XtnYoda

Believe me when I say that you DO want to go read David's entire post!

He has spoken eloquently to the feelings and emotions of the men and women that served in Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan.

MUST READ!

Our Mission is Finally Accomplished… Anyone Care?
By David Bellavia

New York Times

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military mission in Iraq will soon be getting a new name.

As of Sept. 1, Operation Iraqi Freedom becomes Operation New Dawn.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a memo Wednesday that the name change — which is to immediately follow the scheduled withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq — will send a strong signal that American forces have a new mission. He also said it reinforces the U.S. commitment to honor its security agreement with Iraq and recognizes ”our evolving relationship” with the government there.

I am not naive. I understand that there are individuals who opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning and I believe their passion, although misguided at times, is rooted in a deep desire for peace. What always baffled me was the reaction they had to pro-victory veterans when we came home. As if we were some robotic arm of the Bush White House. It was foreign for them to understand why winning in Iraq was so important.

Our friends died in this cause. There is no honor in their death unless we complete the mission they died fighting.

Everyone is exposed to the death of someone close to them at least one time in their lives. Cancer, accidents, sometimes it is sudden or violent. Rarely do we see it. But when we do our lives are affected forever because of it. We live in a culture where there must be a reason for everything that goes wrong. Obama is responsible for job loss. Bush ruined the housing market. The tires that blew out on my car that I was driving was a manufacturing error and not due to the fact that I was driving on the sidewalk.

Someone is responsible for everything that goes wrong in America. It makes us feel better to know it wasn’t our fault.

The war in Iraq was no different. While many scurried to blame Donald Rumsfeld, General Franks or President Bush for losing the war in Iraq, they bet against the American fighting men and women to turn the tide of the war. “The mission” in Iraq was evil. The troops would never be maligned as they were in Vietnam.

I don’t begrudge these people. They simply will never get it. They are the type of people you need to protect in a society. They are innocent and naive.

It is the job of the warrior to hide them under the bed and tell them it will be okay, before we run off to combat the threat.

The ones that hold my contempt are those who, even today, know of the sacrifice made, the incredible progress gained and still will not acknowledge what was won on the ground in Iraq. They cheapen the sacrifice of how it was earned. Operation Iraqi Freedom is no more.

Operation New Dawn (the exact same name of the Battle of Fallujah in November 2004) is the new name of the deployment to Iraq.

What we achieved in the face of an implacable enemy, overcoming many in our own government willfully ignorant of our struggle, is what I believe to be the defining moment of my generation. The veteran today is the embodiment of what it means to be an American. Even when our valor was used for political sport, we continued to serve quietly......