Who Do I Think I Am?

If you are reading this and feel somewhat lost, it is because I'm writing this as a continuation of a discussion, began earlier, over a picture on someone's Facebook.  The picture in question shows President Obama disembarking from the Presidential helicopter about to pass between 2 of the Marine Corps honor guard, who are saluting.  The president is talking on the phone and giving a halfway salute with his right hand.  The text on the photo says "These men will put themselves between you and a bullet.  Put down your damn cell phone and give them a proper salute, Asshole."
I pointed out that in this situation, the President is not required, and technically shouldn't return the salute and was promptly lectured on the President not showing proper respect.  The conversation went downhill from there.  Now that any other readers have at least an idea of what is going on, I'll return to my intended audience.  Thank you for your patience.

You are absolutely correct.  I do not know you at all, just as you do not know me at all.  The only thing I have to go on is to gather an impression based upon your previous responses.  Based on those responses, I have assumed that you personally never served in the military.  That assumption is limited to you.  I have no idea who you know, or which of your relatives might have served, nor is that pertinent to the discussion.  Being the child, spouse or parent of a service member certainly is difficult, but it is not the same experience as what the service member goes through.

My assumption also does not mean I believe you dislike the military or that you are not a proud supporter.  I previously mentioned some of the many challenges our military faces each day and you may or may not be aware of them and may or may not worry about them.  I lack the information to know these things, but this is also irrelevant.  During the Obama administration I have seen numerous posts about the President and about the military.  The Obama posts are either positive, or they are derogatory and negative, meaning they contain insults, misrepresentations, and often, outright lies.  Posts about the military generally express support for our troops, but never address any of the issues those troops are dealing with.  If the posts mention President Obama they follow the same trend with insults, misrepresentations etc.  Based upon the information available, I can only assume that most Americans are completely unaware of the true issues facing our troops and while they are ranting about an old picture which is a clear misrepresentation, men and women are dying.  Personally, I think that is more important.

I served in the United States Navy from July 1980 through October 1988 and received an honorable discharge with an RE code 1.  The RE code indicates whether someone can reenlist.  A 1 means you are wanted back.  I believe 4 is worst and means you will not be allowed back.  I have many fond memories of my service, they were some of the best years of my life.  I also saw and experienced many things which I feel would concern most Americans, if they were aware of them.  These experiences were no worse than what many, if not most, service members have.  I'm certain the difficulties facing those in combat are much worse than my own.

How long would most young adults last working a schedule of 36 hours on and 12 hours off?  That's 36 hours, hard at work, breaking only for meals, no sleep allowed.  My limit was 2 weeks, and by the end, if I walked further than about 200 feet I would fall asleep while walking.  If I sat down for longer than 5 minutes I would fall asleep.  Yet, I was expected to perform work, that if done incorrectly could endanger the entire ship.  All of this because it made someone look better.

If you've never experienced a hurricane onboard a ship, I don't recommend it.  I experienced two, and both could have been avoided.  The first one resulted in minimal damage and one death, we were only in the storm for about 14 hours.  The second we enjoyed for 2 1/2 days with only one serious injury and about $5 million in damages.  During that time, I spent about 20 hours each day working, because a loss of propulsion would have been disastrous.  We were also limited to cold cut sandwiches, since cooking when the ship is rolling up to 30° each way is impossible.  So is sleeping.

Everyone in the military is familiar with Taps.  It is played each night at lights out and is also played at all military funerals.  Can you imagine what it feels like to take the American Flag off of the casket of one of your closest friends, fold it and hand it to his widow while Taps is playing, knowing his death was senseless?  Every day someone in the military dies senselessly in a non-combat related death.  How often do we hear about them?

During one incident, that I can't give much detail on, I tried everything I could to get the officer in charge to issue required orders to deal with a casualty situation.  When he failed to give those orders, I followed my procedures and took the necessary steps to protect the crew.  Had I not taken those steps, the result could have cost several hundred lives and caused an event which would still be remembered.  I was reprimanded for my actions because it made the officer look bad.

Everyday our troops are dealing with shoddy equipment, equipment that costs us as much as 100 times the retail price of that equipment.  They are working in conditions we would not subject our pets to and they are subjected to stresses and pressures most can't imagine.  While this may concern you and many others I see no evidence of concern on Facebook, or elsewhere.  All I see are unwarranted personal attacks on the President.  When I begin to see something addressing these issues, then I'll believe people are worried about them.

