It "felt good" to see the Army protecting the Bay Bridge yesterday

As I passed by the tunnel through Treasure Island I saw them out of the corner of my eye. Two men in camo fatigues standing next to a Humvee with rifles in their hands. I know very well they could do little to stop anyone from blowing up the bridge but I think I like the idea of having a military presence in the city.

In fact, I don’t think I would mind if I saw Marines patrolling city streets either. As much as I dislike Police in general, the military does not bother me in the same way. Maybe because I know they have a very specific and narrow purpose. Am I going crazy ? Am I endorsing a “Police State” ?

This is in spite of the fact that I think the Military cannot prevent someone from detonating a minivan full of C-4 anywhere they wish. Have I watched too much television, do I have too much testosterone pumping through my body ?

Anyone else from the Bay Area have any thoughts about this ? Anyone live in a country where this is a daily reality ?

I couldn’t possible disagree more. I’m up here in Seattle, and yes, we have several bridges that could make pretty explosions if some nasties really knew what they were doing. One I particularly like is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which crosses that section of the Puget Sound from Tacoma to the Olympic Peninsula. It’s a beautiful bridge, with an equally beautiful view. We are very like the Bay Area, aren’t we? (Note: this only matters if you care to look at a map or know said location).
The uniforms here too are out in force. I do appreciate their presence, but at the same time I really, really resent the hell out of it. We shouldn’t have to live under fear of imminent attack, damn it. I don’t want to live this way, I don’t want my children to live this way, and I’m all too aware that we may shortly become used to it, damn it all. The anger I feel about this is cold and quiet, and will last a long time. I want the people who caused this, all of them, all over the world, to be eliminated. Destroyed. Obliterated. I want my sense of life, security, my way of life back.

Well, every time I see a couple of soldiers standing guard in front of some huge thing like a bridge, or down at my local airport, I think, “Kenya embassy bombing”. There were Marines standing guard in front there, too. Lotta good it did.

http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/eastafrica/summary.htm

I think, “We’re dealing with fanatics here, folks. Suicide bombers. How is having a couple of National Guardsmen walking up and down the Golden Gate Bridge gonna stop the Bad Guys from blowing it up, and themselves with it, if they’ve really got their heart set on it?”

I mean, I’m sorry, I know that’s negative, but there it is.

Those Guardsmen are the physical manifestation of what we, the uniformed services, do every day: protect the country. For the first time, the country can see them doing what they’ve been doing all along, for the past 226 years.

I hear some of you out there, saying we failed. In a small sense, we did. We couldn’t stop them. We may fail to stop them again.

But in a larger sense, we did NOT fail. I promise you this: we will not be defeated. We will not let anybody make slaves out of us or our children. They killed some of us, but they cannot make us do what they want. We will not back down. The United States citizen will always be his own sovereign.

I am doing my dead level best to kill as many of my country’s enemies as I possibly can. And I look forward to the day when I get laid off, because there’s not enough work to go around anymore. But for now, business is boomin’, pardon the pun.

There are ways to keep that suicide bomber from getting to you, and those Guardsmen are the very last line of defense, albeit the one everybody can see.

But the rest of us are there, too. Folks, you’ve got to have courage and heart. The bad guys think we don’t have the guts to do anything to 'em, and for far too long, they’ve been right. They believe we will run out of nerve, that we can’t go all the way to the end. They’ve seen us turn tail before, and they think that’s what we’ll always do. But we can’t. We’ve got to fight.

Screw your courage to the sticking point, and don’t let 'em see ya sweat. DO NOT use defeatist language, don’t act like you’re whipped. You can go farther, and you have to. You need to understand something: national morale is everything. John F. Kennedy knew it, and he called on America to prepare for the ‘long, twilight struggle’ with communism. So must all of us prepare for another such struggle, against another evil enemy.

You are not beaten unless you think you are. We are our father’s sons, and we are descended from the feistiest, toughest, cleverest, and finest people on Earth. Marvel at the memory of the men that stormed Normandy, and believe that you, too, are the savior of your country.

We’ve induged ourselves far too long, and in our comfort, some of us have forgotten that none of this was free, that it was earned for us by better men. Put your head up, throw your chest out and your shoulders back, and act like winners.

And I guarantee we’ll win.

Very nicely said Bluesman.