[at-l] OT - the war? military? kids?

[DaRedhead@xxxxxxx (DaRedhead@xxxxxxx)]

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Tonight, as we watched the news,  Shannon became quiet.  (as many of you
know, my now 17 yr old daugher - see here at <A HREF="http://friends.backcountry.net/cas/shannon.jpg";>
http://friends.backcountry.net/cas/shannon.jpg</A> - signed up w/ the Marines,
and is scheduled for boot camp in August, after graduating and turning 18.)

After about an hour of coverage, she went downstairs to her room.  I followed
eventually.  I was concerned that what she had seen and heard on the news had
perhaps frightened her, made her unsure of her choice, or something along
those lines.  Or that she was plain scared, and maybe needed me.

Silly me.

Her biggest complaint was "I wish I was already IN the Marines, and I wish I
were there."

I can't honestly say if she agrees with the current Commander in Chief, or if
she supports the President in this war.  She hasn't shared those thoughts
with me over the past months.  But I can honestly say that she is dedicated
to doing the job she joined up to do, and wishes she were out there doing it
already.  Knowing that she is that willing to defend our freedom, no matter
her philosophy on things - it is hard to type while tears run down my eyes.
Tears for her, and pride.  Tears for all of our military, many of them very
good friends from my 8 yrs in DOD w/ the Navy.  Acceptable casualties is a
tough term to comprehend.  It has to be harder for those who have loved ones
who become one of those "acceptable" casualties.

But my pride in our uniformed forces, and what America stands for as a
country - that isn't hard to comprehend.  And I hope that whatever your
feelings about Bush, or this war, that our troops today never come home to
people who turn their face the other way, and are condemned for doing their
job as they were ordered to do.  I once defined the sound of freedom as being
the jets that regularly flied overhead from our nearby Naval Air base.  I
think I might define it now in terms a bit different - and more personal.

Red