From: bobworn@aol.com
Subject: SNET: A Military Wife Speaks out
Date: 18 Dec 2000 09:54:46 -0500
To: BOBWORN@aol.com

->  SNETNEWS  Mailing List

 
 A great read and worthy of publishing.
 
 
  Subject:    A Military Wife Speaks out
 
 
  Interesting reading.......
 
 
 
  What Color the Patriot
 
  Over 23 years ago, I met the man I love and married him. He was an
 individualist, with his life planned out for him. He was going to be
 commissioned as an infantry officer and serve his nation, answering his
 call. From his time in boy scouts, and later as an Eagle Scout, he
 never had second doubts about service to our nation and its
 Constitution; they were his bedrock, and the spread of democracy and
 equality his purpose.
 
  We first started dating when he was a ROTC cadet in Florida. I can
 remember the harassment he received from the educators and students in
 1977 for wearing his uniform on campus. Never did it bother my young
 paratrooper that the University of South Florida allocated thousands to
 the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) and Gay organizations
 on campus, and then voted one dollar to the ROTC program for a bus
 ticket to get the hell off of campus. He soldiered on because it was
 their right under the constitution to express their opinions. As a
 member of the "Green machine," it was his duty and his oath to this
 nation to protect these rights.
 
 When he first was commissioned in 1979, the military was recovering
 from Viet Nam and had little public support. His senior officers were
 Viet Nam veterans who enforced mission accomplishment and soldiers
 first. They instilled to their junior leaders that the military always
 takes care of its own. Many times, the officers and senior NCO's spent
 money out of their pockets to make sure the soldiers had things they
 needed. While they trained hard and were always deployed ready to
 defend America, recruitment and lack of qualified soldiers severely
 limited our capabilities to defend our nation. Many of his soldiers
 could not speak English and had families that were living below the
 poverty standard, but he was always there for them. The Army was green
 and always took care of its own. When racial riots broke out, or drugs
 were rampant in the barracks, he was always the first one working with
 the soldiers or locking the criminals up. I asked him why he was always
 the one to take care of the problems; he would say proudly - soldiers
 trust me, they are all "green" to me.
 
  As the years progressed, pride in the military soared and quality
 young people came in by droves. Life was good; the military had
 adequate funding for training and it was the "Year of the Family." Our
 leadership was true to their word and were finally taking care of the
 soldiers with pay raises and quality of life improvements for their
 families. The "Green Machine" was ready to do anything and did.
 Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm and Haiti; our military performed as true
 patriots and the finest soldiers in the world. During Somalia, Rwanda,
 Bosnia, and Kosovo, the military continued to perform, but something
 was happening; the "Green Machine" was fracturing. Our spouses were always
 deployed, not fighting our nation's wars, but taking care of our
 government's failed diplomacy.
 
  I always knew I was married to a warrior, but these "peacekeeping
 missions" were killing the units he served in. Many officers and
 soldiers were leaving when their time was up, and the divorce rate in
 some units rocketed to over 70%. When asked why they were leaving,
 numerous comments arose, from health care for their families, to pay,
 to stress from multiple deployments, but the largest common denominator
 was the lack of trust and disgust with the leadership in Washington. While
 these soldiers were serving another holiday season away from home, they
 would watch their Constitution slowly be destroyed from within the
 halls of the White House. My soldier continued to serve because his soldiers
 and the "Green Machine" needed him.
 
  I've been a warrior's wife for 23 years and a commander's wife for
 nine of those years. I've always supported him and shipped him out to
 different combat zones and numerous other hell holes, even though my
 heart was breaking. I've always been there when he returned and nursed
 him back to health or helped him heal whenever he was broken; always
 knowing he would be one of the first called to support the "Green
 Machine" on the next mission. While for today, he continues to soldier
 and serve this great nation, the color of green has taken on another
 meaning; that of disgust.
 
  It's not about Monica, or the selling of America to the Chinese, it's
 not about election fraud, campaign finance violations, the selling of
 the White House to the highest bidder, or placing personnel in
 positions as Under Secretary of State only because their claim to fame was
 getting rid of Monica. It's not about appointing non-US citizens to 
Ambassador
 positions because they contributed to the Clinton/Gore re-election
 campaign. It's not about human right violations and torture conducted
 by our supposed allies in the Middle East; that is most often ignored by
 the administration and the media.
 
  It's about the US President ordering the lowering of the American Flag
 on a US Naval Warship at the request of the Vietnamese during a
 presidential visit in violation of US Military protocols and tradition.
 It's about Al Gore providing instructions to his cronies not to allow
 deployed service members votes to count when possible. It's about
 political corruption and the complete disregard of our constitution,
 laws and citizens. It's about being a native citizen of Florida and
 watching northern union officials and democratic lackeys from Boston
 enter his state and attempt to change the state laws and results of the
 national election.
 
  It's about taking care of soldiers. Why during this critical event
 is the senior military leadership silent about service men and women's
 absentee ballots?
 
  While my husband can't openly protest or publicly support a candidate
 while in uniform, I can. It's now my turn to fight for this country and
 its Constitution, and the rights of our soldiers. It is time to take
 our country back and this can only be done by its citizens. This letter
 is for those who serve in uniform , but mostly for those who paid the
 ultimate price for freedom.
 
 Please forward this to all of your friends and family, but most
 importantly to the media. Let the world know.
 
 Dr. Janet N. Ward
 
 Wife of an American Servicemember 


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