Day 90

Mom – Day 90

Another day. Today I went to play golf and then Dal and I went to the movies. It was another beautiful day her in Maine. I want to hear Zach telling me that it is a beautiful day and he is going out to play golf. I remember that one summer (not to long ago) that Zach and Shane would go and play golf almost every day. There are so many things that we take for granted. Today was a beautiful day, a day I would normally take for granted but today I thought about how lucky I am. Across from the golf course was a house with banner with the single star – they have a son or daughter serving.
Yesterday while watching the news I was so touched by “Operation Finally Home”. “Operation Finally Home” provides homes to wounded veterans. This idea came to a man from Houston Texas, Dan Wallrath, when he realized that there were many injured men and women who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan that could use a little help. I used my tears hearing this story. Thank you Dan.

I love you Zach
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Day 91 Dad

Time is sometimes your enemy and sometimes your friend. Now I hope that time moves quickly as we count down the days left on Zach's deployment. I believe he is out on missions frequently once again since he is not on the internet much now and I have not received an email in over a week. For him the missions probably make the time go more quickly and for us it is a time of concern.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." Ronald Reagan

God bless those who are willing to fight for the freedom of others.

Zach you are my hero, you are superman, and I love you bud!

Day 92 Dad

The last combat brigades are leaving Iraq ….. What exactly does that mean? Having been in the military I understand that every soldier and every marine is trained in combat skills. All are considered combat units. Any units that deploy to Iraq will be combat units, while their mission may not be combat operations they are indeed combat units, with full capabilities. While the idea of the last combat unit leaving Iraq gives a sense of safety there are still over 50 thousand troops there in what is still a somewhat hostile environment. With more units scheduled to replace units there and the possibility of a continued presence for years to come, we should not get too caught up in the sense that Iraq is now a cakewalk. My hope is that while they say the last combat unit is leaving what they don’t mean is that any units arriving will be bereft of ammunition like what happened to many units in the Bosnia peace keeping missions.

It is no secret that I have always been a supporter of a strong national defense and having served myself I am a supporter of our military. But our government has a tendency to look at combat actions and peace keeping missions through rose colored glasses. This is especially true of the Democrat majority under both Presidents Clinton and Obama. So when government looks at the military as extension of political foreign policy and not as a national defense/national security force things become very convoluted.

We are headed toward the anniversary of 9 years in Afghanistan and I am wondering what the end game is at this point. I am not talking exit strategy I am talking a defense/security strategy. Iraq for the most part could now be considered a success they may be on their way to self governing and while they probably can never be a republic in our mold they are somewhat democratic in structure. Afghanistan is not there not in the ball park not even in the galaxy of being there. I have and will continue to support our troops but question what the ultimate strategy is or should be!

This morning I did as normally do I switched to MSNBC to check out the Morning Joe, Lisa and I typically watch Fox, but routinely we check out CNN, Headline news and MSNBC to see what the left leaning side of the political news spectrum is saying. Of course this morning they mentioned President Bush and one female talking head with a slight English accent bashed Bush after another gave him some credit. She said he left the right war in Afghanistan to concentrate on the wrong place Iraq. I thought about that …. The right war? Her point was that if we had concentrated solely on Afghanistan we could have destroyed Al Queda there and now it is spread all over the middle east, Africa and Southeast Asia. What a crock of hooey! Al Queda used Afghanistan because it was convenient they have no intention of a face to face engagement with a superior military. Our efforts in Afghanistan only hastened their move to other remote havens.

They can so much more easily spread their beliefs through terror, intimidation and using our own politically correct attitudes and beliefs against us. This is a shadowy organization much like any terrorist organization who operates in the background sending others to fight for them, in the case of Afghanistan it is the Taliban. The faster we understand that this is not a fight that Al Queda is looking to make head on the faster we can put a plan in place to defeat them!

God bless you Zach, you are superman and I love you.

