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)