In Flanders fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

" Rick Rescorla died almost exactly 10 years ago today. He was at his post on the 44th floor of World Trade Center Tower 1 on September 11, 2001, when a psychotic madman flew a passenger airliner into the building. When the Port Authority came over the loudspeaker in the building and ordered everyone inside to stay put, Rescorla muttered "Bugger that Blimy Poppycock" (or something equally British) under his breath, and flipped his brain right back into Commanding Officer mode. It wasn't his first time dealing with a terrorist attack on his place of employment – in 1993, when a truck bomb went off in the basement of the Tower, Rescorla had evacuated his offices, helping everyone out until he was the last man to leave the building – and he wasn't taking any chances this time either. He grabbed a bullhorn and personally ran up and down the 22 floors that encompassed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter headquarters, quickly and calmly getting everyone out of their cubes and down the stairs. Rushing up and down the building despite the fact that he was 62 years old and dying from terminal bone marrow cancer, Rescorla didn't even consider slowing down until all 2,700 of his co-workers were safely out of the burning building. When he saw how terrified the men and women he worked with were, he went back to his old standby of singing British folk songs to try and cheer them up.

He was last seen on the tenth floor of the World Trade Center, headed up. Of the 2,700 people he had been charged with protecting, all but 6 survived the terrorist attack."

Badass of the Week - Rick Rescorla

The result was that the very best of two generations in Russia, Germany, Britain,France, Italy, Spain and most of Europe were slaughtered. The dead do not procreate or contribute. The result was severe if not lethal blow to Western civilization. Perhaps that is message we should ponder on Memorial Day.

I was thinking the same thing. Was that spoiled punk archduke really worth the lives of millions?

Then I got to thinking about all the blood of Americans, Canadians, British, and other members of Western Civilization that has been utterly wasted in Afghanistan over the last decade. When we leave next year, it will be pretty much the same as when we got there before the year is over. Then there's the blood wasted in Korea and Vietnam.

Modern warfare is just not worth the cost.

Let me be clear on what I mean when I say “modern warfare is just not worth the cost.”

Since World War II, we have lost the stomach to wage merciless warfare on an enemy with the goal of victory always in mind. We now do “surgical strikes” as if we are fighting tumors. We play the ridiculous “hearts and minds” game while putting artificial boundaries on the fight. Then we stop pounding before unconditional surrender has been offered and give the enemy the chance to reload.

The point of inflicting total war on the enemy without undue regard for civilian loss is to make the civilians hurt bad enough to curse our enemy for bringing our wrath down on them and hate them enough to keep them from ever starting their crap again. That strategy worked in Japan and Germany. Both of those former chronic belligerants are now as peaceful as can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lUw-sgxZI0

-Unknown-

“Here rests an American soldier known but to God.”

A great song by David Harsh, a Christian guitarist, singer, song writer. Skip to 1:20 and his introduction picks up on how while out jogging, he came across a graveyard filled with American soldiers at Belle Wood, France.

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