Sacrifice

I have heard it said, more than once, that President Bush has failed to get the American people involved in the war. He hasn't asked the American people to make any sacrifices! Or so I have read in the paper and heard on the Sunday morning shows.

I don't really know what that means. Should Bush ask the folks to stop drinking alcohol for the duration of the war? Deployed Soldiers can't drink. How about collecting scrap metal or giving up silk like in World War 2? The fact is, we don't have shortages of war stocks. We don't need civilians to go and turn in their kevlar vests for use by the troops - feel free to keep yours!

Hollow gestures would be meaningless, so I don't know what these people want the president to ask for. There are, however, many people out there doing lots of things to help out. Not the least of whom are the Patriot Guard Riders, who attend the funerals of fallen servicemembers to protect and honor them. These guys are sacrificing personal time, they ask for no money, they just go out and do it. http://www.patriotguard.org/


How about the Wounded Warrior Project? They are trying to meet the needs of Soldiers wounded in Iraq and elsewhere. http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

I met a lady organizing a local community group support drive, she was collecting donations for "goodie boxes" to send to Soldiers overseas. I didn't think to ask her if President Bush had told her to do it.

While I was deployed I went and met Bruce Willis and Lee Ermey (the guy from "Mail Call"). While I was there Arnold Schwarzenegger came through and a bunch of bands and singers came over to entertain. Maybe Bush asked them, but I don't think so.

So again, I ask: what is it these people are waiting to be asked to do? If you want to help Soldiers, there are a bunch of ways to do so. If you want to make some kind of sacrifice, give some time to help out a local family support group for deployed Soldiers families.

If you are against the war, go out and work with a group trying to end it. I don't mind. As a Soldier, I probably want the war over more than you do. Protest if it makes you feel better, or volunteer to work for a political candidate that will work towards what you want. Better to work within the system to attain your goals, in my opinion.

Just don't forget that you can safely protest against the government here, and hundreds of millions of people in other parts of the world can't. Take a moment to appreciate that before you criticize this country to harshly.

And there is no need to thank us (unless you want to.)