On this date in 1984, I first stood before the American flag with my right hand raised and swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of The United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. Back then, Ronald Reagan was President of The United States, Prince still had a name and Madonna still had fans. Id lived in West Germany for a while, so I understood that any given day, Soviet tank columns could stream through the Fulda Gap after their tactical nukes took out our forces on the border. Wed been through the Iran hostage crisis when The U.S., weakened by the Vietnam conflict, Watergate crisis and years of social upheaval was unable to stand up to a bunch of unwashed renegades who overthrew our embassy in Tehran. I watched the reports come in after the Marine Barracks in Lebanon was destroyed by a vehicle borne IED. I watched President Regans press conference when the U.S. invaded the small island nation of Grenada and rescued the American students being held there, giving the U.S. her first military victory in decades. The shadow war in El Salvador was in the news daily as C.I.A. director Bill Casey and President Reagan contrived to stop the expansion of socialism in Central America. Africa was on fire as Jonas Savimbi and UNITA waged a bloody conflict against SWAPO and other communist belligerents that, had things gone only a little differently, could have ignited WWIII. The Soviets were mired in Afghanistan. Ferdinand Marcos was barely holding on against the communist insurgency in The Philippines. The world was a dangerous place and I had a responsibility to stand up and defend the red, white and blue. I told myself that I would serve thirty years, but after 29 years and 1 month, I called it quits. Uncle Sam doesnt need grouchy old farts like me, old Cold Warriors who need to call the 80s and give them their foreign policy back. I realized this and decided not to hold up a slot for another 11 months that could be better utilized by a young up-and-comer who was able to see look past the glaring hypocrisy and to believe, someone who still had the gleam in the eye. Leaving before today was a difficult decision, but I had an opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of and a continued service was going to prevent me from moving on. This post isnt about that, though. This post is about youth, faith and wanting to do the right thing. It is about living with the constant threat of global thermonuclear war on your mind. It is about believing that we are the good guys and that the good guys always win. It is about naivety willingly embraced and the comfort that it brings. To all of you with whom I had the privilege of serving, thank you for the great times and the laughs. To those of you who were my soldiers, thank you more, I never once accomplished a damn thing. It was all you. To those of you whom I served under, kiss my ass, I quit! Loveya!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 14:45:11 +0000