HBO Captures a Marine’s Final Journey Home
by Rebecca Cusey
Did you know that every fallen soldier travels from Dover to their final resting place with an escort every step of the way? HBO captures this touching journey in a new drama starring Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance, premiering February 21. Bacon portrays the real-life journey of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, who was tasked with escorting home a stranger, Chance Phelps. Phelps, a 19 year old Lance Corporal, had been killed in action in Iraq.
At a press event for the drama today, Strobl described how, as he escorted the body to Dubois, Wyoming, construction workers paused and put their hard hats over their hearts, a flight attendant handed him a crucifix, and ordinary Americans responded with emotion. “All of these people who you could presume had varying political views,” said Strobl, “exhibited a profound sense of gratitude and sorrow at Chance’s loss.”
“It’s an extremely profound comment on the casualties of war,” said Bacon. It’s also a profound comment on the great debt we owe our service men and women.
Have you been moved or touched by a fallen soldier finally coming home?
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
52 Comments
“Have you been moved or touched by a fallen soldier finally coming home?”
Yes…
Touching,yet why no outrage at those responsible for him being sent there in the first place?
Are we asleep?
What do Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz have in common?,they were the leaders in the “office of special plans” in the pentagon that went with and portrayed the phony Uranium yellowcake documents as legitimate to get the US to destroy Iraq.
Connect the dots,almost all of the people who were in our government who advocated this war have dual citizenship with Israel and it just so happens that Israel is the beneficiary of the destruction of Iraq and will be the beneficiary of the destruction of Iran as well.
Our nations’ policies have been hijacked by a group who have a loyalty to another country and they are clever at convincing gullible Americans(thru the unlimited use of the airwaves) that Israel’s security threats are the same as ours(they are not)but we are paying dearly for it with our blood and our treasure.
We must stop acting on behalf of a foreign government and get back to what the constitution demands of our government,there may not be much time left.
I was also in the marines 1983-1987
Hugs Knottie…. I sure hope they don’t try to slip something demeaning into this. If it is true to the story without trying to turn our heroes(like your son)into victims or dupes, it should be amazing.
When I visited a friend’s grave at our National Cemetery a funeral procession entered the grounds as I was walking back to my car. The grounds maintenance workers stopped what they were doing and stood at attention until the hearse was out of sight or stopped. I thought it will be the first chance they have to honor the soldier but not the last as they keep the final resting place immaculate.
Dave – life is easier without the tin foil on your head.
Yes I have. Been to memorials for Marines who fell in Afghanistan. Our guys were amazingly brave and the two who were killed did something I cannot even describe. Our boys because those two kids did what they did were able to regroup and take out a Taliban hideout. Lets just say it was not a good day for the Taliban in the end. And those two kids won the Bronze Star. The memorial was sad but the familys were proud. Small town kids from places where everyone knew them. They were raised to have faith in things greater than themselves.
Look up the Patriot Guards. They provide motorcycle escort for military funerals, homecomings, etc. I’ve ridden with them a few times. Was worried that it would be too emotional. But it’s very low key, at least as low key as 50 guys on bikes can be. And a good way to how support.
Dave as a military family member everything you said is an insult to the men and women who have the duty and dare I say honor of defending this country. Now you can apologize to me and the rest who have more a handle on the situation than you do but you probably won’t. But please keep your vulgarity out of it. The guys don’t care about politics. They have to do their jobs no matter who is in charge. So why don’t you back off and show some respect.
“Connect the dots,almost all of the people who were in our government who advocated this war have dual citizenship with Israel and it just so happens that Israel is the beneficiary of the destruction of Iraq and will be the beneficiary of the destruction of Iran as well.”
Next thing you know Dave will be telling us that all the Jews who worked in the Twin Towers took the day off on 9/11 because they had advance notice.
You all need to read the first person narrative before viewing this film.
Not that I mistrust Hollywood!
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/04/taking_chance.html
It is my understanding the Lt Col Strobl was actively involved in the making of this movie. That fact alone assures me it will be well done and as close to his words as possible. Lt Col Strobl is a man of honor and I very much doubt he would attach himself to anything less than the respectful telling of this story.
I just saw the trailer for this HBO movie, and it made me tear up. It looks like a wonderful film, sad, but showing how much respect so many people in our country have for our armed forces. I will be sure to watch.
