Rough Men and Women Standing Ready...

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell

Well, at least I think George Orwell said it...seems to be some controversy on the Internet...but like it or not, it's true.

Tonight, we have men and women...Americans, Brits, Poles, Koreans, Iraqis and more standing ready to do violence on our behalf....and on the half of the Iraqi and Afghan people among others. We're doing what we can to ensure than men and women can get to work safely, kids to schools without incident, and the day to day things that we as free people seem to take for granted. There are those that would like to wrestle those and other freedoms away from the Iraqi and Afghan people in the name of a religious fervor that would seem to be somewhat out of date...wouldn't you think?

Go "Google" a search on "Islam sects" and do a little reading. I took a brief few minutes to do this today and found a wealth of information about the faith that I have been neglectful in not investigating further. There are far more sects than I thought....Shia and Sunni are just two of many. Read a little bit about the beliefs...and see what you think.

The bottom line of this post came to me this evening as I stood retreat as the colors came down from the pole at Fort Hood, Texas. As the bugle call played...I began to think about what to write tonight and here it is....

As members of the blogosphere, traveling at will on the Internet, we have the freedom of speech and we're exercising it. That freedom comes at a cost....and the forces of freedom are out there protecting it tonight, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. Keep in mind that it is not the politician in Washington or London or wherever that gave you this freedom....nor is it the media we seem to hold in such high regard and wonderment. It has been the soldier, no matter what flag is flown on the soldier that is the guarantor of such rights....enjoy them.

Tonight I have two pieces of bad news....first, we've lost seven soldiers here at Fort Hood today when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed due to a TV tower guide wire. From what I understand, we've lost some very senior folks...keep an eye out on the news for more details.

The second, and one much closer to home comes from Afghanistan. The husband of a friend and acquaintance from West Point is missing. I don't have many details, but I'm piecing together what I think will probably be the story....another helicopter missing in the mountains of Iraq. Let's hope they just had to put down because of weather...and are simply waiting for some clearing before returning to base or that they'll be found by search and rescue. If you're the praying type...say a couple for this family and the families of the crew and passengers.

See you all on the high ground tomorrow....

MajorDad1984

And here is the rest of it.