Subscribe
The Price Of Freedom
July 8, 2007
Here at A Soldier’s Mind, we’ve discussed many times the fact that the Freedoms that we so easily take for granted are not without cost… that Freedom Isn’t Free. It comes with a price. That price is something that many men and women, over the course of history, have paid for, with their blood, their sweat, their tears and in many cases even their lives. Freedom, is a very precious gift that these men and women have been willing to give to us, their fellow human beings, not because they had to, but because they so loved this country and it’s people, that the thought of any of us not having Freedom, was reprehensible to them.
Shortly after I wrote this about Marcus Luttrell, the lone survivor of Seal Team 10, that was inserted into the mountains of Afghanistan and overrun by a much larger enemy force, I received an email from Kelly Leonard of Hatchett Book Group,” the publishers of Marcus Luttrell’s book, Lone Survivor: The Eyewittness Account of Operation Redwing and The Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10. He proposed that we run another contest here at ASM and that he would send me 5 copies of Marcus Luttrell’s book to give to the winners. I’ve read the book myself, and believe me, it’s one that will keep turning pages until you’ve completed it. I would recommend it to anyone and now 5 of you will have the opportunity to own a copy of it.
Last week, I received those books. So, today, I’m announcing a new contest at A Soldier’s Mind. Yes it’s another contest where you’ll have to submit an essay. This one however will be a bit different. Our readers won’t be voting for the one they like the best. Instead, once the contest ends, I will send all of the entries to Marty in Iraq and allow him and his fellow soldiers at FOB Warhorse to chose the 5 they feel should win a copy of the book.
The topic of the essay is going to be two-fold. It will be as follows: What Does Freedom Mean To You and What Would YOU Be Willing To Do, To Ensure You Could Maintain Your Freedom? Once you have written your essay, please email it to me at . Please make sure that your essay is created in Microsoft Word and email the word document to me. I’ll get them posted as they are sent to me, so that we can all see what everyone feels about Freedom and what they’re willing to do to maintain it. The contest will end at 11:59 pm Central Time on July 31st. The contest is open to everyone, so feel free to pass this along to the different MilBlogs as well.
The essays will be included with essays from the past contest, in a book that Anthony are planning. As we’ve stated in the past, any and all proceeds of the book, after it’s published, will be donated in full to the Wounded Warrior Project. Tough topic, I know, but one that, given some of the recent discussions here at ASM, as well as events that are occurring around the world, deserves some deep thought by everyone. I look forward to reading what everyone has to say on this subject. Remember, there won’t be reader voting this time. Instead deployed Soldiers will be voting. The topic once again is: What Does Freedom Mean To You and What Would YOU Be Willing To Do, To Ensure You Could Maintain Your Freedom? Good Luck!
Comments
81 Responses to “The Price Of Freedom”
Got something to say?
Advertisement
-
Recent Posts
- Little Girl Lives Due To Soldier’s Quick Actions
- American Soldiers: People Helping People
- In Memory Day 2009
- Goal Of Study To Identify Those Who Are Able To Detect IEDs
- Ranger Up Girls Contest
- American Soldier by Queensryche: Interview With Front Man Geoff Tate
- National Sexual Assault Awareness Month: April 2009
- Miracle On The Mountainside
[...] House Link to Article iraq The Price Of Freedom » Posted at A Soldier’s Mind on Sunday, July 08, [...]
Bummer - not all of us have MS Word…
Flag Gazer if you don’t have MS Word just email it to me and I can put it in there, or type it into some sort of word processer program, such as what comes with most Operating Systems.
Good news. The price of freedom does not always require blood shed. But it does require sacrifice.
My sense is that the American people are willing to sacrifice some insecurity as it relates to terrorism if the alternative means a long and ugly occupation of Iraq with a dubious outcome that is emboldening the terrorist.
Whats the story behind this?
Army Misses Recruiting Goal For Second Straight Month
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/exclusive-army-.html
PS: I thought this post needed a few more comments.
Group Hug,
Coop
I like the idea of the soldiers voting for the winners!!
Me too! I figured it would add a twist to the contest and ensure that we didn’t have people only coming to the blog to vote and nothing else.
