24Nov05

A Thanksgiving Day Story, from a friend and student in Country:

"For the second time since I've been in Country, a first sergeant a pproached me today in the Thanksgiving-dinner chow line, put his arm around my shoulder, and stated, 'I notice there is a magazine in your pistol, soldier. It's not actually loaded, is it?' I calmly informed him I'm a CID agent, that my pistol was 'actually' loaded, and =80=98that's just the w ay we do things.'

He backed off, put his palms up, and replied with the customary loser=80 s self-justification, 'I don't make the rules,' to which I ret orted, 'You're part of the problem, top. We're standing in an active combat zone, and I 'm the only one in this entire room with a gun that will actually shoot!' M y reply flew over his head, of course, but it was a sad reminder of how shamefully

emasculated our armed forces have become, even in an area of active fighting .

I wasn't issued ammunition until eight days after I arrived in theater. Fortunately, per your advice, I brought my own. There is no excuse for such

casual disregard for the personal safety of troops. Unfortunately, I'm not

holding my breath that our commanders, or our politicians, will do anything that will push this floundering system in the right direction."

Comment: We are fighting decades of gun-phobia, which has made its way into

every corner of our civilization, even our "armed" forces, a nd even when they are deployed to a combat zone and actively engaged in a war!

/John