Troopathon 2009: A Precious Few
by Dwight Schultz
Winston Churchill once said, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.” During WW ll the American population was nearly 130 million, from which 17 million men and women in uniform fought for world freedom. Today we are a country of over 300 million people, yet less than 1.5 million Americans, a precious few, volunteer to defend western values from the kind of chaos which leads to the fall of civilizations. Churchill’s words are even more apt than in 1940, and were he alive, he would be moved by the courage, deep conviction and disarming humility displayed by the incredible men and women of the United States Military.
Dwight Schultz
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12 Comments
In the show BAND OF BROTHERS, one of the real paratroopers described how a few men in his hometown committed suicide after they were rejected as 4-F by the Selective Service. I ask young men today if they'll serve "Dude! I ain't fightin' Bush's war. Dude! The new x-Box is comin' out:….ad nausium We still have many in this generation who will stand up and be counted. They are mostly ignored, sometimes ridiculed, many times despised, and always Americans.
Oh what the difference a couple of generation makes.
Got that right
Thanks Dwight. I'm sitting here looking at the Purple Heart on the wall. My uncle George was shot down doing recon in the Phillipines, the day after Pearl Harbor attack. He was long gone before I came along, but he was a strapping football player, who would have gone on to do great things, before he was cut down trying to stop facism. I'm researching a book about his unit, and it's difficult because of the sketchy details, but his bravery and sacrifice lives on through our troops today. For our troops is a fine cause.. a simple declaration of thanks and support and I plan to donate.
The people who serve our country by joining the military are without a doubt the finest of us all. They deserve our respect and support. My sincerest thanks to all of them for their sacrifices.
Thank you Dwight for the great post. Looking forward to the next one.
Well said.
Not to split hairs, but wasn't Churchills famous quote in regard to the pilots of the RAF? The statement was in regards to their efforts that curbed Hitler's ability to invade the UK.
Love the sentiment, though!
Great Post
http://troopathon.org to help out on Troopathon, also you can help out int he blogger shootout, I am with The Hot Air Steamers.
Yeah, Dan. Churchill's statement was about, RAF Fighter Command. But Mr Schultz's point was a small number of people are keeping all of us safe. Not too dissimilar to what Fighter Command did in 1940. Only the US Military has been doing it far longer.
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Its not out of contex here, Most of that 1.5 million are support troops, for the trigger pullers. And in that sense you have a real small number of people who are doing the killing that needs to be done in this war. Its a very strange war and a dirty one. All of them are of value and are valued, an Apache Helicopter is only as good as the pilot that flies it, and more important the dozen or so who keep it airworthy and ready to fly with out them, the pilot will not be able to carry out his job. We tend to forget the people who do that sort of work, keeping the machine up and running is were War's are won or lost. As a side note, good to see Howling Mad Murdock around. You ever get around to learning how to fly in real life? I been flying for 34 + years and that is the reason for the question.
Rather than decry those of the current generation that would rather play Xbox then join the military, I have been very pleased to see how many of our young people were willing to stand up and be counted after September 11th. Prior to that, I didn't think our country still had such young people. I have been very happy to have been proven so wrong.
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