The thing is Coop that very few Americans are making ANY sacrifices this time around, unlike previous wars, even those that were unpopular during their time (Can anyone say WWII?). What does recruiting numbers have to do with the topic of the Essay Contest?
Oh and, are you going to be submitting an entry????
It’s an ironic thing that in the name of “freedom” Americans have become less free, regularly lied to and manipulated by an administration that wraps itself figuratively with the flag.
Well honestly Sharon, the American public has been lied to by politicians on both sides of the fence for years and years. It’s the nature of politics.
Cannot argue with that!
Wow, we miss 2 overly optimistic recruiting goals and Coop is celebrating and VT is being as true to Lenin’s description of the Western leftist as possible.
Newsflash: These last two months are the most difficult in the year. That is the way life is.
Meanwhile, we continue to find more weapon caches in Iraq, more evidence of WMDs, Saddam-terrorist links, kill more terrorists, and all without ANY losses of freedoms in the USA. The AP continues to make up fake stories while ignoring Micheal Yon’s work in showing the barbarism of the terrorists/islamofascists. Leave for a few days and nothing changes.
Now for the topic. The essay contest sounds like a wonderful idea and has a great prize. I look forward to reading the entries.
Me too Chris! I hope you’re planning to submit an essay. I know it would be one worth reading.
Whats the deadline for essays?
Chris G, I’m not celebrating the unmet recruiting goals. I asked for a perspective. Military service is one of the most meaningful and valuable institutions in our society. It provides opportunities for Americans that cannot be replicated anywhere. This of grave concern for me.
You need a reality check.
Also important is “if Bush is not held accountable for the myriad offenses he’s committed, we may yet live under a worse leader, which could only signal that we have sacrificed our freedom as a nation and our sanity as a people. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mcnamara/why-its-essential-that-h_b_55474.html
As stated inthe post Coop, the deadline to get the essay emailed to me is 11:59 pm, on July 31.
On another note…. you mean you really take what huffpo puts out, seriously? I notice you cite them frequently.
You cite Huffpo? Talk about someone who needs a “reality check”.
My thoughts exactly Chris. Talk about a blatantly biased source.
Hey Coop, I just heard on the news last night that the TXNG exceeded their recruiting goals with several months still to go!
FYI Coop.
Don’t worry too much about the criticism by ChrisG of HuffPo. As you will eventually see, one of Chris’ main sources of information is Norman Podhoretz, which is not a particularly fair and balanced source of information, if you know what I mean!
Well Sharon, HuffPo is FAR from being fair and balanced….. more like completely garbage.
And what, Terri, brings you to that conclusion?
Since when have they ever reported BOTH sides of the situation? Lot of pretty biased, one sided propaganda, as far as I’ve seen.
CavMom~Yaayy!! We’ve got over exceeded enlistment goals, here, too!!
And you reach a different conclusion, Terri, when you read the writings of Podhoretz?
Now, now Terri, I didn’t run off dismissing the Army news just because it is state sponsored propaganda (i.e Nazi Germany, USSR)
I grant you HuffPo is left leaning. But really so what?
Lets be honest. The America you love so much is the result of a very left leaning America by your standards, beginning with Roosevelt who got us out of the depression and won WWII by asking America to sacrifice, to Truman, Eisenhower*, Kennedy, Johnson, MLK, Nixon* (EPA, Bush* I, and Clinton. 40 years of a democratic majority in congress. Social security, the GI bill, and Medicare.
( You DO know that you are far to the right of the average Republican don’t you?)
*yes, I know they were a republican but, liberal by your standards.
VT, I’m sure all here, read ALL sides, and then form their own well informed and educated views. Really, we are a very open-minded bunch!
Heads up Terri. The Essay Post says the Contest is PAST-OVER.
Exactly, CommanderMom, exactly. Like you Sharon, I have a right to form whatever opinion about anything… media or otherwise. Just like you have your opinions about Bush, I have my opinions about HuffPo.
Coop, the OLD essay contest is over. IF you read the article, you will see that THIS is a NEW essay contest.
Actually that could be because I’m not either Republican or Democrat. Instead I’m a person who votes based on my beliefs and don’t subscribe to any party.
