Sunday's Quote: War

I have a cousin who joined the Marines four years ago. A soldier in the 2nd Division {3rd Battalion, 6th Regiment: "Devil Dogs"}, Griff did two tours in Iraq and would have been deployed a third time, probably to Afghanistan, had he initially enlisted just four days earlier.

Knowing that a mere 96 hours was the difference between a return to civilian life and being sent into the "Graveyard of Empires" must be tremendously relieving for my cousin, who returned home for good just 10 days ago.

I thought recently about the Brigadier General who told my aunt and uncle (Griff's parents) that American forces were fighting a "politically correct war," and that our military possessed the capacity to "clean house" if our warriors of the ground, sea, and air were fully allowed to take matters to such a hardcore level.

It's a confounding shame to realize that our military personnel are blocked from doing all that they're trained to do because of political correctness; that our troops are stymied by those who are more concerned about the welfare of those who hate us than those who defend us is yet another mind-numbing commentary on our present state of affairs.

As a result, and in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day (tomorrow), I reached back to a voice from the past -- among the most politically incorrect of all-time -- to perhaps re-establish a sense of valor in the face of hypersensitivity, and on behalf of those who personify our core qualities as well as anyone:

"When we land against the enemy, do not forget to hit him and hit him hard. When we meet the enemy, we will kill him. We will show him no mercy. He has killed thousands of your comrades and he must die. If your company officers in leading your men against the enemy find him shooting at you and when you get within two hundred yards and him and he wishes to surrender -- oh no! That bastard will die."
-- Lt. General George S. Patton, United States Army, prior to the July 9, 1943 invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) during World War II. Initially outnumbered by over 100,000 soldiers, the American, British and Canadian forces overcame their Axis rivals in just six weeks.