Kneeling

People have been bombarding me with my opinion on NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. My response, expectedly, left both sides of the debate unhappy.

My first issue is that I am being hunted down to be asked at all. I don't know about everyone, but I didn't join the military to be some special class of citizen that needs to be babied constantly. My opinion on this is no more important than any American's opinion. I would beware anyone telling you that this or that is demeaning to veterans. Not that it doesn't happen. One that comes to mind is the woman who pictured herself yelling at Arlington Cemetary. That is disrespecting the military. That woman also paid dearly for that error in judgment. Case closed in my opinion. I wish her no ill will.

But when it is a point of patriotism, that affects me no more than it does any other citizen. "But I had friends who came home under that flag!" says the angry Facebook veterans. "I have sacrificed more!". So have I. But I am not taking their sacrifice to make everything about me. I lost friends, those men were lost to their wives, their children, their parents, and much more. We lost them as a country, not just me or just veterans.

Also, the reasons we were supposed to be out there was to protect those very rights that these NFL players were expressing. If you are going to fight to defend those rights, then use your status as a veteran to suppress them when you get home, I don't know what exactly you were fighting for. Don't think the US is the first country in the world to use our veterans as a means to suppress the rights of their people. This was a critical element that our founding fathers were against.

Now to piss off the other side. I am not a fan of the kneeling. Not because my feelings are hurt, or because I think forced patriotism is a sign of a healthy country. But because I believe in the goal the NFL players are striving toward, and I think this is taking them further and further from it.

To be clear, I do think that our country has serious problems with race relations, and those problems are more serious than just a cab not picking someone up or people crossing the street to walk. It's issues that suppress a large segment of our population, causes them grief and suffering, and can easily lead to their death. Even from a selfish viewpoint, millions upon millions of Americans before trampled upon effects all of us, even if we aren't the ones with boots on our backs.

"So you think cops hate black people and are just looking for excuses to murder them?!?"

No. I think police officers are incredible people with very difficult jobs that many of us could not handle. I think your average officer wakes up every morning wanting to go out, do their job which is keeping us safe, and go home to their family at the end of their shift. I also think they are critical elements of our society.

But, as one of my First Sergeants used to say, there are dirtbags in every group. He called it the rule of 10%s. 10% of the military is dirtbags who need to be found and thrown out, 10% are the heroes that will save the day, and 80% are the average joes that need to be lead. I'm a Marine, and I guarantee if you ask me or any other Marine, we can tell you stories of dirtbags who should have never been in uniform and never put behind a rifle. Marines who were idiots. Marines who were racists. Marines who needed to be thrown out. That realization doesn't mean I hate Marines. Not at all. That's just being honest. I got to be one of the detainee guards who escorted The Pendleton 8 out of Iraq. I sure as hell don't feel bad about that.

That is where I am sitting with police officers. The vast majority of them are awesome people. But there is scum that needs to be thrown out, and it terrifies me when they not only aren't but when wagons get circled for officers who don't deserve the backup. It's because the police are such important and essential parts of our government and our life that we have to hold them to the highest standards. Not low standards because the job is difficult.

Which brings me back to why I am not a fan of the kneeling. When I discuss the issue of US police with people, including people who are completely against my position, the best way I bring them around to understand is changing the issue from a civil rights issue, to a government overreach issue. These are American citizens being killed by government officials, and we need to do something to curb that.

But in brief, I think that kneeling of NFL players isn't the best method to further their goals. But I think it would be wrong of me as a fellow American to ignore my neighbor's plights because they didn't bring it up to me in a manner I felt comfortable with. I also think it's ridiculous that the kneeling is being portrayed as insulting to veterans. I have asked many, many people, and I can't find a single instance in American history where kneeling before something is insulting. Many, many examples of the opposite though. Beyond that, nothing about the flag or National Anthem should mean any more to me as a veteran than any American civilian. I think our founding fathers would be disgusted by the government using veterans as a shield to suppress civilians' speech.

The D2D Guide To General James Mattis

Retired Marine Corps General James Mattis has been selected by President Elect Trump for Secretary of Defense. That's a lot of official titles right there. General Mattis still has some hurdles to overcome, including getting a waiver from Congress to bypass the National Security Act of 1947. This shouldn't prove too difficult, as Congress granted waivers for that within years of the Act passing.

For me, this has been the first and only cabinet pick by Trump that is remotely acceptable. I'm not special in that sense, that seems to be the running thought of most Americans. But there has been some pushback, mostly because of quotes attributed to General Mattis. Even someone I am a big fan of, Robert Reich made a worried statement on facebook about the pick.