I base my opinions, first and foremost on which politician appears to be the most honest and forthright. Of course that’s pretty hard to find now days in the political arena. As I’ve said before, I don’t place a lot of faith in any politician, as I’ve seen over and over, how they will proclaim they’re going to do something and then totally change that once elected. Honestly, they’re in politics for their own personal gain and to hell with the people they represent.
For the record, if George Bush is an honest guy, like many seem still to believe, I think we’d all be better off were a crook elected to office in 2000/2004.
“Norman Podhoretz”? Who? Is that some typically leftist anti-Jew slam of Frontage?
Actually, my sources of information and TRUTH (something you lack) come from varied sources and MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
You criticize me for using conservative and military sites and then when I show the same information from media and even foreign news sources you criticize that. Your insanity and irrational hatred for ONE MAN and adherence to socialism so clouds your thinking that you cannot see that the islamofascists despise you and will stop at nothing to kill and/or enslave you. I doubt that even if the terrorists detonate a device or kill another few thousand American civilians that you will be convinced of the clear and present danger we are fighting.
Al Qaeda has a new “justification for continued jihad†(though a more accurate word would be “hirabah†not “jihadâ€) out. I suggest you read it and realize that it is the values the left “supposedly†stands for (women’s rights, separation of church and state, etc) that AQ hates so much. This is the same theme AQ has had since its 1998 ‘fatwa’ to kill all Americans and take power world-wide. Yet the left bends over backwards to surrender to them. Note that no matter where the US has helped Islamic people that AQ states we killed them (Bosnia for example). Note that AQ does not count the Muslims they kill in their “justification†to kill an additional 4 million+ Americans (they do not mention them at all). They do blame Chechnya and other idiocies on the West even though we tried o prevent Russia from carpet bombing the Muslims. Also notice that Bin Laden is not the one writing this. In fact, he has not shown up at all.
BTW, I vehemently disagree with President Bush on ILLEGAL immigrant amnesty, his unwillingness to hold the left responsible for their actions, and his continued expansion of big government with that bill, “no child left behind†(also written by Ted Kennedy), and “prescription drug entitlementâ€. However, the war against Islamic Hirabah extremism and their efforts to create a global caliphate is the right war, but 10 years too late (Clinton passed up this chance in 1998, used the same intel and through 2004, the leftists were stating the same as I have pointed out in their own words). In addition, our economy is very strong, unemployment is below the “full employment†levels of the 1990s, taxes are lower, and I have yet to see ANY loss of freedoms.
Terri, With those criteria in mind, why did you vote for George Bush?
ChrisG~ Amen!! I sooo agree,and especially to your last paragraph!!! My thoughts exactly!
Also, missed the chance before to tell you and you family HUGE CONGRATS on your new arrival!!! Hope all is well! Details!!!???:)
And I’m thinkin Coop might wanna SLOW down on that speed reading there!
I wholeheartedly second that agreement.
Have I ever once stated that I voted for Bush, or even who I voted for? No, I’ve not. There you go again Coop with those ASSumptions of yours.
Terri,
They can also save it as a .txt file in notepad and Word can read it if they don’t have Word on their home computer. Just a suggestion.
Yes and thanks for that suggestion CJ. (((((Hugs))))) your way. Be safe on the drive.
Terri,
Are you saying you voted for Kerry? Somehow, I doubt you voted for Nader, but ….
Oh HELL NO!
Well, there were few other choices available. Nixon and Reagan are both dead. Daddy Bush? Just for kicks?
Nope to any of those. Believe me that John Kerry would be the last person I would vote for. I wouldn’t vote at all, before I would vote for him.
At least Kerry served in Vietnam, unlike the current Screwup-in-Chief and his five-deferment sidekick!
