I’m in the Air Force, and I work at one of the big intelligence agencies. I want to go to work, but I can’t. I am on stand-by, along with everybody else in my office.
I want to fight. I want to get in the game. I have to wait for the coach to put us all back in, and I am eating my guts out. If I have to sit here all day, I’m just going to get more furious. And I didn’t think that was possible.
I want a piece of this, and I am re-dedicating myself to national service. I always was all about defending the country, but it goes farther than that now. From this point until the end of my life, I am going to be tough, strong, hard, I won’t get tired or discouraged. I will win, and I want my enemies to lose.
We’re at war, and not by choice. So, if it’s war they want, red war is what they’ll get. I am a warrior, and I don’t want to be anything else.
Take a deep breath, babe. It’s gonna come soon, but we need to figure out who did this first so we know where to hit. Just meditate, stay calm and know that you’re ready when the call does come.
I’m still in shock, I can’t seem to stop crying, and I’m more furious than I can ever remember being in my life. My heart is right there with you, Bluesman, and you may draw on my strength should you need it. Lock down and be patient. As Geobabe said, we must know with as much certainty as possible who our target is. Once that is known, then I pray you’ll be released, like a crossbow, driving straight to the heart of our enemy who was too cowardly to face us himself.
Thanks, Bunny. I was a Corpsman in the Navy, and those sights registered as a “War Zone” in my brain. I was always ready and willing to do whatever it takes. Still am.
Bluesman when I took the ASVAB in high school, I scored in the 97th percentile. As a result, I had every recruiter in the world calling me up. I tried to make a deal with the Navy guy and said I’d sign up for a six year blanket hitch, so long as I was guaranteed a tryout for SEAL training upon drawing a permanent billet.
He didn’t go for it, since there was a glut of SpecWar signups in 1987 - the year I graduated, and I didn’t enlist. Last night was the first time I ever regretted that decision, but regret it I did.
I take a lot of comfort and pride in knowing that the spineless vermin who planned, authorized and executed yesterday’s attack will face not just you, but 100s of 1,000s of people like you when we identify them. They have no chance.
Keep champing at that bit. It keeps your fangs sharp.
Bluesman, I understand how you feel about wanting to do something because I feel the same way.
The fact that you and thousands of other members of the world’s best-trained fighting forces will be turning over every rock on the planet to find these bastards is a comfort. It’s comforting because I know that you and your colleagues will leave nothing undone in your search for the people responsible.
Remember, though, that we are a people of laws and justice. Once the perpetrators are found, we should do what we did at Nuremberg; capture those responsible for the slaughter of innocent people, give them a fair trial, and then kill the sons-of-bitches.
As a Christian, I’m not a complete pacifist, but came to the conclusion long ago that if you believe in a loving God, you’ve got to have an extremely good reason to kill someone else that He loves - that you’ve pretty much exhausted all the reasonable alternatives.
I’m aware that I can’t expect nations, even ones that are led by people claiming to be Christians, to act according to that same sort of rationale; nations have their own set of imperatives. But I still get pretty upset when this nation doesn’t at least try its best to avoid bloodshed within the constraints those imperatives impose. I don’t want this country killing people when it has no pressing need for them to be dead.*
But I have no use for these dancing-in-the-street Palestinians for exactly the same reason: their God loved these people. And yet they’re celebrating their deaths.
My thought for them runs like this: maybe you goat-felchers over there deserve your own country; maybe not. And I’m not changing my tune when it comes to believing that things would probably be a lot better over there if Israel cleared out of the West Bank and handed it over to you.
But whatever degree of moral support you were expecting from Americans in your endeavor to win your homeland - I suspect it’s history. It certainly is in my case, for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to wish you well when you rejoice at our deaths, and frankly, I’m not even gonna try. Maybe you and the Israelis deserve each other right now. Have fun.
*[sub]Mind you, this doesn’t apply to the current situation. From any reasonable point of view consistent with that of a nation that expects to be taken seriously, the U.S. has a pressing need to track down and kill the perpetrators of this abomination. And the will for the task, I might add.[/sub]
Bluesman, what would you say is the average time it takes the Air Force to train someone to be able to fly a fighter jet or something similar? My hearing isn’t very good, but I’d wager I have better vision than . . . well, most people. And I thought that might be conducive to flying a plane (the vision bit).