Off the bat, I understand why there is pushback on the pick. First, and likely the biggest reason for the pushback is how horrible virtually every other pick of Trump's has been. In my personal opinion, a democracy lasts only as long as you can keep money from getting infused into politics. The more money that gets put in, the less avenues average citizens have to vent pressure. All governments need pressure valves where regular Joes can let off steam, make noticeable changes, and feel like part of the system and not a subject under it. Someone who doesn't feel like part of a society will either knowingly, or unknowingly work to destroy it. It's human nature. With the long list of billionaires and millionaires that are taking over our executive branch, I am worried along with the rest of you that money will become even a larger part of politics than it was before, and it is hugely incorporated into politics already.

I know, I know. How could we know Hillary would have been any better? I honestly doubt it would have been better. I was right there with the rest of you complaining about her ties to wall street. But that thought doesn't mean I can't complain about what is actually happening now rather than compare it to what would have theoretically happened. Hillary is gone. Unless the DNC is dumber than even I think, she won't be a contender for president again. We need to deal with what is really happening.

But on to the point of this post. General Mattis has some crazy quotes floating out there. We are already a warmongering country. One of the few bipartisan agreements is we need to stop being the world police. How can we be comfortable with a Secretary of Defense that has quotes about loving fighting and killing?

I served under Mattis when I was with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines and he commanded I MEF. Of course, I was but a filthy Lance Corporal/Corporal, so it's not like him and I were drinking buddies. I managed to get a handshake in with him once. Sadly, he was already out of challenge coins since he was being swamped by Marines. I'm still a little salty about that. But I personally benefitted from working under Mattis. So I am not exactly an unbiased source, but I will do my best.

So why do military and especially Marines love him so much? There is a number of reasons. First, he was an intellectual in a branch that is not exactly known for intellectualism. General Mattis was well known for being an educated and intelligent man. He had a library of over 6000 books that he took with him from post to post from ancient Roman philosophies to modern military tactics. Reading and Marines go together like oil and water, so this is particularly amazing.

But what about those violent and antagonistic quotes?!? Talking about loving to kill people isn't exactly a hallmark of intellectualism. One of his quotes is:

“You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway. So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually it’s quite fun to fight them, you know. It’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up there with you. I like brawling.”

Not exactly politically correct. But there is a couple things you have to remember. First, one of the horrors of our deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan is seeing the horrible treatment of women and girls in those two countries. We've seen women getting the hell beat out of them in public. We've seen little girls rigged with bombs because they were already a burden on their family not being a boy. I've had to clean the remains of a 6 year old girl (guessing her age) off the side of my truck after her parents and Imam rigged her to blow up. She ran away from us, likely because she knew she was sent to kill us. They still detonated her as she ran.

So a General talking about these horrors isn't being callous. He is just speaking from experience that many Americans thankfully don't have. I personally never wanted to kill anyone. When I went to Iraq, it was to try and prevent killing, unless absolutely necessary. My fellow detainee guard and I actually got threatened with NJPs for not killing people, and instead physically restraining them at the risk of our own lives. I have no love of killing people. But I absolutely understand where General Mattis is coming from with that statement. It's not pretty. It's not PC. But it speaks to his men who have these experiences.

There are other quotes by Mattis that aren't getting much air time. But they are supremely important to understanding who this man is:

“You are part of the world’s most feared and trusted force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.”

Challenging Marines to think before they fight is a big part of General Mattis. He led the charge on nurturing Marine's minds as much as their bodies. You won't find many leaders in the military who harp on intelligence in their ranks. Mattis was one of the few, and we loved him for it.

“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.”

This is another quote to show how violent and antagonistic Mattis is. But that is only to people who weren't deployed. As Marines, we have been trained for literally centuries to never be complacent. Complacency kills is painted all around bases in Iraq. We don't know who is out to get us, especially in wars like these where the enemy isn't in uniform, working in ranks. So for us Marines, the "have a plan" part is just business. But the be polite and professional part is new, and different. Under Mattis, we were instructed to not be assholes to Iraqis. Treat these people with respect and politeness isn't how wars are normally fought, but it was the best advice we could have been given. Iraqis had been demoralized and beaten down for decades. Having the strength we did, while still being polite and respectful was a totally new idea. In Iraq and a lot of the world, people who had strength got to do whatever they wanted, and they took advantage of that. A force as strong as the USMC, and still being respectful was a new experience for them, and honestly how all wars should be fought. As Winston Churchill said "When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite". Stopping a fight before it happens is more important than winning after you caused it.