You seem to have accused me of having a very narrow and limited viewpoint:  "You might get off your high horse and realize that people come from all walks of life, not just your little corner of the world..."  I do think highly of myself, but I don't consider myself better than anyone.  I believe there are some areas where I'm better than average, and I know I fall well below average in other areas.  As for my "little corner of the world", that is a fair description of my current situation.  When at home I spend most of my time sitting in the corner, surrounded by by guitars, amps, recording gear and computer.  I might do many things, but most of them I do from this chair.

However, this is not my whole life.  During my life I've lived in 8 states, 7 since I became an adult.  I've visited all 50 states, 2 U.S. Territories and 2 foreign countries.  At one time I corresponded regularly with people on 5 different continents.  I have met, worked with and been friends with people from all walks of life.  From porn stars to preachers, top executives to manual laborers, millionaires to the homeless, my friends over the years have covered just about everything.  Every religion, every ethnic group and many nationalities are represented in that group.  I've also worked in a wide range of different fields.  From all these people and all these experiences, I've tried to learn things.

I've sat down and learned about the history, importance and traditions of tea from an elderly Chinese man.  I've sat and listened to a holocaust survivor and a Pearl Harbor survivor.  I've sat face to face and listened to people who experienced the Great Depression and the jungles of Vietnam.  To supplement my experiences, I've read.  Since the age of 6 I've averaged somewhere between 30 and 50 books each year, and the books have covered a fairly wide range of genres and subjects.  While I might now sit in a little corner of the world, my view is probably much wider than average.

Other than a few limited excursions, most people spend their entire life within 100 miles of where they grew up.  Most people have significant regular contact with only a few hundred people.  The average American watches more television in a week than I watch in a year.  I read more in a year than the average reads in their lifetime.  Because of all my experiences, I feel that my world view is somewhat broader than most, and I feel this gives me a better than average grasp of most situations.

Lastly, noticing and worrying about what the President does is good and admirable.  Being aware of the government is the responsibility of everyone, and constructive criticism is important.  However, name calling or spreading lies about anyone is neither good nor admirable.  While you are at it, why not take a few minutes to consider some of the possible mistakes made by previous Presidents?  In all fairness, if President Obama "seems to reflect the brokenness of this country in most everything he does", shouldn't his actions be compared with President Bush's actions?

Here are a few things to consider.  Ten years ago we invaded Iraq over non-existent weapons, spent over a trillion dollars in a war that ended thousands of U.S. lives, and left the country worse off than it was before we liberated it.  Do you feel this was appropriate?  Over 11 years ago we invaded Afghanistan, the same country that caused us to boycott the 1980 Olympics in protest of the USSR invading them.  Any military strategist could have, based upon the USSR's failure, told you that winning a war in Afghanistan was not possible without completely destroying the country.  Add 2000 more lives and another trillion dollars to the "War on Terror".  Has it been effective?  Since 2001 the number and severity of terrorist attacks worldwide has increased dramatically.  It could be the near absence of attacks on U.S. soil is due to the War on Terror, but it really isn't proper to take credit for things that haven't happened.  Do you feel the 6500 American lives lost fighting the War on Terror somehow compensate for the 3000 lives lost in the September 11 attacks?

Also during the Bush Administration, we had an enormous financial crisis.  This crisis, which was influenced by changes in banking and securities regulations, cost 6 million American jobs, resulted in hundreds of thousands losing their homes and set off a worldwide economic collapse.  In response to the greed and mismanagement which led to this disaster, the administration pushed and passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and effectively gave $700 billion to bail out the people who caused this crisis in the first place.  Rather than put that money to good use, at least some of it was used to give outrageous bonuses to the criminals who had defrauded the American public.  Do you find any fault with the Bush Administration on this issue?  How do these things compare to the things President Obama has done.  You can make the comparison based upon tax dollars spent, job growth or decline, economic growth or decline or rate of combat related deaths.  I would welcome an informed discussion and comparison on this.

Finally, none of the above is intended to be either insulting or any sort of attack on your character. If for some reason you feel I have insulted or attacked you, please accept this was never my intent.  My intent has always been to get past the bickering and the insults, to get rid of all the things that are trying to keep us at war with each other and to get us together so we can truly discuss the issues and find some common ground.