been removed from theirs.

On Friday evenings, buses filled with patients and their families go out to dinner. The supporters are standing on the corner when the buses return, and the moonbats have long gone home. When they come up to the entrance, the buses slow down, and the interior lights come on so that we can see the soldiers and families waving at us from within.

Tonight, there will be approximately 100-150 patriots crowding the intersection, due to the Veteran's Day weekend. (I'll post another entry about the weekend.) If you get a chance and happen to be in DC, please come join us! If you'd like more info, please feel free to gmail me.

Much love.
L~

Support The Troops National Ad Campaign

Howdy, all~

On Thursday, 8 November, several Eagles (Gathering of Eagles members) joined Freedom’s Watch to help film a Support the Troops commercial. It is currently in editing and is due to begin airing during the week of Thanksgiving. This national ad campaign is set to air on cable news networks, including Fox News and MSNBC, through the "holiday" season. Once the edit is complete, the commercial(s) will be posted online, and I’ll make sure to get a link on here so everyone can check it out. We may even be able to see a schedule of when they’re scheduled to air. When you start seeing the commercials, keep an eye out for familiar faces!

For those who participated, it was a pleasure to meet and spend time with you! For those who weren’t able to come, I’m sorry you missed it. It was an absolute blast!

Much love.
L~

Good News in Iraq

Don't expect to hear it from the American "news" media, though. This piece was largely ignored by US media. Reuters reported on it.

Here's the link. (For those of you who need sources.)

Here's what the story says, for those of you who don't like links.

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since
the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry released the new figures as bomb blasts in Baghdad and the
northern city of Mosul killed five people and six gunmen died in clashes with
police in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala south of the Iraqi capital.

Washington began dispatching reinforcements to Iraq in February to try to
buy Iraq's feuding political leaders time to reach a political accommodation to
end violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs that has killed
tens of thousands and forced millions from their homes.

While the leaders have failed to agree on key laws aimed at reconciling the
country's warring sects, the troop buildup has succeeded in quelling
violence.

Under the plan, U.S. troops left their large bases and set up combat
outposts in neighborhoods while launching a series of summer offensives against
Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, other Sunni Arab militants and Shi'ite militias in the
Baghdad beltway.

Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf told reporters
that there had been a 70 percent decrease in violence countrywide in the three
months from July to September over the previous quarter.

GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT

In Baghdad, considered the epicenter of the violence because of its mix of
Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs, car bombs had decreased by 67 percent and roadside
bombs by 40 percent, he said. There had also been a 28 percent decline in the
number of bodies found dumped in the capital's streets.

In Anbar, a former insurgent hotbed where Sunni Arab tribes have joined
U.S. forces against al Qaeda, there has been an 82 percent drop in violent
deaths.

"These figures show a gradual improvement in controlling the security
situation," Khalaf said.
However, in the northern province of Nineveh, where
many al Qaeda and other Sunni Arab militants fled to escape the crackdown in
Baghdad and surrounding region, there had been a 129 percent rise in car
bombings and a corresponding 114 percent increase in the number of people killed
in violence.

While the figures confirm U.S. data showing a positive trend in combating
al Qaeda bombers, there is growing instability in southern Iraq, where rival
Shi'ite factions are fighting for political dominance.

Police said six gunmen were killed in police raids in Kerbala, 110 km (70
miles) southwest of Baghdad.

Some 50 people were killed in Kerbala in August in fierce clashes between
fighters loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and local police, who are seen
as aligned to the rival Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council's armed wing, the Badr
Organization.

After the clashes, Sadr said he was imposing a six-month freeze on the
activities of the Mehdi Army, increasingly seen as beyond his control, so that
he could reorganize it.

In Baghdad, three roadside bombs killed four people, including three
policemen, while in Mosul one policeman was killed when a blast hit a police
patrol.

© Reuters2007All rights reserved

Gathering of Eagles-- Operation Eagle Justice

“Eagles don’t flock. You have to find them one at a time.” ~Ross Perot~

Two groups of vastly differing character met in DC, Saturday. One was a boiling cesspool of all that I would wish my children never to encounter. A disjointed collection of hateful people, who could agree on little but the poisonous epithets they spewed, and the hapless numbers they ensnared and infected with their lewd vitriol. Claiming to be a “peace” rally or an “anti-war” demonstration, several of the most notorious organizations in the country (with their notoriously deep pockets) gathered in front of the White House, and then wandered down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building (two-and-a-half hours late). As the scummiest portions of society tend to do, they collected groups of mere children to join them, clueless as to the purposes of hatred at work in the groups with whom they stood. Most of the junior high, high school, and college students were receiving some sort of class credit for their presence. Many of them were there without the knowledge or approval of their parents. Most of them errantly believed that they were there for “peace”, but when questioned individually, they were unaware of the affiliations of the groups that had sucked them in. They were unaware of the bent toward communism, the desire to so demoralize our troops that they become ineffectual, the blood money passed under the table to terrorists to kill our soldiers, the lies, the fear-mongering, and the true goal: the defeat of America, her soldiers, her values, and her existence. They were unaware that the blood that purchased the first amendment right for them to stand with traitors was on their hands and heads. One may hope, though, that they were NOT unaware of the fact that the colors of our democratic republic were not represented in their midst, but among the group that stood in opposition to their vile language, their flippant disregard of true character, their debasement of the flag, their dishonorable and illegal use of the names, images and memories of our heroes, and their ignorance of the realities of this issue. I have one thing to say to these horribly misguided people. You cannot claim to support our troops if you’re marching with the organizations which are paying for their deaths.

And then there were the veterans, the blue star and gold star families, the patriots. The difference between the two gatherings was striking. This group was characterized by unity, by respect, and by a fervency of demeanor borne of true character. Each of these knew why they attended. They shared the same cause, and they bore the colors of the country. The flags waved luminously, and the unified cries were bursts of patriotic songs or chants of “USA, USA, USA.” The very air crackled with the certainty that the only right place to stand was in support of those men and women who choose to stand and fight. It would have been more festive, had there not been the somber note of having to stand in opposition to those who desire nothing less than the defeat of our nation.

For there are some who have seen the horror that is war, and those who have been made wiser by it do not welcome it, nor do they embrace it’s squalor. However, while not desiring it, they value its necessity. They are aware that while mankind lives, there will be times when war is inevitable, and they do not fear its teeth. Those who have faced the beast see it with eagles’ eyes. They have been in its jaws, and yet escaped, though not unscathed, and they are able to see it for what it is. They are able to look down upon it with a grander view, and they are able to see the path ahead, beyond the monster. For this reason alone, they are willing to risk the lives of their young heroes, knowing that the ravages of war will be bitter from the loss, though slightly sweetened by the deepening of character, hard-won in strife.

They do not take these sacrifices lightly. With each, they recall the grief they carry from days gone by. They feel the wounds afresh, and they bleed again, with the young warriors. These, the eagles, will continue, year after year, to carry these men and women of character through each ordeal, until they, too, gain the vision to see beyond the beast. And the Eagles welcome all who would join their ranks. They support one another and draw others up to soar the heights, and they carry those who are finding their wings. These will not rest, will not nest down and fold their wings, because they see the ones on the ground who are in the fight. They have stared down death, and they will hearten those who still must. While the battle rages, the eagles fly.

Much Love,
L~