“I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all.”

Another antagonistic quote. But again, and as usual, context is key. This was part of a talk with Iraqi military leaders. As I said above, Iraq had been run with system of "whoever has the strength, makes the rules". Mattis' quote is reminding them strongly that HE had the strength now. A big issue in Iraq is that Iraqis had been trained into being submissive, subversive, or being horrifically murdered. It had been an incredibly dangerous time in Iraq for decades. Saddam's regime had killed an estimated 10% of the Iraqi population. And Iraqis laughed at us for such a low estimate. For comparison's sake, the civil war was the US's highest casualty war, and we lost less than 2% of our population during it. You either hid and lied in Saddam's regime, or you died. Mattis (and all of us) had to deal with rightfully suspicious Iraqis, many who had spent the majority (or entirety) of their lives being beaten down. Mattis had to show strength, and had to be honest here. If those Iraqi commanders had turned on him, he would have had to kill them. It's the nature of doing business. He put it to them straight, not because he wanted to kill them, but because he didn't want to.

“You cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.”

This quote is important to me, because we are living in a country where information is getting more and more available, but facts are becoming less and less important to us. Our politicians don't even bother with being factual anymore. They know the people who support them won't care if they lied, and the people who don't won't care if they told the truth. Preach to the choir is how we do business now.

Mattis I believe would reject that as SecDef. He is very much a man who values the truth over what he wants to hear. And to be honest, he is the only one in the incoming administration that seems to value that. Being honest and being effective are big parts of who Mattis is. We've needed that for a long time, and it'll be especially valuable now.

Another big part of why you are seeing waves of military and exmilitary supporting him is because he supported us. Mattis put his troops first throughout his career. He even once pulled duty for a Marine so that young guy could spend Christmas with his family. His explanation by General Krulak: “So I said to him, ‘Jim, what are you standing the duty for?’ “And he said, ‘Sir, I looked at the duty roster for today and there was a young major who had it who is married and had a family; and so I’m a bachelor, I thought why should the major miss out on the fun of having Christmas with his family, and so I took the duty for him.’ ". Find me the time Trump or Hillary took over a job for one of their workers on a holiday. I'll wait.

That is why servicemen and servicewomen support him and would follow him into hell. He was a man who didn't demand respect, he earned it. We loved him because he was one of us, not above us. He worked his way up from infantry ranks all the way to General. He knew what life was like as one of us. We learned the hard way what it was like having a General who did not know what it was like as a front line troop when we got General Amos as Commandant. He was the antithesis of Mattis. A man who threw his troops under the bus to protect himself. In other words, a man who emulated US politicians. Few Marines would follow Amos to a Dairy Queen, even if he was buying.

One thing about General Mattis that should make my liberal readers more comfortable is that I don't think Trump understands exactly what he is getting with him. Trump was confident he could force the military to obey even blatantly unlawful orders. He wouldn't even be able to control his own SecDef if he tried it. Mattis would absolutely stand up against that garbage, and what is Trump going to do? Fire the one and only pick that the US is happy about? Can a man who commands far more respect that he ever could? I seriously doubt it. On veterans sites I am already seeing vets asking how many people have to go before Mattis would become president (the answer btw is Mattis would be 6th in line). You think Trump has the grapes to can Mattis for refusing to administer orders that break our laws and treaties? I highly doubt it.

What Marines Dream About

If you were worried about the ignorant things Trump said he'd do with the military, than I highly suggest you think about supporting General Mattis. Don't just trust me. Look into the man's life and talk to people who have served under him. Try as I might, I haven't found a single person who has served under him who don't wholeheartedly support him as SecDef. That should speak volumes about who he is.

In summary, if you want a strong military that is intimidating to forces that want to hurt us, Mattis is a great pick. If you want a military that acts justly and professionally, Mattis is a great pick. If you want someone who will stand up for American values when stupid orders come from above, Mattis is a great pick. He's not perfect. He's not an angel. But he is who can do the job, and likely do it the best. I know his quotes might bother some people, but as General Patton said:

“When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag. … As for the types of comments I make, sometimes I just, By God, get carried away with my own eloquence.”

I leave you with a letter sent by Mattis to his Marines. Read this, and see if you can understand why he is so beloved.

P.S. That comic above was taken from www.TerminalLance.com. Max is an great artist, motivating person, and a filthy Marine veteran like yours truly. Please take the time to visit his site and appreciate his work.

