If you’ll forgive me, today’s entry is going to depart a little bit from my usual journalistic style, and move more to a place of personal reflection, observation and remembrance. Today is Veteran’s Day, and sadly, it isn’t even a blip on most people’s radar screens. I can’t do much, but what I can do is offer my thoughts on this day, and my eternal thanksgiving and respect for anyone who wears or ever wore a uniform in service of this, the Greatest Nation in the History of mankind.

I’ll never forget the day that I visited a restricted area of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a Deputy Sheriff in Ohio. I was in full uniform, and remember a sense of pride as I drove my perfectly shined black and white Chevrolet onto the base, following the MP’s to the hangar where I was to view surplus property for re-appropriation to our use. 

As I drove out away from the security checkpoint, I was able to view one of the most awe-inspiring vistas in the State of Ohio, if not the nation. I was driving across a small portion of one of the most massive airfields I have ever seen in my life. It literally dwarfed Dallas-Fort Worth International or Chicago O’Hare many times over. Unlike the typical civilian airfield with its hodgepodge of brightly colored planes, large and small, this one was orderly, straight-forward and unmistakable in purpose.

In the distance stood 12 B-52 Heavy Bombers parked wingtip to wingtip on a tarmac. On an adjoining tarmac were several C-5A Galaxy Cargo Jets and in the not too far distance were rows of fighter jets, all parked in precise locations. As I exited my squad car, I suddenly felt just exactly how small a human being can be made to feel. I was standing in the middle of the most awesome military presence I had ever seen in my life. You could literally feel the power that surrounded you. And the knowledge of the awesome firepower that stood before me, and the realization that this was but a fraction of our military might was almost overwhelming. I watched a squadron of F-15’s take off with a deafening roar, thinking “aside from a baby I don’t know of anything that small that is capable of creating that much of a racket.”

My thoughts then turned to something once said by one of my favorite Generals, George S. Patton, Jr. He said “Without the best men to run these machines and fire these guns, all of the hardware we have is nothing but junk.” That kind of puts it all in perspective, doesn’t it?

I’ve made no secret of my respect, support and love for our armed forces and what they do each and every day. I have a firm and heartfelt belief that “peace through strength” is not just a strategy, it is THE strategy that is guaranteed to work and it works all of the time without fail.

It’s almost comical to me that there are several in this country who confuse the word “diplomacy” for what it actually is in their definition “appeasement”. Such people are decidedly anti-military. They believe the idyllic fairy-tale that if we could just strip the world of military forces and specifically, gut the United States Military, that the world would become the Garden of Eden all over again. It never occurs to these people that for 233 years, our military has defended the very freedom that allows them to voice and protest their opposition.  What infuriates me is that these same people accuse Conservatives of “rhetoric” and of only supporting the military for political gain.

Those of us who respect and love the military do no such thing, not now, not ever because to do so would be hateful to the very things we stand on as sacred. We the people owe not only a special thanks to those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country; we owe a special place of reverence. It is a respect that has been bought and paid for by generations of American blood and is the example of American Integrity.

Think in your mind, to the night that residents of a newly formed nation knew would come. In the cool of a New England night, the approaching hoof-beats and the announcement that an invasion by one of the most formidable armed forces in the world was on. Just before dawn on that cool April Morning, the Battle of Old North Bridge would spell the first blood spilled and the first defense of what we know and call “Freedom”.

Just a few short decades later, shots were fired again on our soil, this time to liberate human beings who were being sold and traded; treated with less dignity than horses or cattle. Liberation of the oppressed is the catalyst of the light of freedom we hold so dear. It is one of few causes worth fighting and dying for. One only needs to see the faces of those liberated from tyranny to understand the answer as to why we do so. Our legacy as liberating armed forces, not an imperial one was forged in the four year fire of a bloody Civil War and was paid for in terms of 1.038 million casualties, 628,000 soldier deaths and nearly 20 percent of males 13-43 years old in the South. For our Military to be accused of “terrorist” and “imperial” activities by small minded, treasonous elitists in our own Nation’s Capitol is both shameful and hateful to what we stand for.  It is this legacy of liberation we cannot and must not forget because it was bought and paid for with the lives of our own.

Fast forward a few more decades. The bloodiest war yet in human history was behind us. Germany had been defeated, and the Treaty of Versailles ending what was known as the “World War” had marshaled in a new era of peace.

