Veterans Day Message
Dear Editor: And so – again, yet, and still – another Veteran of America’s “Global” War On Terrorism” (GWOT) is a mass murderer.
This time it was at a college bar hangout in California. It wasn’t too long ago that it was at an airport in Florida, and at a church in Texas shortly before that.
PTSD-afflicted Veterans will be coming back from the GWOT for as long as it goes on. They have been coming back and are already here, just waiting to be triggered, 17 years’ worth of them. And they will keep coming back as long as the government – and The People – of this nation keep sending them off to fight that dirty little “Forever War.”
These folks are just like ISIS or al-Qaeda deep cover infiltrated (and infiltrating) suicide bombers. Only they don’t wear dynamite vests and blow up buses, markets, or mosques in the Middle East; rather, they use guns that they can easily and legally (or illegally) acquire wherever they may happen to be, right here in America.
The only way to stop having GWOT Veterans do things like that is to stop having GWOT Veterans.
When a GWOT Veteran commits an atrocity like the slaughter at the Borderline Bar and Grill, there is no best guess as to “motive.” That will presumably be determined by the investigation currently under way.
In any event, it is certainly clear – by the way Ian David Long executed his attack, particularly the use of smoke bombs – that his “mission” had more than just a little bit to do with his experience during about four and a half years in the Marine Corps, including his deployment to Afghanistan.
The only way to stop having GWOT Veterans do things like Thousand Oaks is to stop having GWOT Veterans. And the only way to stop having GWOT Veterans is:
1. End that “War.”
2. Use all the money we would save – trying and failing, for now 17 years and counting – to make that part of the world into an American neo-Colony. Use that money to give all those potential Ian David Long’s out there the possibly mind, heart, gut, soul, and help they need to prevent themselves from losing themselves in any more of the insanity they carry within.
3. Use the rest of all the money we would save by declaring “GWOT Mission Accomplished!!!”
On Jan. 20, 2001, the day the Cheney-Bush administration took office, the National Debt of the United States of America was approximately $5.7 trillion; by the end of that regime in January 2009, it stood at $10.6 trillion. As of 7 a.m., AST, today, Nov. 9, 2018, two years to the day after The Dawn of The Age of Trump, the National Debt clock reading stands at $21,706,08+,+++,+++, and counting. Of the $15 trillion or so added to that Debt since 9/11, estimates range from $3-to-5 trillion as to the cost of the GWOT (at least that the Pentagon, the CIA, NSA, DHS, etc. will own up to.)
What we have here is a “Credit Card War”: a War that nobody has paid for ever since it started, or is paying for today, or ever has ever really ever given any thought to or about paying for it at any time in the future. A War that, quite frankly, nobody cares or worries about who is going to pay for, as long as it isn’t them. And as long as those tax breaks keep coming.
The fact that SOMEBODY is going to have to take responsibility and account for that National Debt, and actually, really pay for this War – with interest – seems to have escaped these folks’ span of attention. So much for “money in the game”; to return to “blood”... .
Whether Thousand Oaks becomes the Kent State of this War or not, perhaps now, with the massacre at the Borderline Bar and Grill, college-age kids and their elders will recognize that they all very definitely DO have blood in this game called GWOT.
Even as we speak, does anyone have the courage to even guess as to how many GWOT Vets are out there watching the Thousand Oaks story unfold, and receiving signals that are moving memories and re-kindling nightmares that serve as the backdrop and backstory for hatching schemes and marshaling resources to see if maybe, just maybe, they couldn’t be even badder and do even better than Corporal Long did in letting America know just exactly how much this War is really costing it.
In blood and in treasure. Today and tomorrow.
Jeffrey G. Moebus,
Master Sergeant,
U.S. Army (retired), Sitka
Media
Dear Editor: The true friend of the people – President Trump is just plain wrong when he calls the news media the enemy of the people.
We the people are a slice of the pool of humanity. We are shades of many colors. We come from many heritages. We worship a one god and many gods or none at all. We are heterosexual, homosexual, and asexual. We are male, female and transgender. We are a mix of the many different identities listed here and many that are not listed here. We are the people.
The enemy of the people is President Trump’s rhetoric that makes some believe that we need to be divided. Crimes of hate are emboldened by this rhetoric of intolerance. Calling out President Trump’s rhetoric of intolerance doesn’t make the news media the enemy of the people. The millions of us who reject the divisive rhetoric are not the enemy of the people either.
We the people need more communication, more listening and more understanding of different views.
Thank you news media for reporting on what is happening in this country. You are a true friend of the people.
Brent Edwards, Sitka
Medical Care
Dear Editor: I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the quick actions and responses provided to my wife, Mary Purvis, as a result of a stroke. The stroke took place Sept. 24 while she was shopping at AC Lakeside. She was at the checkout counter when the stroke occurred. The women at Lakeside took charge and quickly called 911. Dave Miller, our fire chief, and crew responded and got Mary to the emergency room at Sitka Community Hospital. I was called and arrived at the emergency room where the doctor and nurses were working on Mary. I was impressed at the professionalism as they worked to limit the stroke damage. Dr. McGrath made the decision to medevac Mary to Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.
Air Lift Northwest was the medevac crew that arrived to prepare Mary for the flight to Seattle. Again, I was impressed with flight nurses as they worked to get her ready. I also want to thank Guardian Flight for bringing Mary back to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital on Oct. 27, where her care has been outstanding. It truly is a hospital with a ‘‘heart.’’
Finally, I want to thank my Masonic Brothers and Mary’s friends for their support and help. Sitka is a caring and responsible community.
Bob Purvis, Sitka
