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There is No Freedom Without ResponsibilityAcross the globe... it seems the desire of freedom and understanding the responsibility required to keep it embody the pillar around which all true citizens and good soldiers stand arm in arm. From this formation they gather strength to hold fast while their enemies try to chip away from outside and also from the inside. Those who love freedom and understand what is required to win and keep it include:
As you can see, the dark forces mobilizing against us are strong. It is "suck it up time" for the guy who understands responsibility and freedom have a symbiotic relationship.
"Late 19th Century warfare never stopped, though is was masked for a time by the Cold War emphasis on atomic bombs. And in this type of warfare - that you Americans must master - only two things count: the mystic dimension of service and the sanctity of an oath. It's about the giving of one's best when the audience is of the smallest." Though I have never met Colonel Cross his words give us a great insight - a lesson if you will - that many yet to have learn--that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand.
I personally learned my lesson in this hallowed area when I first entered the Army out of high school in the early 1970's. After a few days of life in the Army I had lost all my freedom and responsibilities. The Army thought of everything: I was told what to wear, what to eat, when to eat, when to wash; how to fold my clothes. As time marched on I began to see that as I conformed to these edicts required of me and I did them as prescribed, I was given more responsibility back... and thus, I gained more freedom. I graduated Basic Training, and that was followed by Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) at Fort Polk Louisiana where I was given a little more responsibility. There I finally had a little more freedom. From there I moved on to Jump School at Fort Benning. Georgia. I had not yet made it to a unit, but there, all I had to do was show up fit for training so I had a lot more freedom--but I also had the responsibility of not abusing it. As I moved through those quick three weeks of Jump School, I saw some of my fellow soldiers use their time responsibly and I saw others that were irresponsible and I noted that they lost their freedom and spent their weekends doing details. Sometimes their actions would also impact their fellow soldiers (me included) so that we would be punished together as an example to show how precious responsibility is over irresponsibility - especially on the basis of maintaining unit integrity when the going gets tough. Though it all, I eventually was rewarded for my hard work by being assigned to the 1st Ranger Battalion and at the beginning had very little freedom but eventually was given more responsibility and gained more freedom. So the responsibility = freedom point was always drilled in as I went through various iterations of the Army life. I thought about this a lot over the years and realized that it applied to my childhood. I also found that this applies to every facet of life and realized there is no freedom without responsibility and now through the above mentioned and other voluminous match sticks of experience of I have come to know responsibility is a another word for freedom. Hooah! [EDIT NOTE: John Cross joined the British Army in 1943 and, in a career spanning 40 years, served with the 1st Gurkha Rifles in Burma and French Indo-China during World War II. He commanded a rifle company in the 1st Battalion of the 7th Gurkha Rifles during the Malayan Emergency and the Border Scouts in Borneo, directed the British Army Jungle Warfare School and recruited Gurkhas for the British Army in Nepal. ~The jungle can be seen as the environment closest to mankind's primeval origins - and the setting in which he, or most of his kind, is least at home. Certainly, whenever the human race has chosen such regions for conflict, the physical conditions have always posed unique problems and demanded special soldiering skills. In this book, Colonel John Cross, one of the world's most experienced jungle fighters, and one who has spent most of his life teaching the art of jungle warfare, gives a very personal account of this form of fighting.~ By the author of "In Gurkha Company: The British Army Gurkhas, 1948 to the Present" (1986), "First In Last Out: Unconventional British Officer in Indo-China, 1945-46 and 1972-76" (1992), "A Face Like a Chicken's Backside: An Unconventional Soldier in South East Asia, 1948-1971" (1996), "Gurkhas at War in Their Own Words: The Gurkha Experience, 1939 to the Present" (2002).] |
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We would do well to review the British gentlemen warriors from a nearly vanished era who include a Colonel John Phillip Cross, a master of jungle warfare training from WWII for the SAS to Malaysia. Who, even though in his 80's, is still as mentally and physically fit as he was in his forties. A fitting, recent quote:
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The Need: The Answer: Features:
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The Falcon Chest Rig
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No Surrender - Black Hawk Down
To the man, every U.S.trooper and pilot fought valiantly with little or no support, out numbered twenty to one until rescue elements including the 10th Mountian Division 214th Inf. and UN reinforcements, helped bring them back. . Though the missions original intent was valiant and bold in execution, its tragic conclusion shows how even though “The Mog”( as Mogadishu was coined) was not US soil, it is now as hallowed as Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor due to the spirit of “No Surrender” which exemplified the courage of the man on the street displayed. The story of a battle is timeless. Once the battle is joined, a soldier fights to survive, to kill before he are killed. Now, etched in all our minds as a spirit of what No Surrender is all about, the battle of Mogadishu is known today in Somalia as “Ma-alinti Rangers,” or the Day of the Rangers. It pitted the world's most sophisticated military power against mobs of civilians and Somalian irregulars, who, when even having twenty to one odds against the US trooper ; in the end were not strong enough to break the No surrender kinship all professional soldiers embody. |
