By Ed Evans, MGySgt., USMC (Ret.)
Within the
month of May we find Armed Services Day (May 20th) and Memorial Day (May 30th),
two days set aside to remember and pay homage to those who have put on the
military uniform of their nation and served with distinction the cause of
freedom. For some, the month of May
merely holds the promise of springtime festivals, dancing, singing, Maypole
exercises; forget the past and look to the future.
Those who have served in uniform will see it differently, a
time for remembrance of friends lost in combat, honoring commitment and
patriotic duty, recognizing heroes alive and dead. Remembering the families of those who wore
the uniform, those now left behind in the protection of freedom and
liberty. With that uniform put on by
young men or women comes a great deal of both life and death. Many a young man or woman has joined up
because they didn’t know what else to do.
Their life was disorganized, without mission or purpose, without the
grades to get into college, without skills to get out of poverty, without
mentors and goals and, often, even without parental guidance. In the military they became that man or that
woman they knew they always wanted to be.
But
underlying it all, in the back of their minds, was the realization that violence,
mayhem, and maybe death awaited them.
The only solution was training.
They had to be better than the violence, mayhem and death. Death says to every warrior, “You will not
survive the violence of battle.” The
warrior answers back, “I am the violence of battle.” Training is what keeps us alive.
Having spent
30 years in the military defending our God-given freedoms, now 27 years out of
uniform, I have only recently become aware that many Americans have no
appreciation for those who have purchased their freedoms with blood, sweat and
tears. That should not be surprising if
we realize that for nearly two
generations, no American has been obligated to join up, and few do. Less than 0.5 percent of the population serves in the armed
forces, compared with more than 12 percent during World War II. It was novelist George Orwell who pointed out
that “People sleep
peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do
violence on their behalf.” “Sleep”, yes, but act on behalf of, support,
appreciate, not much. For we have failed
to teach the next generation the honor and integrity, even the necessity, of
self-sacrifice for others.
British war correspondent Rudyard Kipling pretty much covered it when he wrote
his poem “Tommy,” which included the line, “For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' ‘Chuck
him out, the brute!’ But it's ‘Saviour of 'is country’ when the guns begin to shoot…” Kipling
was addressing this age-old dilemma during the 1800’s. Nothing about it has changed in
modern times.
The writer of the screenplay for “A Few Good Men,” uses a courtroom confrontation
between U.S. Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) and U.S. Marine Colonel Nathan
Jessep (Jack Nicholson), in command of Marines at Guantanamo Bay, to voice the warrior’s
lament:
Col. Jessep: “You want answers?”
Lt. Kaffee: “I think I'm entitled to…”
Col. Jessep: “You want answers?”
Lt. Kaffee: “I want the truth!”
Col. Jessep: “You can't handle the
truth!”
Col. Jessep pauses…
Col. Jessep: “Son, we live in a world
that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's
gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you
could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You
have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That
Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while
grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth
because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on
that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We
use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use
them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain
myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that
I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather
you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up
a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you
are entitled to.”
Liberals will point out that in the end the character of Col. Jessep is adjudged guilty
because he crossed a legal line. But that takes nothing away from the truth of his narrative.
It stands the test of time as truth. And truth is like a lion. You need not protect a lion, you
only need to set it free.
There is one more truth to be applied here.
I take this opportunity to address this Memorial Day 2017 because I did serve 30
years in the military, I did fight on four battlefields, and my generation fought a number of
wars, one a world war, to keep freedom alive in this world. It is my grandchildren upon whom
the enemies of America will fall. My generation is too old to protect them now. It is their blood
they will have to spill to protect their God-given freedoms. Freedoms my generation fought
America’s enemies to protect, enemies the current generation is allowing to gain a foothold in
this nation.
Whether they wish to or not, the current generation stands at the head of a very long
line of warriors and patriots who have fought and died to keep the vulnerable flame of
freedom alive for when today’s Americans got here. The question will soon become very
relevant, and herein lies the final truth. When the enemy whispers “You will not survive the
violence of battle,” will today’s Americans be able to say, “I am the violence of battle.” Say it
and make it stick?
Even as the bands play and the heroes of yesterday are remembered, we must look
at the society we have inherited and wonder, how long? How long will America’s freedom
endure?
