Perception is Reality

Written by infantrymarine, posted to me on FreeRepublic, and he asked that I widen the circle of readers.

In light of the current vote in congress for withholding reinforcements to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the upcoming antiwar rally to be held at the Vietnam Veterans memorial Grounds, I sent this letter to the editor today.

Letter To The Editor:

Morale and perception of strength are as much weapons of war as are troops and military. Armaments, which some Democrats and their allied antiwar groups are attempting to remove from our arsenal.

The potential for recent 'immediate withdrawal' statements to create doubt in the minds of our military of the public's support and is very dangerous. Should that doubt take root it would be disastrous to them and the nation.

We ask our men and women in wartime to kill on our behalf.

We give them legitimacy, justification, and, most importantly, absolution to do so.

When we give them reason to doubt this justification and absolution, we destroy their morale. When we remove them, we replace them with blame. Blame is quickly replaced by shame, ultimately that shame metastasizes into guilt.

And, GUILT is the one thing that America should never again be allowed to inflict upon another generation of her veterans.

When we destroy the troops morale we dishonor their service and we destroy their honor.

And, we dishonor it, when honor [and personal faith] is, at times, all they have to sustain them through the horrors they must endure and inflict on our behalf.

Honor is essential to character. When you destroy honor, you destroy character.

Destroy that, and you destroy the individual.

Destroy the individual, and you destroy the nation.

Democrats and antiwar activists should think about that before using the mass media again in their attempt to score political points at the expense of the troops. The consequences of their actions are emboldening our adversaries, and in the process they are shooting the nation and themselves in the foot.

More importantly ... they are shooting the troops through the heart.