Flopping Aces Memorial Day Weekend Post

Flopping Aces ^ | 05-29-10 | Wordsmith

[Starman417]

The following FA video is dedicated to Major Chris Galloway and his family:

[VIDEO AT SITE]

Every year, as Memorial Day Weekend begins to roll around, I feel melancholy and sad. Much of that has to do with a general sense that so many of my fellow citizens don't truly appreciate the meaning behind the 3-4 day weekend of family barbecues and special discount sales at the mall. All our peace and prosperity has been made possible because of the men and women who have served and sacrificed since the beginning of our nation's founding.

We, as a nation, are blessed...having been spared much of the suffering and dysfunction that plagues so many of our fellow human beings in other parts of the world.

Chris was one of our nation's heroes; and one whom we as a nation lost last year, while he served in uniform. And while we lost in him a friend and fellow citizen, his family lost a son. A brother. A husband. A father.

Chris believed in what we were doing over in Iraq. The following is an excerpt from his very first post here, at FA (posted September of 2007):

What are we doing here? We are giving people the opportunity to fight for their freedom. Freedom is not a concept that is given, it is earned. It is the costliest of human aspirations and the one thing most easily squandered. I take the dhimmitude that infects the West today as my “Exhibit A”. Those who have no concept of the cost of freedom are willing to give it away all in the name of a false “peace”. But what is Peace without Freedom?

Peace without Freedom is Slavery. I will never be a slave. If I lose my life in this land, I will have died a Free Man. If those who outlive me surrender in the name of “Peace” because they are too terrified and selfish to sacrifice for the cost of Freedom, they too will die. However, they will die as slaves, or dhimmi, which is the same thing.

~~~

Iraq was a country where the soldiers were used to terrorize the population. Her soldiers were employed by Saddam to rape, pillage, and burn in order to maintain his absolute rule. In the end, a few Coalition Divisions and air support wiped them out. The Iraqis were not a professional army. They were Saddam’s goons.

But that is different now. Now there are dedicated schools for Iraqi Soldiers. A growing Non-Commissioned Officer corps exists. The Iraqi Soldiers of today is better educated, better lead, and better supported than he ever was. Would they be on par with the Western Coalition today? No, but few are and we train heard just to keep that proficiency ourselves. That said, the Iraqi Army is probably the best armed force in the Arab/Persian world. If you cannot look at this picture and be touched by the emotional comfort the Soldier is providing the child, then I doubt anything I have to say will matter as your heart is full of hatred for the USA, our President, our Armed Forces, and the good Iraqi People.

So how does this affect yours truly? I helped equip this Soldier you see hugging the child. Everything he has on him and even that generator behind him are things I helped provide. That is my contribution to the war now. I help to build a professional Iraqi Army. My years as an Armor Officer are over. I have moved to Acquisitions. My vengeance to the terrorists no longer comes from the muzzles of my tanks, but from the ability of the Iraqis to hunt and kill the barbarian terrorist thugs themselves.

Read more at floppingaces.net...