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Some Random Thoughts on Veterans Day
By Doug Patton
November 12, 2001

"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without strategy." -- Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf

When I returned from overseas duty in 1971, it was a different world from the one in which we now live. Wearing a military uniform in public was not always the smart thing to do in that hostile, anti-Vietnam environment. Since then, I've often wondered if, in another era, I might have made the military a career. The mood of the country makes all the difference, and some of the young recruits in today's war on terrorism will be tomorrow's "Stormin'"Norman Schwarzkopfs.

There's a joke going around about a couple sitting and watching the war news on TV. The wife turns to the husband and says, "I just thank God that in this time of crisis George Bush is our president." The husband turns to his wife and says, "Shut up, Tipper!" The funniest jokes are the ones that contain an element of truth. This one reflects the mood of most Americans.

Apparently, our armed forces are performing splendidly in Afghanistan. For anyone who didn't expect a two-week war with no casualties, that seems obvious. Unlike the prima donnas in the media, who are paid to say the most insipid things on television, most Americans understand what happened on September 11, and they have prepared themselves for the long road ahead.

Speaking of Al Gore and his adoring fans in the media, it seems that a full year after the presidential election, in the midst of what could become World War III, they insist on telling us that under a certain set of circumstances, if the ballots in Florida had been counted in a particular way, Al Gore would have won. There was no mention of the fact that they, the media, called Florida (for Gore, of course) at least an hour before the polls closed on election night, thus costing Bush an estimated 10,000 votes. And, of course, they didn't bother to report on the absentee ballots from our servicemen and women serving overseas, many of whom had their votes nullified by Democrat operatives in the days following the election. Ironic that they announced the results of their fantasy election scenario on Veterans Day, isn't it?

Speaking of discredited Democrats, our infamous former draft-dodger-in-chief, Bill Clinton, was out collecting a big check for running down America again last week. While the captains of industry seem to have wised up to the fact that their investors do not take kindly to paying Der Shlickmiester the obscene sum of $250,000 per speech to expound on the evils of America, the tenured socialists now running our college campuses have no such restraints. They go blithely on, pretending that Western Civilization in general and the United States in particular are to blame for all the world's ills. The comments were vintage Clinton, and though they were stupid and bordered on sedition, I will not dignify them with further comment.

As I write this, an American Airlines plane has apparently experienced an explosion over Rockaway Beach, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport, leaving a trail of destruction in this working class neighborhood in Queens. No one has yet said that it was another act of terrorism, but no one has ruled it out. What we do know is that at least 255 people on the plane, and probably some on the ground as well, have perished.

These are strange and perilous times in which we live. We have all become potential combatants. Your mail carrier and his or her colleagues risk their lives to deliver your mail, and you risk your life opening it. An airplane goes down and the networks preempt all regular programming because hundreds of people may have been victims not of a freak accident but rather of a network of murderers. Osama bin Laden tells the world he has nuclear weapons and we are forced to take notice. This won't be a normal war, if there is such a thing. This will be an ongoing struggle for the soul of civilization as we know it. When it is over and the veterans come marching home, this time they will be welcomed.

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor to federal, state and local candidates and elected officials. His work can be viewed weekly on GOPUSA.

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