Friday, May 6, 2011

My Friend Playing With SEALS

I am shocked, but not surprised that the Boy King has decided to out Fort Campbell.  My best friend has been fighting in Afghanistan since the beginning of the Afghan war.  He is an officer in Special Forces and his unit/etc. shall stay unnamed.  They have been fighting this war for a very long time.  Catching Osama means a lot to them.  As many people in the military are, they do not need glory or recognition for their win.  They are humble and appreciative....but frankly civilians are annoying.

We have been watching all week the Boy King pat himself on the back and stage photo ops because he has politicized this entire operation down to the coffee mugs on sale.  In a Republican world the military would have been entirely in control of the message.  They would have controlled the information or lack of information that reached the public because THEY are responsible for keeping our troops safe and for keeping the country safe.

But the Boy King does not see it that way.  This is an event that he has to capitalize on so he can stay in power.  To hell with the troops.  To hell with the country.  He wants to get re-elected.  To think that he suddenly has love for our country after he has spent two years trying to dismantle it is ludicrous. 

The Boy King traveling down to Fort Campbell to meet with the SEALS makes every single military family in Clarksville cringe. He just put a huge red X on that base.  Not that the 101st isn't used to the attention, throughout history the 101st Airborne has been part of many historic battles...but this is no ordinary battle.

Before I get a bunch of emails telling me that it was the 160th and not 101st....Let me explain:  The news media is never telling you the correct news.  If you knew how inaccurate the news media was most of the time you'd never believe a word they said again.  There are MANY units that have been fighting this war and have participated for YEARS in this capture.  The SEALS fired the fatal shot but they do not stand apart from the rest of the troops.  They celebrate as a group.

I've sat at this computer countless years with my messenger on throughout the middle of the night waiting on my friend to tell me news, good or bad.  Of course, he couldn't tell me about a mission beforehand but I had a good idea when they were up to something and we had signals.  I knew when to turn on the news.  He works with the SEALS. 

One of my favorite stories he told me....Just a regular day.  He was all excited because he had to go to a forward operating base (FOB) back in the beginning of the war when they were just clearing out and setting up bases in Eastern Afghan.  Special Forces, SEALS, CIA....you'd be amazed the collage of folks involved.  He had to get to an FOB so he was hitching a ride with some SEALS in a jeep.  This was way before they had the special armor or had all the fancy equipment they used to detect the IEDs.  This was back when they used their eyes and common sense and hoped for the best.

So he hops in the jeep with the SEALS and he's headed down a dirt and gravel road with them to get to the base miles away and he says their method for avoiding the IEDs was to drive 90 miles an hour!  As he put it "They are INSANE."  He said it was the scariest thing he'd ever done in his life.  They were flying through the air, sliding, bouncing, hauling ass through the desert of Afghanistan and the SEALS were so used to the drive they didn't even think twice about it.  Yet he was terrified but of course....He couldn't blink, right?  I will always remember him coming back and telling me about this.

Or the time his IM popped up and he said "A bomb just went off at the gate...I have dust all over me...Be right back".

Or the time I was whining because he had been busy and couldn't chat much....and his response was "Well SOORREEEE but I'm fighting a WAR here."

So when the Boy King stands on Fort Campbell with his Styrofoam Greek pillars and adores himself today....Remember who initiated this war.  Remember who fought this war.  Remember ALL THE TROOPS.  They are still there fighting and have work to do.  The Boy King wants his photo ops but we know who to give the real credit to.

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