As a matter of fact, I do have a great amount of outrage for those who sent our fine men and women over there to fight for my sorry buttocks–the 19 hijackers and those of like minds, who seek to kill us all. If they had never done that we would have been perfectly happy to live and let live, but when someone is out to KILL YOU and those you love, you must fight back.
God bless those who do that for me, and their families who wait for them to come home.
Dave-
Thank you for your service, now STFU!
This one will be very hard to watch but I will have to watch it. I have seen the process from a father’s prospective, I would like to see the rest of the story acted out as well or better than the fine article of Lt.Col Strobl. He tells the story beautifully and completely.
And this is for Dave.. why do all the liberal asshats always pretend to care the least little bit about the blood and treasure that they are risking with one side of their two faces and then damn the troops and the commander in chief with the other? The fact is that the leftists who carry on so about the war on terror never seem to want to man up to fight anything but their own countrymen and usually behind some poison pen somewhere and never in the light of day? The leftists who have always been apologists for the terrorist should try and learn a little history and read their compatriots (Hamas and Hezbollah) charters before looking so damn foolish.
Touched, grateful, and afraid for my two brothers in the military.
Yes, I have been affected. Last summer went to the airport to pick up my niece and there was a fallen soldier coming come, complete with an escort on the road by the California Highway Patrol. How could one not be affected?
Then I was filling up my car when a middle aged woman with a Harley came in. Naturally I commented on her beautiful machine and I learned that she had just come back from a Patriot Guard funeral.
These are the men and women who insure the grieving family and friends have some peace from those whacked-out Kansas church people who come to demonstrate against them.
Anyway I told her it’d be an honor to let me pay for her gas.
It’s good if they are making a movie on this topic, but I’ still be careful if they are slanting it as a comment on the casualties of war, not as how people salute their heroes.
Where do guys like Chance come from? Because we surely don’t deserve them.
Guys like him make us feel a little smaller, because they have showed to be of a better “material” than the rest of us. That’s why some respond to them by mocking, spitting, and name-calling. Others, like me, see what they have done for us and humbly say, “Thank You.”
@Newton
Guys like Chance are America and they are born from a love of this great Nation.
The best citizenship is taught in the military. God and country in that order. One whose members take the oath to die for its country and we treat and morn those who die with the greatest of respect. We morn their death but are grateful to God that such individuals lived.
It is never anything but a blast of cold air when I hear individuals harping the sophistry that the war in Iraq begin when Bush 43 invaded Iraq after Saddam violated at least 17 UN directives and oh by the way had 550 metric tons of Yellow cake in his arsenal. It as if they have been in a decades stupor and now believe the world’s genesis begin on that date as they have totally ignored decades of bloviating Dems harping the danger WMDs were in Saddam’s hands and as I can testify I spending more than a decade preparing for entering that WMD environment believing the Dems as they hawked that danger and the premise that Saddam must go because of the WMDs. The bomb maker for twin towers one ran to Iraq and knowing the excess of Saddam to kill HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of his own people I find it entirely ludicrous this individual did not have Saddam’s blessing to stay in his country. And Dave thanks for you service. But glad your out. I got your yellow cake for ya… Right here… Sold to Canada for TENS of MILLIONS after his death.
http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/yellowcake-saddams-cake-mix-for-terror-weapons-of-mass-destruction/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htchem/articles/20080709.aspx
All ya hadda do was google it Dave… Musta not have spent much time on the point….
Dave, if you really were a Marine in 1983 then you should have a better understanding of why our security is tied to that of Israel. The Beirut bombings that killed U.S. servicemen were perpetrated by groups who continually assault Israel with rockets and suicide bombers. Remember 9/11? There is a reason why Israel’s enemies were dancing in the streets celebrating the murder of over 3,000 American civilians. You can chatter about conspiracy theories all you want, but you look like the ignorant anti-semite that you are when confronted with the facts. The reason your arguments are totally empty is that you are desperately grasping for evidence of a conspiracy that doesn’t exist. There is no need for such a conspiracy. Terrorists actually exist. They actually publicly state that they want to destroy two countries: the U.S. and Israel. Then they act on those beliefs by attacking those two countries and intentionally killing civilians. How hard is that to understand?
http://www.theisraelproject.org
Dave,
Do not venture outside, squirrels may attack.
