Very good essay!
My family’s military service to the republic date back to the Revolutionary War and include a stint of body guard duty for a general named Washington. Was given a nice piece of land on the south bank of Potomac River near Mt Vernon as a reminder. The Civil War almost wiped the family out; we wore both Blue and Grey.
Among our papers are hand written litters from Wilson and FDR directing male members NOT to accept wartime commissions because they were performing critical duties for the Federal Government. There is also a “Short Snorter” Silver Certificate from mid 1942 with Recife and Dakar on it.
I was the last to serve the Republic in a military capacity, career AF with the majority of it spent in SpecOps. When my son wanted to join in the late 1990’s I did everything I could to convince him not to, the writing was already clearly on the walls. I was successful. And everything I have seen since then tells the two of us we made the right choice.
The Republic can not long stand when its civilian leaders, such as they are, refuse to be honorable men and live up their and their predecessors promises to those who stood on the walls defending them.