Where is the country they were willing to die for?

Where is the country they were willing to die for?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 6, 2013

Flag raisers at Iwo Jima
Mike Strank

Their leader and Sergeant, it was Mike who got the order to climb Mt. Suribachi. Mike picked his “boys” and led them safely to the top. Mike explained to the boys that the larger flag had to be raised so that “every Marine on this cruddy island can see it.” It was Mike who gave the orders to find a pole, attach the flag and “put’er up!” He was killed by a mortar.

Harlon Block took over the unit after Strank was killed. Block was killed hours later.

Franklin Sousley was also killed on Iwo Jima at the age of 19.

Ira Hayes said after being called a hero by President Roosevelt, “How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?”

Rene Gagnon and John Bradley also survived.

These men became a symbol of what this country means to the men and women risking their lives everyday to defend the nation. They do it for the others they are with. They do it for the families back home. This country was worth whatever price they knew they faced paying.

The Pew Research Group pointed out that only a fifth of the members of congress have military experience. They also have a fascinating graphic to show the decline in the number of veterans holding office.

This is very telling especially when you consider the next part their research showed. Veterans are only 7% of the population.

That should tell us something right there. They are only 7% of the population now but 20% of the Congress.

They come from all over the country, from different generations, different political beliefs but every one of them knows what it is like to put their lives on the line for the sake of others. In war, no one asks another how he/she voted in the last election before trying to save them. No one asks what they believe because they believe in one another. They are doing what the congress and the president at the time said needed to be done and that was all they wanted to know.

It was never about supporting a person as Commander-in-Chief but always about what the country needed and what other Americans were heading into.

Now as they see their age advancing, not knowing how many more years they have left to visit the Memorials this nation erected to honor their sacrifices, they find they can only see them from a distance. Really sad when you think that many of these veterans have arranged trips to Washington a long time ago but Congress didn't plan for keeping this nation running even though they have had years to put the country first. Pathetic when you think about it.

So now the press is jumping all over the reports of them showing up at the WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Wall, all closed down, but never seem to understand what those memorials really mean to them. It isn't about stones carved to honor them. It is how they have lived to honor the lives lost in war.

Most veterans are more upset about the fact congress did not manage to put the country first and keep the government running. Sure they care about if they will get their disability checks and be able to have their claims honored but they care about this whole country and political games being played. They are very unhappy with members of congress using them like pawns in this battle of egos.

When will members of congress ever learn they are supposed to be putting this country first so they will really honor the men and women from all generations willing to die to defend her? They care about every part of this country just as other Americans do. They have their own political views, again, just like every other American. Unlike members of congress, the right thing to do for the good of the whole came first. So where is this country they were willing to die for? Will Congress ever really get what they are supposed to do for the sake of the whole country?

UPDATE

Dennis Ross, GOP Rep: 'Pride' Is Why Republicans Won't Budge On Government Shutdown
Huffington Post
Sabrina Siddiqui
October 5, 2013

WASHINGTON -- With the government shutdown in its fifth day, many Republicans have conceded the fight is no longer about Obamacare. Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) added his name to the list on Saturday, saying the matter now boils down to "pride."

“Republicans have to realize how many significant gains we’ve made over the last three years, and we have, not only in cutting spending but in really turning the tide on other things," Ross told The New York Times. "We can’t lose all that when there’s no connection now between the shutdown and the funding of Obamacare."
read more here

I rest my case.