Kerry was STILL a commissioned officer when he joined Ramsey Clark, Jane Fonda, and the “anti-war” groups (eventually lead Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)), protested at the White House (where he threw someone else’s medals over the fence), went to Paris to “negotiate” with the North Vietnamese, consorted with communist groups (even in the 2004 election, the CPA endorsed Kerry), and used made-up soldiers for the Winter Soldier charade. He supported a document known as the “People’s Peace Treaty,” which was reportedly composed in Communist East Germany and contained nine points - all of them extracted from a list of Viet Cong conditions for ending the war. Several of his fellow officers and crew (the Swift Boat Veterans) cited his actions and questioned his medals, but were viciously attacked. Kerry’s many actions, while still commissioned is a SEVERE violation of the UCMJ. This also begs the question of how is Kerry legally allowed to serve in Congress and run for President.
Senator John McCain has stated that his North Vietnamese captors had used reports of Kerry-led protests to taunt him and his fellow prisoners. Retired General George S. Patton III charged that Kerry’s actions were giving “aid and comfort to the enemy.”
As chairman of the Select Senate Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, which was created in 1991 to determine whether any American POWs or MIAs were still alive in Vietnam, Kerry pushed the panel to conclude that no American servicemen remained there. According to the U.S. Veteran Dispatch, “[N]o one in the United States Senate pushed harder to bury the POW/MIA issue, the last obstacle preventing normalization of relations with Hanoi, than John Forbes Kerry.” In December 1992, according to the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, “Hanoi announced that it had awarded Colliers International, a Boston-based real estate company, an exclusive deal to develop its commercial real estate potentially worth billions. Stuart Forbes, the CEO of Colliers, is [John] Kerry’s cousin.”
I gather you nonetheless concede, Chris, that Kerry, notwithstanding your disdain for his post-tour actions, served in Vietnam, unlike the current CiC and his five-deferment sidekick?
Disdain? Such a quaint word for how I despise Kerry’s treason, though I doubt there are words to encompass my digust at him.
Bush was a pilot for a nuclear-armed interceptor which was phased out during his time in service. It was already proven he requested to deploy but was denied due to the retraining needed to deploy him vs his service time. He flew in all weather in defense of the USA as part of our airborne interceptor fleet. Bush released his military records.
Kerry’s “service” in Vietnam was a disgrace. IF he did what he stated he did in front of Congress, he deserves to be in prison for it. If he allowed “acts reminiscent of Ghengas Khan” to occur while he was in COMMAND in Vietnam, then he deserves a harsher sentence. His actions afterwards were and still are a betrayal of the highest order. Kerry has not released his military records.
I “concede” nothing. Bush and Kerry were officers. Both volunteered. Both served where they were told to. Kerry went on to betray his country and commit heinous acts while still commissioned and further on in politics. Bush never did anything of the like.
I doubt you are capable of seeing the difference and your support of a REAL traitor like Kerry only proves my beliefs but I am in no mood to deal more on this issue, especially since, as usual you are off topic. Right now an Airman is recovering in the Hospital because one of your “anti-war” activists shot him point blank in the chest on the 4th of July in New Jersey. The Airmen, like the rest of the US Military, was unarmed while at home. We do not carry our service weapons and are not allowed to carry concealed while in uniform. This, again, blows the leftist “police state” fantasy out of the water. The attack followed the instructions I linked to on idymedia’s site to the letter.
As I have two small children and a wife recovering from surgery in my home (and unable to defend herself), please understand that I have no desire to deal with you or anyone like you in a friendly manner right now.
I agree with Chris… John Kerry’s actions are nothing short of treason and the man should be in jail. Kerry, to put it bluntly, is scum in my books.
How exactly is Kerry a traitor?
Coop. holding non-sanctioned ‘negotiations’ with enemy governments while part of the US Military is one way. Belonging to organizations actively seeking to overthrow the US Government is another.
I we were to end up with a police state, it wouldn’t be through regular army or marines. It would be conducted through ATF, and extension of HLS, or some other non-regular force…if history is any evidence.
Thanks for the response Chris. In the spirit of the higher American standard of evidence, could you be a bit more specific?
These accusations are honestly new to me.
Wow, I can’t believe he even asked that question after your previous answers Chris. How much more clearly can you explain it?
New???? Hell that information has been public for years Coop. He never made an attempt to hide his actions.
That stuff? Calling that treason may be literary license and hyperbole, but certainly cannot be taken more seriously than that.
What you described of course is fee speech at worse as evidenced by the fact that no indictment have ever been handed down.