I’d end by thanking you for serving in that you claim to have had the honor of being a Marine. However, an afternoon of watching Full Metal Jacket while pot smoke wandered dangerously close to your head does not qualify as having served.
Have a nice day.
Yes, I am touched by every fallen soldier returning from the field of battle.
I am also touched every time I see any member of our military in uniform. We have the finest group of young men and women serving in our military in the world.
Dave, I’m always disgusted to see how liberals like you portray the military as victims, or stupid (Sen Kerry). They are true patriots, heroes and as proud of the job they are doing as you despise it.
Yes, yes I have. I am active duty USMC. 3 tours in Iraq, and 1 in Afghanistan. At my shop back in CA we have a wall with 23 pictures on it. The 23 brothers we have lost. I have been to too many funerals and memorials. One picture is of Criss, he was a groomsman at my wedding. Another is Mikey, I was his team leader in Iraq. I am glad a movie like this is being released. Newton, thank you, you are right, those of us who serve make those that mock feel small and useless. Dave, lay off the hash.
You can’t live where I do (near Ft. Bragg) and not be affected. If it’s not someone you knew, it’s a coworker’s family member, or a neighbor’s, or someone from church; you read the stories in the paper. You go to the memorial services on post. It’s heartbreaking to stand in the Special Forces chapel and listen to the “missing man” roll call or the playing of “The Ballad of the Green Berets” at the end of the service.
Fozzy, are you a Gold Star parent? God Bless!
I was wondering when this movie about Chance Phelps would be released and where. I live in Dubois and know what a fine young man he was. We all still grieve for him and a lot of us have a Semper Fi decal on our vehicles in his honor.
His father, a Navy veteran, is a talented artist who, ironically, sculpted a war memorial for the County featuring a WWI soldier with Chance as the model when he was alive. It’s a very good sculpture that would have been moving just as it was but knowing that Chance is the young man featured in the sculpture makes it particularly poignant.
“Guys like Chance are America and they are born from a love of this great Nation.”
Yes, their indomitable American spirits will always soar mightily as our reminder of Liberty’s precious treasure.
Men and women like Chance who serve Liberty’s cause are greater than Presidents, Kings and Hollywood celebrities; they are the ultimate icon of Freedom!
All that I am, I owe to those protecting humanity’s most precious treasure.
Finally, a reason to subscribe to HBO!
And to Dave and his ilk: I’ve only been in the service for 23 years, but I think you would be surprised to find out how many “big-D” Democrats or “big-L” Liberals there are in the military. I’ve had 11 assignments and six deployments in my career and I’d say at least half the folks of every unit I’ve been in have been “left-leaning.” Particularly humorous is when we get into debates about Iraq…IN IRAQ!
So Dave, STFU, and let the real men and women do their jobs.
As I read this article and the comments, it strikes me that you, the commenters, are a cross-section of this great country, and that you folks are wonderful, too.
My nephews have been in Iraq and Afghanistan – they are all strong Americans and through their experiences have come closer to God and continue to support our efforts AND Israel’s in the war against the terrorists.
We are in our 50’s and listen to Radio Classic on Sirius – I have to say that the support shown the troops during WWII, and the fight to win message does produce a sense of nostalgia. Wish we could see more of the same in today’s pop culture and media.
Dave – Once a marine, always a marine. Except in your case.
There is much, much more to this story. I have been involved with a group of people that have been building a memorial in front of the county courthouse to all of the veterans that have ever served from Fremont County Wyoming (Dubois happens to be in this county). Chance’s dad is a sculptor, and he used his son as the model for the centerpiece bronze some few months before Chance was killed. He dressed his boy in WWII uniform and posed him as a soldier standing over a comrades’ grave, looking at his dog tags in his hand–a very moving statement. We are still raising money to pay for the final bronze of Chance to complete the memorial. When we began the design for the memorial, little did we realize how poignant and ironic it would be. You can see the sculpture and read details at http://www.somegaveallbronze.com/
And Dave, I think Chance WANTED to go and serve there…because,like most who serve, he realized there are bigger things at stake than himself, this was something he could do for everyone else in America, and you have to go to where the bad guys are or else they’ll come to where you are. I believe that history will vindicate this country’s policies when all the propaganda and lies finally get stripped away.