Day 93

Mom – Day 93

I can’t sleep again. I have been up since 3 am. I know that I am a bit antsy about Ramadan. I can’t imagine living in a country that is at war. I can’t imagine how people cope surrounded by fear and death for so long. I imagine they cope because our instincts are for survival. Since I can’t sleep I am going back to that website of the Afghan Women Writers and I will read some more of their stories and poems. Afghanistan is not the only country in turmoil; how sad it is to live in a place that must where one must always expend their energy just to survive.

I love you Zach
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Day 94 Dad

"It is better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains." - Thomas H. Huxley

I want to know when the Afghans will start to help themselves. Why don't they do something to prevent things like the stonings? If a person is not willing to stand up for freedom to speak for freedom and if necessary die for freedom then they do not deserve freedom.

Loc: Sayed Abad Afghanistan - From the daily caller "A crowd of about 300 villagers yelled “Death to the United States” and blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday as they swore that U.S. forces had killed three innocent villagers, officials said.
NATO forces rejected the claim, saying they had killed several suspected insurgents and detained a local Taliban commander in the overnight raid."

Do these people want freedom, do they know what freedom is??

Zach you are superman, I miss you and love you more than words can say!

Day 95 Dad

Lisa was able to talk to Zach today, I know that made her feel better except that Zach will be going out on a mission tonight. By the time this gets posted he will probably already be out. Ramadan has been very active for the taliban.

Today I read that the taliban stoned a couple in Afghanistan for adultery. “Stoning is an ancient form of punishment that has been abandoned in all but a handful of countries. It is still a legal punishment in some countries, like Iran, which justify it under Shariah, or Islamic law, although human rights activists say the Quran never specifically prescribed stoning for adultery.” It was the first such stoning since the taliban were removed from power in 2001. The woman was 20 and promised to a different man and the man involved was 28 and married. The woman was stoned first and then the man in front of at least 150 men who witnessed the atrocity. Then Amnesty international issued a statement denouncing the stoning calling the “stoning a "heinous crime" that showed the Taliban and other insurgent groups "are growing increasingly brutal in their abuses against Afghans.""

The article went on “The Taliban-ordered killing comes at a time when international rights groups have raised worries that attempts to negotiate with the Taliban to bring peace to Afghanistan could mean a step backward for human rights in the country. When the Islamist extremists ruled Afghanistan, women were not allowed to leave their houses without a male guardian, and public killings for violations of their harsh interpretation of the Quran were common.” I find it interesting that this punishment is not in the Quran but yet they practice it under shariah, this again indicates to me as I have stated before this is all more about power and control than religion.
I wonder what Code Pink or the Ladies in Black have to say about this. It is an interesting dichotomy as on one hand human rights organizations denouncing this and yet many not in favor of the violence of war to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I wonder if we can talk the taliban out of doing this again. One could argue that worked in Iran where a woman was to be stoned last month yet due to “a campaign by politicians, rights groups, diplomats and celebrities around the world.” However, the bigger issue there was the fact that their nuclear power plant built and supplied by the Russians was about to come on line. Had they gone ahead with the stoning then the Russians would have been under a great deal of pressure themselves to not start the plant.

And so on it goes the political, the religious, the thirst for power – nothing changes does it? Evil lurks some defend it others try to thwart it and in between we all live. God Bless those who are willing to be in that middle because of them we are free. Freedom is not free, we must cherish and defend it each day to ensure that it continues for our children!

You are superman Zach you are my hero and I love you.

Day 96 Dad

Lisa tried a couple more times to reach Zach to no avail. It is so hard to know that all the craziness of ramadan is going on and we can't reach him. I am tired of this. For me football sign-ups were today, I normally look forward to this, but this year it is not the same but then again nothing is really the same until Zach is safely out of Afghanistan.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King Jr.

Thank you Zach for being strong, for defending those who can't defend themselves and being the hero you are. You are superman, I love you!