On the other hand knowingly lying to congress and the American people IS treason and may very well result in impeachment and/or a criminal indictment as in the case of Rumsfeld who cannot travel to Europe without being detained under German and EU criminal law.
Lets not mix apples and oranges here.
Coop,
Interesting you cited th BATF as that was what both Conservatives and at least one Democrat warned us of during the creation of the BATF (The Dem called them “jack booted thugs”).
And you are correct, instituting a “Police State” in America would not involve the military as many would probably revolt or at least refuse the order. However, no police state can exist so long as the population is armed as history is evidence to.
As For Kerry. In addition to the above, which should be enough, he was part of the Weathermen (or weatherunderground, not to be confused with the legitimate weather website) which advocated the occupation and division of the USA. The swiftboat vets and Vietnam Vets Against Kerry had listed this out with references and citations in 2004.
I will have to go into it more later as it is late here.
“However, no police state can exist so long as the population is armed as history is evidence to.”…please explain.
Lying to Congress under oath as a Commissioned Officer is perjury, not treason. If it was not perjury then LT Kerry should have stopped men of his command from doing what he said they did. Both are bad offenses under UCMJ.
Coop Says; “However, no police state can exist so long as the population is armed as history is evidence to.â€
SealPat Replies; Armed with what? Definately not “knowledge” or “will to persevere” that’s for sure. At the same time, if Democrats get the Gun Control Laws they want so much, then the population wouldn’t be armed for defense either (As history is evidence to and Iraq is an example of this, you can’t overthrow a government without guns). Another thing that history shows is that police states most often derive from politicians who are more loyal to their party or their agenda than they are to their country. Senator Carl Levin (the guy who makes up political documents with his power over the Intelligence Committee and substitutes them for Intel) is a great example of that kind of politician, and nobody is a better example than he is.
Didn’t John Kerry ask for some of his medals? Just wondering because I hear that a lot.
SealPatriot got the main point about the armed population. An armed population is the first and best defense against a police state. Throughout history, dictators have first disarmed their people before opressing them. The writers of the Federalist and Anti-Federalists Papers during the formation of the US Constitution understood this, which is why the 2nd Ammendment exists.
At the same time, a police state can not exist when your government has ideas that go in totally different directions like our government does now. In order for there to be a police state, there can not be more than one party sharing a peice of the pie in the most powerful branch of a government, which for us as Americans is the United States Congress. The reason for this is the government has to be uniformed around a central idea or goal and our government is anything but that.
Actually, Seal Pat, our government was uniform about a central goal(s) - neo-conservatism (e.g., the ridiculous notion that we can spread democracy throughout the middle east) and Christian conservatism (e.g., the ridiculous notion that we can force “God” down the throats of the American populace).
And as we all now know, both goals failed miserably! George Bush will go down in history as the worst president ever for failing so horribly in promoting these utterly ridiculous goals.
Hey Sharon, instead of bagging on George Bush, how about for once we stick to the topic of the post????
Ok. Freedom to me includes being able to do behind closed doors as one pleases. And I, therefore, just love the double standard imposed on us by the Christian conservative freak-show bunch like Sen. Vitter from Missouri:
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter said in a statement given to reporters Monday night. “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and from my wife in confession and marriage counseling.”
Why do we continue to elect these Republican conservative nutcases?
And how does his admitting to his indescretions, infringe upon your freedom to do what you please behind closed doors?
Terri,
This man did do and would have done everything in his power to prevent me and others from having sex with prostitutes behind closed doors, for example, but then went right ahead and did the same thing himself. Vitter epitomizes the hypocrisy that rages through the Christian religious right. This is one Repug pol who should be taken to the woodshed and simply shot in the head - execution, China style. Hmmmm, and I’ll bet he thinks all is well with the surge, too. Chris G., loan me your gun, dude.
To take the
situation just one step further. I’ve got a question for you. Do you feel that there should be limitations on that right? Such as perhaps…. as long as it doesn’t impose, endanger or infringe on another person????
While the qualification “as long as it doesn’t impose, endanger or infringe on another person” could be construed as overly broad or open to various self-serving interpretations, I generally agree with the concept. Yes, there should be limitations on what one should be permitted to do behind closed doors.