Act 1: Inside the house

He steps around the couch nimbly.  Heading back to the kitchen granite counter where he had placed the knife to be retrieved at his convenience.

"Many people still believe in it you, you know".

His voice higher pitched than you would expect from a man his size.  More young professor than asthmatic nerd.  He grabbed the knife and walked to the right, avoiding the hassle of the coffee table on the other side.

"I mean, you drive around and see these signs on at night". He reaches her, grabs her wrist and slowly drags her to the couch with some effort.

"Like, what do they really do right? The idea is they speak to them all after they are gone.  Heaven or hell is regardless they can always contact them.  Either that or they are all blatant liars and if that is the case that says something about us as a society..."

He adjusts her bound feet and hands a little for her.  Licks his thumb and wipes the dribbles of blood coming from the cut on her forehead in that patronizing but loving way parents and guardians are wont to do.  

"But let’s tackle it one at a time", he sits on the living room table, back to the TV, facing her.  "First if they do, they can break the greatest frontier to anyone alive.  We therefore know unequivocally that death is not the end.  That is all fine and dandy but, to tell me you can access this communi...." 

A slight rattle shakes him, making him cough over his shoulder politely.  The TV is showing one of those helicopter angles of the house which make his gaze linger.  

"You know, it looks pretty good from the air.  Not every house does.  There is that church in....I'm not sure where it is but the punch line is it looks like a dick from above".  He turns back to face her. "Google it sometime. But as I was saying", he leans in, getting focused.  "They can access them anytime you want, meaning either they have no schedule or that time is a fluid concept yonder.  That means screw what the most high or the guy below had planned for you my friend, you are still at our beck and call".   

He absentmindedly places the tip of the knife to her knee, holding it there by the base of the handle with one finger.  

"I mean the arrogance right?  Like even if we could, don't these people deserve an unbothered hereafter?  Nature has taken its steam and we decide no, we still need to know what to do with your heirloom bedpan".  He places the knife in her lap.  "We can be the worst sometimes but the alternative is true too.  If that is all fake, which is my personal stance by the way, then we are trying to appease guilt and doubt for a price.  Is that noble? Is that swindling?  I mean, you still get what you pay for.  If you are willing to pay you already have the propensity to believe so the actor is getting paid to act and if they have opened a place up odds are you will get your money’s worth"

He stares at her knee as he says this, ignoring the bright, white spotlight sweeping through the kitchen.  

"But what does that say of us as a culture that we allow this for either reason.  Is feeding adults Santa Claus levels of fantasy or the ability to startle the passed on healthy?  Is this how you shore up people to be tough in hard times?  You could say it does no harm but neither did tobacco or babies sleeping on their backs".  

He tosses the knife in her lap and stands up to stretch, leaning side to side and taking a quick look outside.  He could swear he can see the reflection off the goggles under the black helmets.  Closest tree line he thinks.  Any minute now.  He casually looks back down at her.  

"That last one is a myth by the way but the point stands.  I just feel like life is hard enough as it is..." 

In a room close by there is a muffled thud and an almost inaudible groan as the third trap is sprung. 

He leans down and picks the gun up, stepping to the left and over the size 12 converse that are bound together.  "...give them the raw oats man, if we lose some along the way oh well.  Call it natural selection or God's design, they either couldn't cut it or it was their time.  Hey, that rhymed" He chuckles.  

He grabs the car keys off the hook, turns and pulls the flare from his pocket.  In one motion, he sets it off, bathing the room in bright neon red, 

"It should say something that there is only one challenge at the end of the day we can't avoid.  Death is the only one and even though there are no rules to this game unless you are a believer, trying to cheat by getting out of play answers is kind of pathetic if you think about it".  

He drops it and watches it quickly catch the gasoline trail on fire.  As it snakes towards the door, he opens the door to the garage.  A row of sharp objects attached to the board rigged by a pulley system lies on the floor.  There is blood on some of the scissors and knives and the window is slightly ajar. 

With some quick and measured steps he opens the Shelby GT door and steps in. "I mean, what kind of asshole or wimp wants to ruin the mystery.  Live life on your own terms.  I don't care if you want to veg out or turn up, do it your way and stop trying to figure it out that hard.  Cause I know the meaning of life"  

He turns the car on and revs it twice as the garage door starts to rise.  "Stick with me and I will tell you if you are lucky".  As he punches it, it barely clears the door.  He immediately swings it left, right over the yard, heading towards the neighbors.  As he hits the road sparks flare from the under carriage.  He jams the pedal down, ignoring the blazing two tone lights following him....