Just got this note from Mayor Bob Coble:
Great article by Jeff Wilkinson in The State on the impact of Fort Jackson, Shaw and McEntire on our economy. Ike McLeese has done a tremendous job leading the effort locally, as has Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom on the State level. The Rhoads Group has done an outstanding job for us making sure the Pentagon has all the information about the strengths of Fort Jackson. The BRAC decision in 2005 was a big win economically for the Midlands and South Carolina.
The piece does make an important point, and I know Ike McLeese has done yeoman’s work over the past decade keeping the military engaged in the Midlands.
Related Posts
While I understand the financial need for base closures, the social impact has always bothered me. Essentially, our military is being sequestered on “super-bases,” like Indian reservations, and no longer become part of your average community. It creates a military culture that is removed from American life.
Excellent point, Burl. There was an artist on NPR today who has done a series of portraits of Iraq vets, and he said before this, he had never known anyone who was in the military.In a lot of parts of the country, this is quite common.
Memorial Day reflections
It’s Memorial Day and I would like to share a few thoughts. This is a day when we honor our war dead and reflect on their sacrifice to keep us safe and free. The brave young men and women have served their country by offering their lives to the ideals of our founding fathers. Those cherished values can best be served by returning to the intentions of our founding fathers. Let us not merely trot out the same old platitudes about our soldiers protecting our freedom or ensuring the continuation of democracy. That sounds great on a bumper sticker or a sound bite but we need to look deeper into a higher purpose for the loss of military life.
Sadly, America often has a misplaced glorification of war that leads to an unrealistic belief that military might can solve every conceivable problem or presumed problem. That has led us into places such as Vietnam, Mogidishu and Iraq that were not threats to democracy, freedom, justice or any other treasured American ideal. We can best honor those who died in such places by acknowleding honestly and completely our misguided role in those unfortunate conflicts. By continuing to suggest the lives lost in those wars was “not in vain” suggests that we can fight future conflicts, no matter how misguided, and those lives too will not be lost in vain. The best way to ensure our fallen soldiers lives are for a positive purpose is to learn the correct lessons so that future generations won’t be lost on faraway battlefields for some noble-sounding but incorrect catchphrase. We should not allow our politicians to mendatiously talk us into wars to protect us form “falling dominoes” or “imaginary weapons of mass destruction”. Nor should we buy into ridiculous memes like “clearing swamps” or engaging in a “war on terror”. These platitudes dishoner our veterans and make a mockery of what’s good and right about America and American values.
The best way to honor our fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day is to promise them to never allow their lives to be needlessly sacrificed by the whims of politicians who are in no danger to themselves for a cause that is far different from what they proclaim. We honor our fallen through the truth. We honor the dignity of our departed soldiers by using them ONLY for the purpose they are trained for: protecting the security of the United States of America. Let us learn the proper lessons from history. If not we will repeat mistakes of the past and many good men and women will needlessly pay the ultimate price. In this way we make America a great place.
@Burl,
Excellent observation. I grew up within a few miles of Ft. Bragg, NC. The interaction between the military and civilian population was a positive one and the city of Fayetteville thrived on the symbiotic relationship.
Another point. Sequestering the military on “superbases” also opens us to the same threat we faced when we gathered all of our planes into one area at Pearl Harbor. The attack effectively wiped out not only our naval but air power in the Pacific.
Something I’d like to know more about is this: How much have we hurt our readiness by closing forward bases in other countries?
If you close, say, a Subic Bay (thereby concentrating more of our assets back at Pearl, as Bart notes), you don’t have the local congressman and Chamber pitching a fit. They are politically easier to close. And yet, those bases are often far more important and relevant to the military’s mission than bases in the middle of, say, Kansas. (The only purposes I can imagine for bases in Kansas would be as a place to put Doomsday reserves, in case a huge conventional force actually attacked the U.S. — that, and keeping U.S. forces in touch with the folks at home, as Burl suggests.)
And Kathryn, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone like that artist you mention. Alien to my existence.
As for Bud: Well, needless to say, I disagree. This nation once “learned” the “lesson” he wants it to learn permanently, and it nearly destroyed the U.S. military and made it impossible to act militarily for about 20 years. We still feel its effects today, and not in a good way.
The United States should not be allergic to using any of the tools at its command — military, economic, diplomatic — in the legitimate pursuit of its interests and values in the world.
This is a test, to see if the blog is functioning properly. Someone suggested, via e-mail, that it wasn’t…
Truth, justice and the American. That’s the acid test of a great nation.
Well, this is not the day for political disagreements, but rather a day to think of those who have indeed made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of their country, who did what they were asked and more.
Whether you agree with Bud or with Brad, it seems clear that a country that spends more on its military budget almost than the rest of the world combined, does not have a military that is anywhere close to being “nearly destroyed.”
Today I offer one of the greatest and most important speeches ever given by an American President, a visionary statement:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html
Barry Obama made history today, first US President to skip the laying of the wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day while the country was at war.
The man is proving that he is just not fit to be president.
Burl, one thing that I think has kept military families part of many communities is the heavy use of reservists. The benefit is that it keeps non-base communities more aware of military sacrifices. However, I’ve always thought of reserves as being available for real national emergencies, not as a fill-in for the regular active duty. It has made it impossible for a reservist to maintain their civilian job, especially if they are self employed.
Bud, I do appreciate being reminded of those who have lost their lives in service to their country. And I agree that it is our duty to make sure the cause is worthy of that loss.
