What the Heck was I Thinking!?

Don Surber almost ruined my new keyboard when coffee went out my nose as I read this song entry for his Week That Was post:

Ohh

Who lives in cable news obscurity?

SpongeKeith WetPants

Now I almost like SpongeBob… almost.

Don Surber » Blog Archive » The week that was

J.D. Johannes, who blogs at “Outside the Wire,” had a great post about the most recent anti-U.S., anti-war movies. He skewers the anti-war crowd dead-center with these comments:

The human mind craves the same narrative–this was illustrated by Joseph Campbell…also, we all want to be the hero.

But when confronted with a real life situation–like the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and larger war on terror few will step up to be heroes.

The many who do not have the ability to step up fall into two categories–those who acknowledge their inability to be heroes and those who do not.

Being a hero is not a job for everyone, many accept this and give credit to those who are willing to take the challenge.

But there is another group for who the sting of their own cowardice is too much to bear. They are not willing to accept that they cannot be heroes. (emphasis added)

This recalls the “On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs” post by LTC (Ret) Dave Grossman. Both Johannes’ and Grossman’s posts are very good reads.

(h/t the Instapundit)

End of the War Hero

Instapundit points to a blog post by COL Austin Bay (ret.) about "the struggle." "The struggle" is probably more apt, as Bay points out in the excerpt below.

Austin Bay Blog » A conversation in Bagram, Afghanistan

Tyrannies keep breeding this insanity. The only solution is consensus, wealth-producing societies, where everyone gets a say and everyone has a buy-in. If it sounds like democracy then call it that. Its sustainable stability, ever evolving sustainable stability when people police terrorists and don’t promote them. That’s a long struggle, and struggle may be a more apt word than war. But achieving it is so difficult. It takes more than military power, we know that. The politics and economics will be decisive, but as long as the thugs are willing to kill we must fight. Is there a substitute for courage? If there is, show it to me.

Instapundit excerpted a different section, but this one spoke to my concern - this will be a long, generational struggle. We must either sustain our will to see it through successfully, or we will drop our guard, suffer attacks, and have to reignite our anger. How often will our military stand for see-sawing support?

Thanks, COL Bay, and to the LtCol in the conversation. These are the kind of exemplary leaders we must cherish. Their example shows us just how noble the military can be.

Austin Bay Blog » A conversation in Bagram, Afghanistan