Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I've finally decided to take the plunge and create a blog. I only sort of know what I'm doing, so please bear with me while I learn about blogging through trial and error. To keep you entertained in the meantime, here's an opinion piece I wrote back in August.

We Support the Troops…Or Do We?
We support the troops. This is the familiar cry of politicians and farmers alike. But do these just empty words? It seems to me that a mixed message is being sent. We support you, but not your mission. We support the troops, but this isn’t our war any longer and we should bring all of our troops home. We need to get out of a war we can’t win. To me, that sounds like, “We pretend to support you because it sounds good, but we don’t believe in what you’re doing and think you going to fail. Come home now so we can forget this nasty little incident ever happened and we can continue to feel good because we say we support you.”
How can anyone truly support the troops, but not support them in what they’re doing? Yes, the war in Iraq is a terrible thing, but all war is terrible. The news media keep calling it an unpopular war. Isn’t all war unpopular because it disrupts and destroys so many lives? Yes, thousands of our men and women have died in Iraq, but a study of history shows that number is remarkably small to the number of casualties in past wars. Each life lost is devastating to the family and friends, but in my mind, those men and women are heroes. They paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect my freedom. It makes me proud to say I’m American when I think of their willingness to put their lives on the line to help secure the freedom of another country.
I support the troops. I believe they’re going to win this war and help stop terrorism. I believe in the good they’re doing in a war-torn country on the other side of the world. I also believe we could change the tide of public opinion if the media would show more of the good being done in Iraq and less of the bad. Instead of just giving us the number of people who died, show the school that was opened; the neighborhood that didn’t get bombed because of our troops’ protection; the children playing outside, secure in knowing someone is nearby to keep away the bad guys.
The politicians need to do their job of running the country and let the military do its job of running the war. General Petraeus knows firsthand what’s happening on the ground in Iraq and still believes we have a chance to succeed. The people on Capitol Hill need to listen, truly listen, to him and the other commanders before deciding that the troops should be brought home immediately. By continuing on their current path of insisting on a timeline for troop withdrawal and fostering discontent among the American people, they’re giving the terrorists plenty of propaganda to gain support for their evil cause. If the politicians would begin to speak out in favor of the military and the job they’re doing, and truly support the troops instead of just spouting empty words, I believe the tide of this war could turn.
One phrase comes to mind, one that should be given serious consideration by every American: United we stand, divided we fall. Right now, we’re a pretty divided nation. If we unite together in the cause of stopping terrorism and succeeding in Iraq, I believe we can achieve both of those goals. If we remain divided, our nation loses its strength and we’re at greater risk for more terrorist attacks on our own soil.
Let’s show the world that we’re “one nation, under God, indivisible” like it says in our Pledge of Allegiance, and truly support our troops and the mission we gave them. Let the generals run the war, not the suits in Washington.