And to the rest of you who have served or are still serving–thanks from the bottom of our hearts, from us here in the heart of Wyoming. Some of us get it.
Dave,
When you say fake yellowcake, are you referring to that fake yellowcake that was delivered to the Canadians last year from Iraq?
You say our leadership who advocated war are mostly dual citizens. With who? Israel? Are you saying most of Congress has dual citizenship??
C’mon Dave, if you are going to make some anti-war arguments, at least make some good arguments. You can blame the Republican’s until 2006 but what’s your excuse since? What about going forward inre Afghanistan?
To all of you posters that recognize how much our brave troops have given to this country, thank you. America has much to be proud of.
And thank God there are more of you than the “daves” of this world.
@ Tar Heel Mom
Yes, Gold Star Dad of SPC Micheal “Pokey” Phillips B CO 1st/502nd 101st ABN KIA Baghdad Iraq 2/24/08.
Now I am not saying he was or isn’t but Dave doesn’t sound like any Marine I have known. Not in the slightest. To you Devil Dogs Semper Fi!
And Fozzy God Bless you and your family. Your Son is a hero.
Sergeant David K. Cooper was mortally wounded by small arms fire while on dismounted patrol in Qadasiyah, Iraq. He died of these wounds in Baghdad on 27 August, 2008.
On Sunday, 7 September, Sergeant Cooper was laid to rest in Jellico, Tennessee, following funeral services in nearby Williamsburg, Kentucky. The Patriot Guard attended the services and provided escort from the funeral home to the cemetery at the family’s request.
We couldn’t see Main Street from where we staged the bikes or from either of the flag lines. As we turned on to Main I felt a surge of anger. Williamsburg, like a lot of small towns, holds a Fall Festival—here it is called “Old Fashioned Trade Days.” They close off Main Street, put up a lot of canopied booths and display their quilts and pickles, raffle off a shotgun or two, and fill up on carnival food. Trade Days began on 4 September and ran through Sunday. When we turned on to Main, there were the canopies, there were the people. I thought to myself, “Aw dammit! Can’t these people show some respect?!”
And then I saw that they weren’t looking at quilts or buying Polish sausages. They lined the streets four and five deep, almost all of them holding American flags or signs expressing their gratitude to Sergeant Cooper or their condolences for his family. There was no festival atmosphere in the crowd, no jaunty waving of flags, no rah-rah momentary patriotism. This was a community bidding farewell to one of their own sons.
We rode on through downtown and crossed the tracks and climbed the hill that runs parallel to the University of the Cumberlands campus. There were no student protestors. We rode between packed sidewalks up to the traffic light by the high school, turned left and proceeded to link up to Kentucky Highway 92, then on to US Highway 25W, the old main road from Williamsburg to Jellico.
Another huge crowd of mourners greeted us as we reached this corner. A ladder truck was parked there, ladder extended and flying a flag the size of a pickup truck. We rode between packed crowds for the better part of a mile before getting out of Williamsburg.
But at each little community between Williamsburg and Jellico there was another solemn crowd. Each volunteer fire department we passed had their engine run out, their flag at half mast, their volunteers turned out and rendering honors as we passed. Every little crossroads had a knot of mourners standing vigil. In some places it was a single individual or single family, solemnly holding a flag and standing to honor Sergeant Cooper.
As we crossed into Tennessee we ran into packed sidewalks again, thousands of people lined up to pay their respects as the hearse passed. We escorted the graveside party through town and up to the high and lonesome cemetery where, with a guard of honor from the Whitley County Junior ROTC program, a funeral detail of Army Regulars, and full military ceremony, Sergeant David K. Cooper was returned to the native soil from which he had sprung 25 years earlier.
I was honored to be allowed to pay my respects and stand vigil over this young man. I was touched by the quiet dignity with which his family endured the services and laid their son and brother to rest. But my heart was both broken and mended by the public display of respect and shared grief that attended Sergeant Cooper’s funeral.
It was hot Sunday. It was muggy in the way that only the American Southeast can produce. These people who lined the streets and the highway stood in that heat for a couple of hours, all for the brief moment in which they could pay their respect to the family as the funeral procession passed by.
And they were sincere. David K. Cooper was not a Medal of Honor winner, nor a distinguished general with decades in uniform, nor a veteran who had returned to his home town and spent years in public service. He wasn’t a celebrity. He was just one of us.