I am a fan of the TV Show “Magnum PI” as well as Hawaii Five-O. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to visit the Hawaiian Islands. I can remember Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum referring to Hawaii repeatedly as “paradise” throughout the show. With the Pacific Sun and breezes, the natural beauty of the Islands as a backdrop, I’d have to say paradise about sums it up. I am sure that on one particular Sunday Morning, those walking to church or out for an early stroll or swim thought so too. And in one brief, brutal and horrible moment, paradise became hell on earth. The blue skies were filled with acrid smoke of battleships burning, the deafening roar of munitions exploding with the wail of air-raid sirens providing a horrific countermelody to the destruction ensuing. The aqua waters of Hawaii became red with blood and black with the oil and fuel slicks that burned even on the water itself. Wave after wave of Japanese Bombers dropped their relentless fury with an almost surgical accuracy, aerial acrobats of death and destruction. The contrast had to make it almost surreal. Words and even pictures or video cannot begin to capture the enormity of this event. Even “cataclysm” seems mild in comparison. Many of those in service were young men, just out of High School, eager to earn money for a better future following the Depression. Hope collided with tyranny that day and the reality of war with the Empire of Japan and her Imperial Armed Forces was thrust upon us.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, a genocidal maniac with an insatiable appetite for imperial domination built and mobilized the first true “superpower” this world had ever seen. A machine that was efficient, precise, and ruthless and whose sole purpose was to either intimidate other nations into submission, or destroy those that refused. Evil then, as evil now believed that dominating others was an entitlement.  Make no mistake, the Luftwaffe with more state of the art planes at its disposal than the allies combined, the Army with the dreaded Panzer Divisions – massive diesel powered tanks that were mechanically superior to the best the rest of the world had, the Kriegsmarine on the surface with such powerful Battleships as the Scharnhorst, the Tirpitz and the mighty Bismarck and below the surface with its U-Boat fleet stood ready to carry out the deadly plans being forged in Berlin. Then there was the ultra-deadly and even more ruthless “Waffen SS”. It was said that even the much heralded Field Marshal Erwin Rommel feared the SS. This was what our boys were up against in World War II.

The story turns personal here. My Grandfathers both served in World War II. Master Sergeant Robert F. Davis served with the 71^st Infantry Division under General George S. Patton, Jr. in Operation Cobra, the invasion of Europe following the Normandy landings during Operation Overlord. He rarely talked about his experiences at war. Airman Robert Wayne Rigg served in the Pacific Theater as a tail gunner in a PB4Y “Privateer”. The tail gunner actually sat in a glass turret and was more often than not killed because the enemy targeted that first as a way to disable the plane’s defenses. Both men avoided war stories. The grim expressions and sadness in their eyes told the entire story that needed to be told when asked about it.

And what of those boys who fought so hard in the Great War? What about the Rangers whose daggers are still in the Normandy Cliffs? What about the men who faced being shredded at the hands of well trained German Troops in fortified machine gun bunkers? The ones who fought in places with strange names like Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Pointe du Hoc? The following excerpt from the speech President Reagan gave at Pointe du Hoc sums it up better than I can…

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For 4 long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.

The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machineguns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After 2 days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms.

Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there.

These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.

This we remember today, this we should remember every day. This is the heritage of our military, this is the pride of a Nation and this is something that the appeasers among us will never understand. There is one way to ensure peace and to remove the boot of tyranny from the throat of the oppressed. You defeat the enemy, humiliate them and destroy their ability to terrorize anyone ever again. You don’t do that through appeasement, you do it through a defined act of strength and a relentless stand for the basic liberty and rights of human beings.

As the 20^th century progressed, we faced wars in Southeast Asia, the Middle-East and on the Serbian Peninsula. Our armed forces never once failed to serve with alacrity, honor and distinction that has earned the United States, to the consternation of the unjust and their allies, the reputation of being the finest fighting force ever.

I remember a particular morning a few years ago well. It is a day that I am loathe to remember, but dare never forget. A cool, crisp September morning with bright sunshine and blue skies – the kind songs have been written about.  I had gone to the commissary of One Nationwide Plaza to purchase my usual cup of coffee before beginning what was to be the most abbreviated work day in my time there, but the longest day of my life. I glanced at the big screen TV that used to occupy the South end of the dining room and saw that one of the World Trade Center towers had a small plume of smoke coming from it. As I walked over to see what was going on, I almost could not believe my eyes as a large jet-liner swooped in, a metallic and deadly bird of prey, and found its target. Time literally stood still for me. Galen Barnes, the President of Nationwide was standing directly in front of me and he turned to me and asked “My God, what is happening?” My only response was “We’re under attack Galen…Dear God”. 

