The WALTHER REPORT
By Tony Walther
If you don’t tear up and get a lump in your throat and want to salute the flag while attending a Memorial Day ceremony, well I don’t know what to say. I did.
At my wife’s urging, we attended a ceremony in our home town. There was a color guard, drill team, a fighter jet flyover, speeches, patriotic music, the national anthem, and even a parachutist who jumped in.
What got me all teary eyed was when they played “Over Hill, Over Dale,” the Army theme song. And isn’t that kind of silly? I mean even though I joined the Army, I was not, to say the least, an enthusiastic soldier, much of the time. I served in Germany for most of my tour, even though it was during the Vietnam War. No, it was not the Army I was feeling nostalgic or whatever about, it was being part of something. If it were a bunch of people just like me that we were supposed to recognize, it wouldn’t be worth the bother. But I was there along with everyone else to honor those who should be honored. I am just grateful that I could have been an inconsequential part of the whole thing.
But it all makes me so frustrated. Here I come back home all fired up with patriotism and the pride of what our flag, the Red White and Blue, represents (or should). But I feel there is some kind of disconnect. Our leaders seem to say one thing and do another. They spur us on to fight or support the fight for freedom. But they then quibble about how best to do it (and expecting the troops to get it done all the while). Send in more troops, pull out troops, send more in or hand it over to someone else. Meanwhile, the troops on the ground (or in the air, for that matter), men and women, are left to fight on while the so called leaders wring their hands or give silly speeches saying we have already won.
Here at home we have polls. The public is growing tired of the war (or maybe they are not). I suspect that most (yes most) are actually rather oblivious to it all. Life goes on here.
Come on folks. If we really are in a fight for freedom and our survival, then we need to get on with it. If not, then how did we get suckered into going over there in the first place? (Oh, that’s right. You were to busy with your own life. Wasn’t someone else supposed to be watching that?).
It seems that rightly or wrongly we have committed ourselves to the fight over there. Maybe we need to get serious and consolidate our gains, secure what we have and hold it at that. We have taken over Iraq and I suppose Afghanistan (you don’t hear much about that one) too. We do have troubles holding on to all of it, but with a total commitment of forces we can do it.
The Democratic candidates have pledged to get us disengaged, although they have hedged on that a bit if you read the fine print. The Republican candidate wants to fight for as long as it takes, but I’m sure he could find wiggle room on that one too (it’s time to hand it over to the Iraqis. Remember what happened when we handed it over to the Vietnamese? Well, in case you forget, there was a lot of bad stuff, executions and retraining camps. Years of misery and then they got over it. And maybe that’s what will happen this time, or maybe this is different).
I have written on all of this many times. I think a lot of different ways all at once on it all. But I am not in charge. And thank goodness for that. But leadership is what we need now.
We need someone or some people who know and can articulate what our exact mission is over there and come up with a clear and reasonable proposal on how to accomplish it. Spelling out every detail would not be practicable, necessary, nor wise. But we need more than vague generalities and platitudes.
I think someone who could articulate a clear and convincing and doable sounding plan might be worth voting for.
It’s hard to mix complicated politics with natural, instinctive feelings of patriotism, and I am glad that the speakers kind of over simplified things (we’re fighting “the war on terror,” as if such a thing could be won and won for how long?), and I didn’t mind that they overlooked the fact that we are not always one hundred percent correct in all of our ventures (well meaning I can only hope).
I wanted a day to feel good about things. I saw our flag. I heard the speeches and thought of our fallen veterans and those still fighting. I heard the music, and I watched and heard the jet fighter fly over. And that parachutist flying the national banner with him landed right on target, feet flat on the ground. I got what I came for.
Thanks dear for asking me to go.
Postscript: My quick research tells me “Over Hill, Over Dale” is not technically the name of the Army theme song and that the lyrics have been changed from the original version of what was called the “Caisson Song”. But everyone has heard it that way. Sometimes you just have to go with what really is.
