Here is a message I received today:
"I am a Marine currently serving at 4th Marine Aircraft Wing in New Orleans. Right now my fellow Marines and I are watching as we slowly slouch towards war with Iran. If deployed to the area, I promise you this: we will fight together, and we will fight valiantly. We will fight for those we do not know and for a cause we might not share. But we will fight. And when we come home, we may continue our fight, in the halls of power, the state capitols, and DC, if we so choose. We have earned it in blood and sweat. No one, and I mean no one, has the right to impugn our service, or our credentials without expecting a defense. I am defending Mr. Murtha because he did in Vietnam what others would not do. And I thank God for giving me the chance to make my mark as he has. And when I come home, will you be there to slander me too?"
It's a matter of trust.
Do we trust them when they tell us "mission accomplished"?
Do we trust them when they say they are in their "last throes"?
Trust. Confidence. Fidelity.
These are the things worth most to a Marine. When we have these things in our hearts, nothing can stop us. When these things are lost, its only a matter of time.
It is never too late to tell the truth. But it may be too late to recover our trust, confidence, and fidelity. And for a Marine, its a loss that we can never afford.
"Psychology, as I understand it, means knowledge of the soul. Yet, how shall we speak about the souls of others, when we do not even know our own? Is there a single one of us who can say with certainty how he will react to a certain event? Nevertheless, as leaders we must have some knowledge of the souls of our soldiers; because the soldier, the living man, is the instrument with which we have to work in war...no commander lacking in this inner knowledge of his men can accomplish great things."
-Adolph Von Schell, "Battle leadership" (1933)
Standard Marine Corps Reading Material
After spending billions of our dollars and lives Mr. Bush is slowly finding out what he could have learned for the price of a used book or a youth better spent:
Experienced troops need experienced leadership.
Never has a gap in a life's history become so apparent, and so dangerous, than now. Had he the experience of a warrior, he would truly understand what the military man needs to win a war. Had he the soul of one, he would have learned the role that faith in leadership plays in the hearts of our troops. Now, as his leadership moment passes into history, a chance of a lifetime to atone for missing time when he was needed most gone, he has chosen to align himself with something other than the soul of a soldier. And this soldier's soul will never forget.