One Nation Under God

So I was driving down the Merritt Parkway the other day when I passed (yes, as usual driving faster than is posted - get over it) a humvee with 3 national guardsman in it. They looked all of about 12, but were fully camo-uniformed and acknowledged my salute as I passed. They clearly were not currently serving in Kandahar or Fallujah or some other delightful tourist destination (For a bit of trivia, do you know where we currently have active combat troops deployed? Give up? How about Iraq, Afghanistan (those are the easy ones), South Korea (less you forget bordering on a nation, technically still at war with our ally and run by a pompadour wearing, Elvis like crazy man), Kosovo (yes, we are still there mediating between parties of centuries' old local grievances) and Bosnia (right next door). That said, they might have come back or be heading out, for all I know. They may have endured conditions we can only imagine through Hollywood's dramatization. Let's be frank: you and I, having not been "in combat" have no idea what they may have or might face. 

I have more respect for those kids I passed than I do for most residents of a neighboring county, who drive over the border to my fair Camelot and behave like barnyard animals at a trough. These kids show a selflessness, which some of these neighboring residents should learn, and a sense of duty which should make us all stand at attention. Remember that line from "A Few Good Men"? There is an exchange between Demi Moore and Kevin Pollak. She asks him why he hates the soldiers involved so much and he asks her why she likes them so much. Demi's character says: "Because they stand up on a wall, and they say 'Nothing's gonna hurt you tonight. not on my watch'".

That should give you goose bumps. It does me. While a line from Hollywood fiction, it means a lot to me. It means that some young man or woman, maybe just in lieu of a career elsewhere, is willing to sacrifice him/herself to protect what we have here. Sure, the objectives of each individual serviceman/woman may not be that noble, but I choose to believe the vast majority are. I have friends who have served, are serving. I recently lost a neighbor who was an army pilot (there was no air force in WWII), who was shot down over Germany and became a POW before escaping back to Paris. I was close with a friend who's father landed on the beaches at D-Day. These folks served out of pride. I'd like to think they were not alone.

This is not just a nation of people but of ideas and spirit. It is an eagle on an unfurled banner. It is the red, white and blue of "Old Glory". It is "the land of the free and the home of the brave". It is that rush of both warm and cold emotion and nearing tears that wash over me when I think about those symbols of my patriotism, when I stand at attention, hand over heart and sing Francis Scott Key's 1814 Overture. This is "One Nation Under God" and it is all our Gods. This is what these young men protect.

I wondered, as I drove on what the world held for those boys. I wondered if I could have mustered to the call and why I did not (I had my letters for the Air Force Academy being prepared when I was told that I could not fly - too many broken bones, and I bailed). I wonder what I will say of one of my kids asks me what I think about them "joining up". All I do know, is that I did not know those 3 young men, but I could not have been more proud of them.