VT, you will never get my guns as I cannot trust you with them.
But are you now suggesting you want to shoot a sitting senator?
The term Freedom to do behind closed doors as one pleases is an extremely broad concept as well, which was why I asked for clarification.
The reason I asked is that I can think of several things, done “behind closed doors” that I would consider something that should NOT be allowed. Take for instance someone cooking methamphetamines in their home. It’s a BIG problem in the US and one that’s growing daily, due to the readily available ingredients they make it out of. The chemical process of manufacturing meth is highly volatile and it explodes easily. Inhalation of the chemicals put off during the “cooking” process can be extremely toxic to even bystanders. Not only are any and all occupants of the house endangered, but people in the neighborhood for close to a block.
Or how about the parent that sexually abuses their child or someone else’s child, “behind closed doors?”
How about the person who beats their child, or their spouse (male or female) “behind closed doors?”
VT, the example you gave of what the senator said in a speech is hardly proof of him being a nutcase or that the government is forcing us to believe in God. Can you provide any valid proof of the government participating in evangelism?
VTSharon, I would agree that people who are die hard believers in whatever it is they believe that are willing to incite violence upon others for not agreeing with them are a problem that this country faces. However, the president and the senator you just mentioned aren’t examples of people like this. At the same time. People like this aren’t always Christians, nor are Christians they the majority of them. In fact, there are a heck of a lot more people like this who are anti-religious than religious. Some great examples would be people like George Soros and Phil Donahue. They in fact have their own version of self serving evangelism and even though it isn’t based on a religion, it is based on their own selfish agenda. Another great example would be radical college professors like professor Ward Churchill.
Not all of the Christians who speak in favor of the Republican positions of topics like Gay Marriage, or Abortion are like this. Christianity has nothing to do with the extreme’s that right wing republicans reach, as you can see you don’t have to be a die hard religious crusader to be as radical or force an agenda down another persons throat, I kind of think that our pals at OneUtah are like this.
I kind of look at it this way… I don’t care about someone else’s religious beliefs as long as they don’t attempt to say I have to believe the same way they do. It brings to mind the radical muslims. That’s what they’re doing… using violence to force people to go along with their twisted brand of religion.
Seal Pat,
One of Bush’s first edicts upon taking the thrown was to cut off various funding for countries who had the foresight to fight HIV through the use of condoms. He then packed Christian conservatives into positions of oversight on the fight against HIV and sexual education. Bush’s opposition to any form of contraception, other than abstinence, is ramming his intolerant Christian religion not only down the throats of Americans, but people throughout the world.
Actually, Christianity is a very tolerant religion. I think the only reason why they are intolerant to you is because you don’t tolerate them. If I am right, then the fact that you brought religion into this debate in the first place would make you look like your hypocritical, much like it does to evangelicals. I know your nothing of the sort, VT. However, religion is one really personal topic and the fact that you use their religion to advocate denying them the right to participate in politics or being vocal about what they think makes it look like to me that your standing on them like a doormat. If you want to talk about people trying to shove religion down throats, then why don’t you talk about the terrorist who’d capture reporters and literally try to convert these captives into praticing their religion?
I am 100 percent certain that we definately don’t want to go back to the days where Preists would say to young boys, “If you masturbate then you’ll go blind”. At the same time, I was also pretty sure that most if not all parents would prefer that their kids would be abstinent. That isn’t a fact generated from America’s Christian influence, that’s just general parenthood. I can asure you that I am witness to that.
[...] some of the conversations that have occurred here recently, and to emphasize the CONTEST that we’re hosting here at A Soldier’s Mind, I feel that this poem is very fitting. I [...]
[...] A Soldier’s Mind, a great milblog, is having an essay contest called “The Price of Freedom”: https://soldiersmind.com/2007/07/08/the-price-of-freedom/. [...]
[...] awhile and visit with him while he was signing our books. I’m excited that the winners of our Essay Contest will be able to own their own autographed copy of Marcs’s book (remember the deadline has [...]
[...] most of you know, on July 8th I announced a new essay contest here at A Soldier’s Mind. The topic of the essay is the title of this post. Last night at [...]