Thoughts on Veteran's Day 2021

"The Squad," is a creation of the media to describe a small number of far-left women elected to Congress as Democrats who [I believe] have a socialist agenda that they promote through division and race-baiting.

That "squad" is not to be confused with the 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, eight men pictured here in late 1968 or 1969, and many squads like it.

This Squad is not made up of poor blacks, or others from some fictional “underclass,” but rather is diverse in about the same proportion as our country at the time. One is black, one is Latino. There are no druggies here. There are men, 19-23 years-old who trust each other with their lives, whether or not they like each other, though most do. Over a year’s time in combat they will not see or participate in a war crime. They will see men die, or be grievously wounded. They will see a few heroic acts, and some not so heroic.

They will come home to wide-spread indifference--at best--except for the quiet appreciation of family and some friends. That will be enough for them. They will continue their education, hold responsible jobs, raise families, become grandfathers. They will be the backbone of this country through thirty-plus years after that war, though most of you won’t even be aware they are there, because they share their experiences only with a special few...those with whom they served. They were once, as one Delta veteran recently put it, “in the company of heroes,” and they will, years later, long to be back in that company. They will indeed, meet fifty years later, and share memories, tears, and hugs.

Thank you, third platoon veteran Andy Rios, for sending me this picture this day before Veterans Day, 2021. (First published on Facebook)

55 Years Ago

 Brian Tierney, a 19-year-old soldier from Roxbury, Connecticut, was my Radio Telephone Operator (RTO) during the time from December, 1967 to May, 1968, that I was Platoon Leader of the 3^rd Platoon of D Company, 1^st Battalion, 12^th Cavalry, 1^st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). There are a few “natural relationships” in an infantry unit in combat, including: Machine Gunner and Assistant Gunner; Pointman and his point support; Platoon Leader and RTO, along with the Platoon Medic. Brian and I shared a pancho “hooch” many of  our 144 nights in Binh Dinh and Quang Tri Provinces of Vietnam. Together, we soldiered through Tam Quan, Tet, Khe Sanh, and the A Shau Valley, along with lesser-known places in between. Brian dug our hole while I (and the Platoon Sergeant) laid in the platoon defenses, coordinated our flanks with adjoining platoons, and I attended the Company Commander’s daily meeting/brief. Brian walked with me every step of the way, not often further away than the length of the cord from radio to handset. Brian, occasionally seen with flowers on his helmet, was willing to share his opinion about how well—or not—the war, the 1^st Cavalry Division, the United States Army, D Company, and of course, the 3^rd Platoon were led and managed.

Nineteen days after I relinquished command of 3^rd Platoon, Brian was dead, cut down by a grenade while in pursuit of an enemy soldier. To some extent, in combat, one becomes inured to death, we try to keep our relationships at arms length if we can. But that’s the thing, we can’t, really, because there are those “natural relationships, and others to whom we become close in a foxhole or under fire, like it or not. Brian was one of those I with which I was through “thick and thin.” Who I would never be able to forget.

Everything about the story that came back from the field to LZ Sharon, where as Executive Officer, I was based, bothered me. The Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Kerner, flying in his command helicopter, saw a single enemy soldier escaping toward a village. Calling D Company, located nearby, he ordered that he would pick up 3 men, including one RTO, and put them on the ground to pursue the enemy soldier. One didn’t have to be a soldier to recognized that as a dumb and dangerous idea. Brian had recently transferred from 3^rd Platoon to the company command group, so was junior among the RTO’s there, so the Company’s Commo Chief, to his regret to this very day, selected SP4 Tierney to go on the Battalion Commander’s “excursion.”
Reports of Brian’s death included neither the story of a questionable tactical decision by a senior commander, nor that Brian may have acted in self-sacrifice to protect those with him. Of the latter we shall really never know for certain, but circumstances seemed to support it. Those only got into the record after unofficial and unauthorized correspondence with Brian’s parents, and their subsequent inquire s. Ultimately, Brian’s actions were recognized by award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the army’s second highest award for valor, after only the Medal of Honor. The decision to put three soldiers in harms way—in a manner for which there was no rational, doctrinal, or tactical basis—was quietly buried.