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Boonie / Sun Hat 100% Cotton RipstopThis design of Boonie Hat is our favorite field hat after years of experience. U.S. Govt Spec hat with 3/4" nylon webbing, nylon chin cord and leather keeper. This Boonie Hat design is similar to the ones worn in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The brim of the Boonie Hat protects the wearer... come rain, or shine! |
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Brit MI6 Confirms Bin Laden Nukes MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service, has identified six Pakistani scientists working in Iran's nuclear bomb program who have been "advising al-Qaida on how to weaponize fissionable materials it has now obtained." MI6 and the International Atomic Energy Agency believe the scientists have played a major role in enabling Iran to be "well advanced in providing uranium enriched materials for nuclear bombs," said Alexander Cirilovic, a nuclear terrorism expert in Paris. Read More >> |
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SpecOps unit nearly nabs Zarqawi Just nine days before al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi released his latest video, a special operations raid killed five of his men, captured five others and apparently came within a couple of city blocks of nabbing Zarqawi himself. Then, the day Zarqawi’s video debuted, special ops forces killed 12 more of his troops in a second raid in the same town. Read More >> |
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Special Forces Soldiers earn MacArthur Leadership Award FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Apr. 4, 2006) — Of all the warrant officers and officers on active duty in the Army, only thirteen are chosen to receive the annual General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award for dedication to duty, honor and country each year. Warrant Officer Jason W. Latteri, the commander of Operational Detachment – Alpha 533, Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), was selected as the only active duty warrant officer candidate to receive the prestigious award this year. Read More >> |
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CIA Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss CIA Director Porter Goss resigned unexpectedly Friday, leaving behind a spy agency still battling to recover from the scars of intelligence failures before America's worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the U.S. rationale for invading Iraq. It was the latest move in a second-term shake-up of President Bush's team. Read More >> |
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Important Steps to Take if a Dirty Bomb Were to be Detonated U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Monday that a U.S. citizen had been arrested and charged with plotting to detonate a "dirty bomb," probably in Washington, D.C. Dirty bombs do not use a nuclear reaction, but instead use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials. CNN Health Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen spoke with CNN anchor Leon Harris about what steps to take after a dirty bomb detonates. Read More >> |
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Actor Robert Davi Urges Local Security Forces An exciting proposal to strengthen national security at the local level, born three weeks after 9/11, is languishing in the Department of Homeland Security's bureaucracy, says its originator, well-known character actor Robert Davi. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Davi – star of the TV series "Profiler" and scores of films – reveals that he has been pushing his idea for a nationally organized group of citizens working with the FBI and local law enforcement to monitor threats to national and local security. Read More >> |
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RECOMMENDED READING - Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America As incredible as it may be to believe, three years before the Sept. 11 bombing of the World Trade Center a Chinese military manual titled Unrestricted Warfare touted such an attack – suggesting it would be difficult for the U.S. military to cope with. Here is an excerpt from Unrestricted Warfare: "Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Center, or a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency bandwidths understood by the American military..." Read More >> |
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Focus on Marine Enforcement The United States always has defended it's borders and natural resources from harm. Unlike threats of the past, however, maritime terrorism constitutes a multifront conflict both at home and abroad. It recognizes no borders and can originate from organized groups and individuals operating inside or outside the United States. The fight against maritime terrorism, unlike conventional threats, is a complicated struggle with neither an easy nor a rapid conclusion... Read More >> |
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Russian Bombers Flew Undetected Across Arctic Russian military planes flew undetected through the U.S. zone of the Arctic Ocean to Canada during recent military exercises, a senior Air Force commander said Saturday. The commander of the country's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the U.S. Air Force is now investigating why its military was unable to detect the Russian bombers. Read More >> |
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