The horror of what we were watching on TV turned into the reality that, just as on December 7, 1941, life changed and it would never be the same again. For some, life would never be again. Our military was at the ready and mobilized immediately. The F-14’s, F-15’s and F-16’s took to the air; our naval forces went to battle stations aboard each ship from the biggest carriers to the smallest supply ships. Our Marines and Army stood ready for the attack and determined to repel it, despite the central command at the Pentagon coming under a similar aircraft attack. What the enemy, the coward Islamic Terrorists had not counted on, was waking the resolve of the American People. Our history, our legacy of freedom, justice and liberty collided that morning with them and they failed their mission, miserably. The spilled blood of our honored dead and the living veterans with their steel resolve in standing for right is part of what fueled this. Ours was a nation born in revolution. We love to fight and we’re damn good at it. We fight though by the terms of morality and righteousness. We are gifted by and I believe endowed by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to defend the divine mandate of human freedom and dignity. Thus shall Islam fall as Communism and other forms of tyranny. Only an idiot could look at what has been accomplished and how it has been accomplished by our armed forces and not see the Hand of God at work.

I remember so well on September 11, 2001 when Air Force One touched down. THE symbol of freedom was there for all to see, and a determined President George Bush climbed to the top of a heap of rubble and announced the failure of the Islamic Terrorists. I was heartbroken as an American, but never prouder in my life of our armed forces that apparently still scare these allegedly fearless terrorists enough that they have to hide under rocks and in caves.

The legacy of our armed forces… The men and women of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard is one of excellence, of liberation, of the highest honor and the deepest praise. They are warrior princes of democracy and have answered a calling that so few can comprehend. Remember them in your prayers, give them your deepest respect because they have earned it. When you start your car, drive down a street, eat at McDonald’s, hear a favorite song on the radio or watch a TV show – when you talk to your kids, look with joy at a grandchild, remember the sacrifice that allows it to happen under the skies of freedom, illuminated by the lamp of liberty. When you pray in church, pray a prayer of thanksgiving for every veteran and active duty military person and their families- by their sacrifice you pray freely.

I will end this entry with some words from my dear friend Ronald Reagan. Take it away Gip…

We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives -- the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.

Peace fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails when we forget that our Republic is based on firm principles, principles that have real meaning, that with them, we are the last, best hope of man on Earth; without them, we're little more than the crust of a continent. Peace also fails when we forget to bring to the bargaining table God's first intellectual gift to man: common sense. Common sense gives us a realistic knowledge of human beings and how they think, how they live in the world, what motivates them. Common sense tells us that man has magic in him, but also clay. Common sense can tell the difference between right and wrong. Common sense forgives error, but it always recognizes it to be error first.

We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is; when we refuse to see the obvious and seek safety in Almighty. Peace is only maintained and won by those who have clear eyes and brave minds. Peace is imperiled when we forget to try for agreements and settlements and treaties; when we forget to hold out our hands and strive; when we forget that God gave us talents to use in securing the ends He desires. Peace fails when we forget that agreements, once made, cannot be broken without a price.

Amen… Join me in this prayer:

Our Father and Our God, we thank you for the blessing of freedom, liberty and faith that you have given us as a people. We are so richly blessed. Father, thank you for the lessons of the past, for the legacy of doing right and for the example in Christ Jesus we have that sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice is necessary so that others may live. We Praise you Lord for the strength, the commitment and the determination to carry this and other work out that you have for us daily. May we remain ever vigilant and focused.

Thank you as well Father for the brave people who have served, do now and will continue to serve this wonderful Nation you have gifted us with. Thank you for their selflessness, integrity, bravery and honor. We pray your hand would be upon all who serve, and that your protection would envelop them. We pray as well that the Holy Spirit would strengthen and comfort those families of our honored armed forces in their need, uniquely and specifically as you know they need it.

Lord we pray that you would grand your wisdom to our military leaders, your resolve when times are tough and your steadfast determination that they would do right by you first and always. We pray that the light of liberty would shine bright as your Word into the darkest corners of the oppressed, and that we may continue to liberate those who do not know Grace until your Son comes again for us all. May you be glorified in all things we do and say.

In Christ Jesus Blessed Name…

Amen.