Fooling Some of the People is Sometimes Quite Enough

In 2012, Mitt Romney was mocked by Barack Obama for seeing Russia as a threat. He didn’t forget. "The '80s called' and we didn't answer," says Romney today.

Nearly 10 years ago, Gov. Mitt Romney was painted by his presidential opponent in their third debate as being out of touch — especially with foreign policy. “...when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not al Qaeda. You said Russia,” Obama told him. “And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back,” he quipped.
This week, that moment in 2012 that came roaring back, thanks to the collective memory of the internet.

“Putin’s impunity predictably follows our tepid response to his previous horrors in Georgia and Crimea, our naïve efforts at one-sided ‘reset,’ and the shortsightedness of ‘America First,'” Romney said in a statement late Wednesday night, as news broke of the initial attack. “The ’80s called’ and we didn’t answer,” he added.

 

The Background to Obama’s Debate Attack

In March, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney scolded his future opponent for telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he'd have more "flexibility" toward the country after his election.

"This is to Russia, without question, our number one geopolitical foe," Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They fight every cause for the world’s worst actors. The idea that [President Barack Obama] has some more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling, indeed."

Pressed by Blitzer, Romney then said the "greatest threat" America faced was a nuclear-armed Iran. But the perceived damage was done.

The Democrats Pick up the Attack

Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and top officials like Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted Romney for the comments at the time, when Romney was heading towards clinching the GOP nomination and facing Obama in the general election.

"You don't call Russia our No. 1 enemy unless you're still stuck in a Cold War mind warp," Obama said that year.

"Governor Romney is mired in a Cold War mindset," Biden said. Kerry called it "preposterous," while Clinton said it was "dated to be looking backwards."

The Obama team cut a video with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright saying it showed Romney was unprepared for the job. Albright apologized in 2019.

The "Mainstream" Media Jumps on the Bandwagon

Romney's Russia comment was ripped not only by Democrats reaching for power,but by the media as a gaffe underscoring Romney's foreign policy inexperience. It’s a stark example of the mainstream press echoing Democratic talking points, particularly in light of subsequent years of fervent and fake “Russiagate” media coverage, continious bellicose actions by autocratic Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and this week's invasion of Ukraine.

Those rogues were—and are—the “darlings” of the left and democrat party:
The New York Times, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Chris Matthews (he of the “tingle up his leg”), CNN’s Paul Begala, and the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein.

The New York Times editorial board said Romney's "comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics." "Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender," the Times wrote at the time.

It would go on to endorse Obama in the general election; the Times has not endorsed a Republican for president since 1956.

"A throwback to the Cold War," MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell said of Romney's comments in 2012. "I mean, we work with Russia all the time."

Former MSNBC host Chris Matthews (you know, the "thrill goes up my leg") criticized Romney and praised Medvedev's comeback that the Republican should "look at [your] watch: We are in 2012 and not the mid-1970s." 

"Is he trying to play Ronald Reagan here or what?" he asked his panel on "Hardball." "He's not a dumb man, but he said something that was clearly dumb," liberal columnist Cynthia Tucker told Matthews. 

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein, now with Politico, said it was an "antiquated worldview.

Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist and now a CNN contributor, considered it a devastating burn at the time, saying Obama "nails Mitt … Bam!"

The mainstream media in 2012 were shills for the Obama-Biden campaign and the Democratic Party just like they are today. Former President Obama's failed leadership and the mainstream media's mockery of Romney's comments are as much to blame for the situation currently unfolding in Ukraine as President Biden's policies and repeated weakness on the world stage.

They didn’t tell you the truth in 2012, why would you think they would now?