Just. One. Of. Us.
And so we honored his passing. Even if we had never met him in life, we wept the tears as if we were laying our own blood and our own bone to rest. We stood in solemn review as he passed by. We felt the grief in a young life ended, but that grief was tempered with the fierce pride in a young life not wasted.
To those who think America has lost its way, you should have been there; you would have seen the soul of a people reaching out to hold those who grieve.
To those who think America has lost its heart, you should have been there; you would have seen the beating heart of the nation pulsing deep and true.
Chuck Smith, many thanks to you for describing a day that most of us will not see. My belated condolences to the family of Sergeant David K. Cooper as well as to his friends and members of his hometown. America has heart, you’ve seen it and so have I.
Ride on in safety and good health.
Why can’t you ficken popos distinguish between the gallant Marine or soldier who does his or her duty and the idiotic, disengenuous policies of our government who sends them in harms way under the worst president and vice president in the history of our country? Same stuff I dealt with when I returned from Vietnam after serving in the 3rd Marine Division. My bros will understand. You easy chair patriots will not. Eat my shorts.
Jeff.. that is your opinion… and you know what opinions are like. If you did returned from the Vietnam war and got poor treatment why in the hell are you engaging in the same behavior?
Wow Jeff I think I think about all of us who have service members in our familys were about as insulted as we can be. You apparently have not an ounce of class or decency. The world is a bigger place than you and teeny tiny little ego. The kids in IRaq and Afghanistan know that and that makes them better men than you will ever be.
[...] in a new drama starring Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance, premiering February 21. Bacon portrays the real-life journey of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, who was tasked with escorting home a s…. Phelps, a 19 year old Lance Corporal, had been killed in action in [...]
Here is what I wrote in my own personal blog in March of 2008 –
The milestone had arrived, as documented by the media at large, reporting that the deaths of our soldiers in the Iraqi war had reached 4,000. It coincides with the fifth year of engagement in this conflict that the nation has been committed to, with the country seemingly divided into equal factions of disagreement. Shortly after the war began I made a commitment to myself to read each obituary of a fallen soldier that I came across in the newspaper – my feeling was that it was the least that I could do, given that I had a son and a daughter of the same age as those serving.
Three months ago the inevitable took place. A young man who attended a private Christian elementary school with my children had been killed in Iraq. We did not know the family well but were only casual acquaintances. Mutual friends quickly mobilized those of us who had supported the school to attend the memorial service held in his honor. We agreed to attend without hesitation, both to honor the family and the young man who was coming home for the last time.
Sgt. David Hart was mortally wounded while attempting to save one of his men who had been shot, killed instantly with a bullet to his head during a fierce firefight between insurgents and the 101st Airborne division. He was only 23, but had risen to his command quickly because of his exceptional skill as a soldier and leader. Testimony during the service reminded me that he was one of two sons born to missionary parents. He grew up to be an exceptional young man, a leader in his youth missionary group, committed to community service, and an inspiration to friends and especially his brother. He joined the military out of high school and then at the young age of 20 married a lovely young girl who worshipped at the same church as he did, and apparently David worshipped her. Attending the service were three officers of the 101st, including a general, whose presence was required because David was to be awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, one of the highest medals awarded a fallen soldier. An honor guard was there to attend to the presentation of the medals and the American flag.
The rituals of the military honor burial are solemn, measured, and strangely comforting. The presentation of the flag, with the tradition of unfolding and then re-folding our flag is done with precise movements, and takes several minutes during a heavy silence. The general takes the flag and on bended knee presents one to both the grieving young spouse and mother. We pray and sing together — those who knew David well seeking comfort for losing him, whereas all I can do is concentrate on what must be the unbearable grief of his wife and immediate family
Certain details were jarring and burned into my memory. A slide show that preceeded the service while we took our seats shows snapshots of David, friends and family covering his shortened life. One shows his father when David must have been 7 or 8 years old. His father is in his mid-twenties, and looks eerily like I must have during that same period. He is now older and grayer, as I now must appear, and gives a eulogy that is so composed and thoughtful that I wondered how anyone could have the presence of mind to speak at such a time. The other is a snippet of videotape, provided by the local news affiliate, of the plane arriving at the airport with his remains. His coffin is not conveyed back to America in a military transport, but a charter service that uses an older, smaller Boeing 707. For some reason this saddens me, even as there is an honor guard at the airport to unload his coffin from the aircraft and proceed toward the terminal. There is a brief shot of his wife and family, gasping with their hands covering their mouths, as they first see his coffin appearing out from underneath the fuselage. It must have been a shockingly unexpected moment for them, as they first see the material evidence of their son’s — brother’s– husband’s death. That he would return to them no more.
