An American Hero on point

There are some people who sit and watch events unfold. Others get into their car and drive more than 1000 miles and volunteer to help. The below was written by a friend of mine. We served together in the Michigan Army National Guard as training instructors for various leadership courses and military combat arms training programs in Battle Creek. As most of us stood watching the replays of the 9/11 events and the collaspe of the World Trade Center, Sean drove to New York and volunteered in the clean up efforts immediately afterwards. He later volunteered to serve in a Michigan Guard Infantry unit on deployment orders to Iraq. Many of our former students were assigned to that unit and he felt it his duty to go. Several of our former students, soldiers all, and fellow Michiganders, your neighbors, lost their lives in service to our country during that same deployment. I asked Sean permission to reprint his email in this blog. I know Sean as a true Patriot. A defender of American values. A soldier I would trust to watch my back if I ever found myself engaged in a "mad minute" once again. His words touched me deeply. I hope they will for you too. Good job Sean! And Thank-you!

Sent: Thu, Feb 18, 2010 9:43 am
Subject: Which Political Party wants to Claim the Victory in Iraq?

We have come a great distance as a nation thankfully because of those that have sacrificed their lives during too many wars in the past years. Countless rows of our nation's dead that lay in cemeteries across this nation and on foreign soil are our solemn reminders of lives lost and freedoms preserved throughout history. Last week I was taken back while listening to Vice President Biden pronouncing that the victory in Iraq is President Obama's crowning achievement especially when then Senator Obama voted against the Iraq War and against the the surge of troops in 2007. Either way President Obama voted, it was and never will be his victory or accomplishment for his Democratic Party nor will it be a victory for former President Bush and the Republican Party. It is obviously apparent that for one reason or another that our elected officials have decided to accept a victory that has yet to be seen. I, like most stood numb and shaken in disbelief when then President Bush suited up and landed aboard an aircraft carrier to claim major fighting had ended in Iraq and victory had been secured. While he gave the speech, my fellow service men and women were on combat patrols in Iraq receiving the blunt end of IED'd, RPG'd, being mortared and shot at with gunfire. If you have a moment, think about those words he spoke while they were and still are under fire that day and the days that followed in Iraq. Think of the limbs and blood and lives lost, the lives torn and shattered and ask yourself this question: Who gave the right to claim this wars or for that matter any wars victory to one man or one political party? Doesn't it make sense to wait 5 to 10 years down the road after we've departed to really see if victory is truly concrete? If Victory has been determined in the years after we withdraw, wouldn't it be proper to give the thanks to those families who've lost their loved ones? How about this idea: How about we give thanks to the veteran who lost his or her limb or eye or ability to remember where the refrigerator is located in their home? How about we let the mothers who lost their children in this war accept the flag of victory. Even better, how about the thousands of children who lost a mother or father in this war hold the flag of victory instead of President Bush or President Obama or any political party. Thinking about these politicians wanting to argue over who gets the credit quite simply boils my blood and adds fuel and oxygen to a fire that really truly doesn't need anymore added. The sweet taste of victory is something to be cherished and savored by those that truly have sacrificed more than most can or will ever comprehend. To be so bold and wanton to claim victory from the hands that have sacrificed much is selfish, immoral and criminal. We have come a long distance as a nation but we can't say we have come far enough when leaders of political parties want to take victory from the hands that fought and died for it in to many ways.
To those families that have lost loved ones in the war in Iraq, I apologize for our elected officials being so obviously inconsiderate and cold hearted. To my fellow service members that gave their lives, I'd like to be at the gates when you greet these greedy politicians with clenched fists and bloodstained eyes. I agonize often over the death of the members of my own unit while in Iraq and this latest act of deplorable ignorance and selfishness by our former and current Vice President only adds grief to pain and anxiety that they themselves cannot and will not ever comprehend.
I am truly sorry for this display by our elected officials, their disgusting and selfish style of leadership, and hope in time that the pain and discomfort you have endured will lessen with time.

Sean E Knudsen,
Howell, Michigan
US Army Retired