I’m hurt. I’m pissed off. I need to vent this so I’m writing to keep me from doing something more destructive.
Seventeen. It’s one of those numbers that you don’t know how you remember it….but you know why you remember it. Seventeen. On seventeen different occasions I handed a folded flag to a grieving widow or mother. Some accept it with stoic dignity. Others….well, for some that’s the point where reality sets in…that’s the point that they break down.
An old timer taught me a trick before I left for Basic Training. He told me that if you ever need to keep a straight face, bite down on the inside of your cheeks. It works. Those times I wanted to laugh or show frustration in Boot Camp but knew I’d have hell to pay for it, I’d bite down on the inside of my jaws and my face would turn to stone. After 30 days as the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of a funeral detail, the inside of my mouth was raw.
What’s weighing on my mind at the moment though isn’t the act of handing that flag to a widow or the steps taken to keep from breaking down when they do. What’s killing me is…the words.
“On behalf of the President of the United States, The United States Marine Corps and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”
I don’t know that I could make those words come out of my mouth right now. I highly doubt I could do anything honorable on behalf of the President of the United States at this point in time. I would almost expect the recipient of that flag to spit on me for the mere mention of the office.
Who could make themselves believe that President of United States gave a rat’s ass about the Americans in Afghanistan right now? The absurdity of the series of events that brought us to another thirteen Americans losing their lives over there is what makes it all so surreal. Had the office of the President done it’s due diligence those Marines and that Sailor would’ve never been in harm’s way….and that office is the one place on the planet where you should feel safe to assume that every possible scenario is evaluated to ensure the safety of the American people. That’s the first rule of government, isn’t it? Ensure the Safety and Well Being of Your Citizens.
It’s rare that I find this much disdain in my heart for elected officials. Whether I agree or not, I respect the voice of “We the People”. If the vote put that person in their position, democracy has spoken. Because I’ve seen all too often what life looks like outside a democracy, I accept the tally of the votes without question.
This is different though. There was just entirely too much incompetence to forgive in this instance. Let me rephrase that…Too many individual things had to be done at an astounding level of incompetence for us to get to the point that we’re sending flagged draped coffins back from Afghanistan again.
Let me clear something up. I’m not pointing a finger solely at Joe Biden. I’m pointing fingers at his whole cabinet. The presidency is bigger than any one man. And…well…Joe’s a puppet. Actually a puppet would probably be more lifelike. I can’t….for the life of me….figure out how that many educated and experienced people can screw something up this bad. Hell, a group of third graders with crayons and a map would have had a better plan for withdrawal if someone would have explained the logistics to them. Make no mistake….that wasn’t intended as an insult….I believe that as a fact. Third graders could’ve done this better.
For anyone who can’t comprehend what I’m talking about, let me equate it to something that we can all relate to. When you go grocery shopping you always pick up your refrigerated items last so they’re not riding around in your cart the whole time you’re walking around the store. When you’re washing your car you don’t polish the glass before you start slopping soap all over the place. Whether someone taught us that, or we learned it along the path of life, we all seem to know….There’s an order to things.
I know most of you keep hearing how insane it was to close down Bagram Air Field (BAF) prior to pulling every last person you needed to out of Afghanistan. I don’t know who had the stroke of brilliance to think that would be a good idea, but they need to be court martialed. I don’t know if we’re still hanging people from yardarms, but if we are, I’m in support of a good ol’ fashioned public display of capital punishment. Unless you’ve been there, what most people won’t understand is that what happened yesterday couldn’t happen at BAF. You can’t get a suicide bomber within a mile of that installation. That air field has been under a constant state of fortification for two decades. We owned that place and we protected it like it American soil.
Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul…we didn’t own that. We hadn’t fortified that area. Sure, the security was a little better than you’ll find at a typical small U.S. airfield, but it wasn’t anywhere remotely close to the military fortress we’d constructed at BAF.
Everybody who spent more than a week in Afghanistan over the last 20 years knew the Taliban would own it again after we left. There was no stopping that and we knew it. So, with all the brain trust working in the office of the President, how could they have polished the glass before they washed the car? I mean…you almost have to intentionally put forth a concerted effort to do things this ass-backward.
Remember last week when Joe stood at the podium and the teleprompter told him to say “I’m the President of the United States and buck stops with me”? Well…”On behalf of the President of the United States” is going to be heard 13 more times this month than it should be. That’s where the buck stops, boys and girls. Regardless what your teleprompter said….the buck stops there, Joe.