Indeed, this singular story of grief and loss has multiplied four thousand-fold over the past five years in every part of this nation. During the Vietnam conflict, the loss of 4,000 brave soldiers in Iraq was multiplied over ten-fold in Vietnam, with the result that the honor and courage demonstrated by those who sacrificed their lives to that cause was not equaled by their country’s leaders, who retreated and allowed the ensuing conquering regimes to engage in a bloodbath of genocide. Should this nation follow this same path of cowardice, the loss of 4,000 young people such as Sgt.David Hart would certainly be too much to bear.
Hello, this is information about will smith
Houston BUSH International Airport. When a fallen soldier’s remains are transferred on domestic aircraft for the final leg of the trip home, the airport fire dept knows it. Trucks assemble on the tarmack and create “arches” of water from open hoses, under which the hearse/transport drives. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
I have had the honor of being at the Albuquerque International Sunport twice.
Once for Army Sergeant Yazzie and the other for Army Captain Casey.
For Sgt Yazzie (Posthumously promoted from Specialist) it was near the Air Cargo area at the Sunport, when the funeral director from Farmington, NM was there along with the family and Members of the Patriot Guard Riders and the Blue Star Mothers of the Central Rio Grande Valley Chapter.
It was a cold night in January but his flight arrived early and following shortly after the arrival of Sgt Yazzie’s flight and while his casket was being draped with the Flag of the United States 2 MC-130P aircraft were arriving at the Sunport which shares runway and flight line facilities with Kirtland Air Force Base.
This was a very moving event as the casket was carried to the funeral coach and we joined in a procession we were escorted by Patriot Guard Riders, Albuquerque Police, NM State Police to the funeral home.
The next morning at the funeral home the Albuquerque Police, Bernalillo County Sheriffs Dept, NM State Police, Rio Rancho Police were assembled and following the casket being placed in the funeral coach the escort began and went to Farmington, NM to prepare for the Funeral the next day at the Farmington Convention Center.
The other time was a year ago when the charter flight arrived at the Sunport with the body of Captain Casey. The 377th Logistics Readiness Squadron had sent members to meet the aircraft and assist in ceremonies.
I joined the Blue Star Mothers and the Patriot Guard Riders as we met the casket.
As the casket was being placed in the Funeral Coach a KC-135 had landed and another was on final approach.
Just as the funeral coach had left the flight line area 4 F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the NM Air National Guard had broken formation and landed. Shortly there after while the funeral party was enroute to the funeral home, 2 USAF CV 22 aircraft over flew the area on a training mission.
Those days were very moving and emotional for me.
The day after Captain Casey returned home, I was part of the flag line of the Patriot Guard Riders at the Funeral.
It was my extreme honor to be part of these homecomings.
HBO Movie: Taking Chance
Dear Lt. Col. Michael Strobl,
Your recounting of escourting one of our fallen Sons of Liberty is timeless.
My thoughts:
It is just to bestow Honor onto those Deserving
And Respectful to show Gratitude to all Serving.
For America truly is the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
You in the Military ensure this…
We, the People you serve, “THANK YOU” …… God Bless You all.
Dave USMC 1983-1987,
Sadly you have used this forum for your own agenda. However, these rights are what Corporal Chance Phelps, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl and even yourself defend.
I would suggest you do one very important exercise prior to posting your next comments. Please research the words Duty, Honor and Sacrifice.
Respectfully,
Dominic
USN 1943-1946
Served at 16-19 years of age
European & Pacific Theaters
it would be fabulous if the day would come when we have leaders who are brilliant enough to not need war to solve our world's problems. But that would mean men would have to actually stop glorifying and consequently loving guns/killing/grit, the need to "win", etc. What a pure waste of life on both sides of the conflict. Humans really do need to evolve quite a bit more yet…..
this movie did a beautiful job of illustrating the waste of life. We've lost that war, and need to admit it and get out of there.
You must be logged in to post a comment.