How To Honor Our Troops

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Here's how I pledge to honor our troops now and in the future.

1. Never confuse the troops with the mission -- All Americans support our troops, the brave men and women who volunteer for the dangerous and essential task of defending our country and, sometimes, being sent overseas on complicated and sometimes confusing missions.
2. Always demand our troops be properly armed -- When the MSM reports that two years into the occupation of Iraq that new Marines are encouraged to spend some $600 on equipment they need to survive but won't be given by the military, that is an outrage and an insult to our troops. Politicians should be held accountable WEEKLY by the MSM, the families of the troops and all Americans until the problem is solved, not merely acknowledged.

3. Always demand our troops be properly equipped -- Two years into the occupation of Iraq and we are still hearing that 5 out of 6 Humvees are not fully armored and details about the level of armor on those 5 is sketchy and unclear. We also hear that Humvees are not even best suited to the task and that the Vice President and others stay away from them when travelling in Iraq while using vehicles that we COULD requisition in large numbers.

4. Demand an end to the abuse of the National Guard and Army Reserve -- Soldiers leaving the military have often volunteered for the Guard and Reserve. Just as current soldiers ask only that they be properly equipped and armed and sent only on essential missions as a last resort, the Reserve and Guard has historically been used for defending our native soil and in emergencies at home, such as a hurricane or flood. President Bush, in an attempt to prop up an unpopular policy, has abused their trust in a dramatic, unprecedented fashion by crafting a backdoor draft, sending them overseas again and again counter to the implicit understanding when they volunteered, and endangering their jobs and welfare.

5. Always question the mission -- it is the duty of all Americans to check and then check again that our soldiers are being sent into war only as a last resort. This is the most crucial way we can support our troops since soldiers are practically the last people in a position to openly question such a deployment.

6. Continue to question the mission -- the discussion doesn't end just because the war has begun. Are the troops being properly supplied? Has the purpose of the mission changed? Has the scope of the war broadened? What new factors have arisen that should make us rethink the level of commitment or whether the commitment should continue at all? Has a mission we were told would last one year gone on for three? The most foolish argument of all is that the mission must continue -- no matter what -- simply because soldiers have died. Nothing could be further from the truth.

7. Honor the dead -- We honor them best by fighting on when necessary and stopping as soon as possible when it's not. Remember, no soldier fighting for their country has ever died in vain. No matter how ill-fated or even wrong a particular mission might be, their sacrifice is real and genuine and important. A great country makes mistakes...and admits it and corrects it. No soldier who has fallen would ever want someone else to die just because our leaders were too embarrassed or pig-headed to admit a mission had proven a mistake.