We raised our sons on a belief that military service was an honorable career, but to be honest, by the end of my husband’s 20-year career, he was praying they would opt in a different direction. It was early in the 2000s, and the writing was already on the wall—top military leadership was showing the cracks. We could mention all the still-great people there, but the main point was that we didn’t want our sons to be fodder for a machine that was demonstrably breaking down. Nevertheless, in a generations-long tradition, one after the other, our sons enlisted. And we were proud and supported them in their choice. They have both been, and continue to be, abused by the leadership they swore to uphold. We are all disillusioned.
Patriotism is still high over here in our epistemological build, but respect for leadership has drained to nil. One son, after 17 years of service filled with loss of brothers on the field and blood on the line, was discharged for declining the Covid vaccine for himself and his family. His leadership abandoned him. The courts declared it was actually unconstitutional to paste the conscientious objectors with a dishonorable discharge, so at least there’s that—just an ordinary discharge, three years short of a full retirement and loss of all benefits. His marriage dissolved amidst the abuse (I’m not overstating here—they punished him for standing for body-sovereignty against an untested, potentially harmful mandate) the Army subjected him to during the last stint of his obligation. While his wife agreed with his stance on the jab whole-heartedly, the ensuing debacle of trying to get the Army to live up to their obligations while he was still serving proved too much for their union.
Our second son has followed behind his brother and played the game with a bit more finesse, but he still suffers under poor leadership.
The way in which top leadership ultimately betrayed the men and women who served under them still boggles our minds. While my husband saw cracks early on, even he would never have imagined the depths to which they would sink under burdens of CRT and DEI. That they would buy into it at the service members’ expense, ultimately the country’s detriment—it’s…well…disgusting. Gross. And for what? How did we lose them this hard?
Pete—if not Hegseths, WHO? I mean—that’s how we Masons felt—still feel—but hopefully we’ll overcome this pathetic weak-mindedness as a nation before your children are tossed into the grinder. My heart breaks.
I’ll be purchasing and reading your book—I don’t think I can get any angrier.
