The enemy within
Editor, I watched with interest the looks on the faces of America’s highest ranking and most highly decorated military brass, ordered from all corners of the world by former TV host Pete Hegseth and draft dodger Donald Trump, to Quantico, Virginia to hear a “pep talk” given from a stage that replicated the 1970 movie, Patton.
These 800 career officers, their uniforms awash with distinguished service metals, were insultingly spoken to and about by their commander in chief and secretary of defense, (excuse me, “Secretary of War”), two men who know absolutely nothing about honor, valor or sacrifice.
Cameras panning the 800 stoic faces of this captive audience left little question as to their reaction. The silence that followed the speeches and the silence that followed Hegseth’s departure from the stage said it all.
I thought we had learned a lesson from our disgraceful treatment of Vietnam veterans. I thought we finally understood that the United States military deserves our respect because they are willing to lay down their lives to protect ours.
Rather than spit at them, as happened during the Vietnam era, we now say, “Thank you for your service” when we see a man or woman in uniform or a veteran sporting a cap signifying a branch of service.
Today, as we witness armed soldiers ordered into major U.S. cities, the purpose of which is to provide training grounds for fighting “the enemy within” — i.e., their fellow Americans — the U.S. military will once again become reviled rather than revered. As this madness escalates, respect for our military will again be shattered.
But perhaps that is the purpose, after all — creating an atmosphere where Americans fear, rather than revere, the United States military.
— Mary Ellen Walls Sisterdale resident
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