Early in the morning I drove over to the Pensacola Naval Base to watch the Blue Angels practice morning maneuvers. Amazing stuff, and amazing speed. Living near a national guard base in Detroit, I’ve seen the blue angels perform before, but never this close. Pretty scary precision and the technology, albeit seasoned, can take your breath away.
After the show, we walked inside the Naval Air Museum and looked over the exhibits and displays. I’m always amazed at the turbine engines that were engineered in the 40’s and 50’s and the level of technology and engineering that the conflict of war produces.
My father served in the WWII as a master sergeant in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska... really, off the coast of Japan... Standing in that museum, reading about the battles of that war, the conflicts that shaped and turned the tides of victory, always moves me in a sobering way. While we reel at the death toll of 4,000 soldiers and the thousands more who’ve been injured and maimed as a result of this war, I think our generation cannot fully contemplate what we sacrificed as a nation in wars gone by. 407,000 died in WWII, and while that doesn’t make the lives we’ve lost in the current conflict any less significant, it makes me realize that the potential for losses is so much greater than we can imagine, should the middle-east conflict escalate out of control.
Whatever your opinion about whether we should have gone in to Iraq, it is clear that an exit strategy, and overall strategy for the future is not a cut-and-dry affair. The problems in that region are far from resolved, and we cannot walk away and expect absolution from future involvement.
God help us.
After the show, we walked inside the Naval Air Museum and looked over the exhibits and displays. I’m always amazed at the turbine engines that were engineered in the 40’s and 50’s and the level of technology and engineering that the conflict of war produces.
My father served in the WWII as a master sergeant in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska... really, off the coast of Japan... Standing in that museum, reading about the battles of that war, the conflicts that shaped and turned the tides of victory, always moves me in a sobering way. While we reel at the death toll of 4,000 soldiers and the thousands more who’ve been injured and maimed as a result of this war, I think our generation cannot fully contemplate what we sacrificed as a nation in wars gone by. 407,000 died in WWII, and while that doesn’t make the lives we’ve lost in the current conflict any less significant, it makes me realize that the potential for losses is so much greater than we can imagine, should the middle-east conflict escalate out of control.
Whatever your opinion about whether we should have gone in to Iraq, it is clear that an exit strategy, and overall strategy for the future is not a cut-and-dry affair. The problems in that region are far from resolved, and we cannot walk away and expect absolution from future involvement.
God help us.
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