A Necessary Evil; an Intolerable Blight on the Land

You've heard it said; 'they eat their own' to describe all manner of self-destructive behavior as it pertains to organizations. We've all seen evidence of this kind of behavior and may even have been detrimentally affected by it. It's one of those phenomena that's difficult to explain to a sane person who has been 'off-world' for all of their adult lives because there isn't any rational excuse for it. It is seldom when you can point to a specific case and say, there; they fired Sam to further their career or to grow the company. The sane man might ask, why are we firing Sam when he is one of the best salesmen we have had or why Sam when so many others have done exactly the same thing and even been promoted in spite of it. Most often the answer lies in some base instinct to massage the ego of the person carrying out the 'execution'.

As it pertains to a nation; it is either subversive, politically ideological, diversionary or self ingratiating. None of these are acceptable and in most cases, the victims are the most vulnerable in whatever department of government they are in; those who will not be missed or on whom can be heaped all of the sins of the sitting administration.

It was Thomas Paine who said; "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." The government we as Americans are most familiar with, our own, has done it's best to make that statement true, over, and over, again. Almost all departments of government are to blame including the Department of Defense. During those instances when we see this kind of behavior emanating from that department it is most troubling largely because those who serve there (and I am speaking of those who serve in the lower echelons) have absolutely nothing to gain accept the knowledge that they have served their country. These days, however, there are a growing - almost daily listing of instances where upper echelon leadership and/or our civilian elected officials seem to be playing a perverse game of 'pin the tail on the donkey'.

SSgt CM sent this story concerning the discharge of Captain Hill for 'abuse of detainees'. The detainees in question were the enemy, the method he used to encourage them to talk was a ruse in which no physical contact was made with the 'detainees' and, most importantly, the ruse was successful. God forbid. One can only assume upper echelon and the dopes in DC were upset because we won in that encounter.

In another story sent by Andy Bostom, there is yet another possible instance of rogue Islamic adherents attempting to kill American military members on sovereign American soil. The story says that the incident is 'under investigation' which may be code for yet another duck and cover run by the Obama administration and his cronies.

In another story we have yet another travesty, Herschel Smith writes about the investigation into the death of 3 Marines and a Navy Corpsman in Ganjgal last year. As was predicted by Herschel and those of us who have served in uniform could have told you, upper echelon and their civilian masters are insuring they are indemnified by insuring someone else ultimately pays the price for their completely unnecessary deaths. The truth is, the vaguely issued ROE and those who penned that monstrosity are to blame. Those who have knowingly placed all of our Warriors at unnecessary risk for the sake of Afghans who cannot be trusted, are to blame but they have forgotten one of the leadership principles; 'seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions'. They have instead chosen to seek a sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat upon which to heap their unspeakable sins.

The continued unwillingness to attribute any subversive, aberrant illegal, immoral or unsavory act to the Islamic religion or its Koran is wearing exceptionally thin. Continuing to seek American Warriors to destroy legally and symbolically is also beginning to take its toll on not only true Americans but the Warrior community as a whole.

For those of you who 'serve' at the pleasure of the electorate and for those of you who have been appointed by them know this; God (not Allah), is not mocked. He knows you and has found you wanting. There is a reckoning. For the electorate, 2010 may prove to be a cleansing experience. For the elected and appointed, 2010 may prove to be a waterloo moment. For our Warriors; it will be business as usual because they have no ulterior motives. They signed to serve and always serve with distinction. Once this is over, they will sleep at night. Those of you in DC, may also but your eternal prognosis is not one I envy.