Astore is channeling me. Or me him. We are on the same page either way. A guy that I would stand with and behind as much as I stand by my own convictions. Rare to find those that I would trust and stand with to the very end without doubt. Again I express my gratitude to another guy I stand with: Tom Englehardt at TomDispatch.com. Like Astore we share the same Catholic school background and view of what is morally right and wrong perhaps long after abandoning the teachers of the beliefs but not the essence of what was taught.
What Astore says about the military, every single point pinned to ducks in a row is exactly how I feel as well. My career was earlier and one step short of O6 by my own choice. While he was working on Star Wars at the end of the Cold War I said my war was over with the end of Cold War. It had started at my first assignment: Vietnam. I wasn't going to study war no more. As far as I was concerned it was over and my victory march through the Arc of Triumph on a bike in 1986 out the main gate of Defense Depot, Ogden headed for Anchorage via the long hard way. Been that way ever since with 8 Ironman races behind me, world travel and dedication to dearly departed Jeanette for 20 years of which I am more proud of than a equal period of no less dedication to my country. It is still the challenge of fighting the good fight of real life long after leaving a church and state institution that taught the basics of fighting it for a cause but did not as an institution live by its teachings. I have since chose more symbolic challenges that I create for myself. Some are truly important windmills to joust with others are only games that I know I can win by applying the same dedication devoted to the real ones.
Astore is also fighting the good fight but in a much more important arena. I get my jabs in when and where I can but I admire not only his strikes at the system but his skill and honesty in delivering them. He was and still is a leader that inspires me to do more. Fortunately I knew many like him during me career.
I could only elaborate on everything he says at the link with sea stories of my own from the past and views from the present.
This blog entry is simply a salute to him purely out of respect for the honesty and dedication of his character far beyond the tradition of a salute out of respect for the rank if we were both again on active duty. He said some friends still call him Colonel. I would simply say "Sir" to him and I don't say that to anyone but the few now days.
Well Done, Sir! Something that in the navy is not traditionally correct from a junior to a senior, at least I believed that. More the prerogative of senior to compliment or respond to the actions of a junior. Still stuck in the tradition but not so much when it is necessary to violate it. Courage atrophies when not used often. Courage is an attribute of the military. We might be strong in arms but the leadership that directs their use is atrophying.
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