Actually, my aside from my first cousin David, who I barely knew, no one in my family since WW II has served (my dad worked at the bomb plant and got deferred from Korea) and none of my close friends from high school or college or even now, are vets, except Jack Van Loan and other Rotarians. It’s not part of the Savannah River Site ethos, nor is it part of the academic or high-powered legal worlds…
We should try to facilitate interaction between the military and civilians, and not sequester them.
Memorial Day. Stopped off on my way to work (newspapers never have holidays) to pay respects to my parents at Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery, and also to salute the grave site of Ernie Pyle.
The work in the continental U.S. formerly done by the military is being shifted to the National Guard. And we wind up with situations like Katrina with the Louisiana National Guard deployed overseas.
During the last two hurricane seasons, the ENTIRE Hawaii National Guard was in Iraq, except for the band, for ceremonial occasions.
@MichaelP
Prez GHW Bush skipped Arlington in 1992 to play golf.
Prez Obama visited a national cemetary (can’t recall the name) in Ellwood IL today and Vice Prez Biden visisted Arlington. I believe proper respect was rendered.
“The best way to honor our fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day is to promise them to never allow their lives to be needlessly sacrificed by the whims of politicians who are in no danger to themselves for a cause that is far different from what they proclaim. We honor our fallen through the truth…”
bud, sometimes you just make too much sense.
Obama laid a wreath in a cemetery in Illinois.
Kathryn, I understand a little that academia and advanced degrees are low on military experience, but Sunday, at church, when the congregation was asked to stand if they had lost a family member in war, we had about 10 to stand. When veterans are asked to stand, we have a 20 or so to stand. We currently have a JAG officer who gave up trying to establish a civilian practice because he was called up so many times. We have at least one doctor in our church who came through the military. My own father was a medic in WWII, and while I didn’t think of myself as having a military family growing up, my life has turned out that way. I suspect there may be more in your social community than you might imagine. No one really knew one of our local educators had a military background until he died and it was learned in his obituary that he was a pilot shot down in Germany and a POW for about a year.
One of the other “firsts” about Bill Clinton is that he was the first president in years — likely, ever — to not have served in the military. It was simply expected of all young men, particularly during the draft years.
Michael P is perhaps unaware of the fact that our President was to give his Memorial Day speech at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois. This, like Arlington, was one of 14 national cemeteries Lincoln established during the Civil War. President Obama in fact had begun his speech when it was interrupted by thunderstorms and lightning, and so was cut short out of safety concerns for those present. Meanwhile, VP Biden was speaking at Arlington.
Being fit to be President is about more than symbology, more than just standing under “Mission Accomplished” banners. Perhaps Michael feels that those who gave their lives and are buried in the National Cemeteries other than Arlington are somehow less deserving of a Presidential tribute.
I am fully aware where Obama was, and it wasn’t Arlington National Cemetery.
Are there tombs of the unknown soldiers at these other 14 cemeteries? That’s where the wreath is laid every Memorial Day. Make excuses all day, but Obama was still MIA at Arlington on Memorial Day during a time when the country is at war. He probably couldn’t find anybody to play basketball with in Washington so he headed home to be with his homeboys.
Perhaps Michael feels that those who gave their lives and are buried in the National Cemeteries other than Arlington are somehow less deserving of a Presidential tribute.
-Phillip
I would say that Michael P. believes just that. How un-American can you get Micheal, not wanting to honor 13/14 of America’s war dead.
“One of the other “firsts” about Bill Clinton is that he was the first president in years — likely, ever — to not have served in the military”
George W. Bush didn’t serve either. He just participated.
The United States should not be allergic to using any of the tools at its command — military, economic, diplomatic — in the legitimate pursuit of its interests and values in the world.
-Brad
Intersts and values – buzzwords for oil profiteering by Haliburton and other giant corporations.
Is it just me, or does it seem like this blog has a karmic requirement for one and only one troll?
Well, this one’s my favorite so far, as trolls go. We just have to make sure we don’t feed him too much!
No, Bud, I actually mean legitimate interests and values. Funny thing about me, I pretty much use the actual, straightforward words to express what I actually mean. No phrasebook required.
@ Pat– I excluded WW II vets–that was the last war, it seems to me, where we all pulled together and everyone served. I do live in SC, as well, but before I moved back here, my immediate social circle had nary a vet. The college-educated middle class outside of the South generally scorned the military–at least until the latest tuition crunch.
“He probably couldn’t find anybody to play basketball with in Washington so he headed home to be with his homeboys.”
Is Michael P suggesting something about the president? Gosh, what could it be?
I didn’t see the president at Punchbowl either, but I’m not enraged about it. The same folks who are screaming that he should have been at Arlington are also screaming he should have been in Louisiana, vetoing the laws of physics. Sometimes it’s all about the screaming.
Maybe Bush’s national guard records are locked up in the same vault with Obama’s birth certificate.
Kathryn, I quite agree about military sentiment outside the South.
@ Burl “Maybe Bush’s national guard records are locked up in the same vault with Obama’s birth certificate” Now that brought a smile to my face! 🙂
Michael P. “his homeboys”!?!?
His very elegant house in Kenwood, on the edge of Hyde Park, is hardly in the ‘hood….
I should imagine that our President would have no shortage of high-quality basketball players happy to play with him anywhere.
Looks like MichaelP has revealed the real reason he hates the president.