What Color
the Patriot
from Dr. Janet N. Ward
Wife of an American Service member
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 an 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
Vietnam and had little public support. His senior officers were Vietnam 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 reelection 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.
