May 2011: Osama Bin Laden's Death

Another month down during this deployment. I must say, it was a big month. First off and most importantly, Rachel and I found out we are going to be having a Son. The feeling is indescribable, but my attempt at it will follow in another blog. Additionally, Rachel got to go see her family, I went from Mid-shift over here to Night shift, my mustache got another 4mm's longer, and I lost more weight still. However, the obvious Nationwide, Worldwide for that matter, news for May was Osama Bin Laden's death.
Some may be wondering about what was happening over here during the no kidding, kick down the door and storm the compound timeframe. Certain things were in place, but 99% of our operation was "ops normal". In fact, I was busy just hanging around the squadron when the word dropped. We (several other pilots and I) sat with a weird sense of satisfaction at the reports we were getting. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't see the President's initial speech, but we got to read a transcript soon after. The cigars and near-beer came out pretty quickly and the several war-stories we all had since 2001 all resurfaced for some laughs and moments of reflection.
Seeing the Internet news of the reaction back in the States was somewhat peculiar to me however. To begin, I am happy justice has been served. As President Bush stated, "Dead or Alive", I must admit, I was 51% towards Dead as opposed to Alive. The hoopla and years of debate that would of raged about him would of been a nightmare. Now, it's simply done and life goes on. But the behaviour of thousands and thousands of Americans was somewhat interesting to me. The emotions ranged from extreme happiness to quiet and tear-filled reflective moments. I was somewhere between those two points. The US is a free country and people are entitled to show and express their opinions. However, as many pundits have written about, where is the moral compass in showing parties, chants of "USA, USA", and college kids hanging drunkenly from trees and street signs? The anger many Americans have when they see a foreign country burning the flag is the feeling that I think we were creating and showing to the world. To top it all off, most of, hell, probably nearly all of these people that were jubilant and ecstatic have no real connection to the events that day nor have they served in a capacity to have any effect whatsoever on the war front. Less than 1% of America's population serves in the military today. A bit arrogant I admit, but those of us who have actually been here, where the metal meets the meat, didn't feel the need to swing from a stop light and tell the world we're number 1 and wave a flag around. Again, I'm not saying that people don't have that right; they do and I 100% support that right. I'm just saying it's funny to me that people did that and the people who actually do the dirty work didn't feel the need.
On the flip side of this though is the happiness and renewed confidence the American people should have in their military and counter-terrorism units. People should be proud that nearly 10 years after it happened, when the headline news spoke of nothing but "why are we still there; we're never going to catch him" that the professionals are quietly, patiently, and with heartfelt determination, still tracking down those who do/did us harm. I know from personal conversations with some reading this that you thought he'd never be found and you wondered why your tax dollars were still supporting the effort. It was important because justice needs to always be done. Human nature is to see good-guys win; bad-guys lose. However, justice is often an unfair thing and it seems at times like it's never done or realized. But in this case, the American people got to see the realization of something that many thought was nothing more but a pipe-dream. They got to see some of the qualities that once made us all proud to be Americans. Steadfast dedication to a cause in the face of opposition. A cause that in my opinion, a price tag can't be put on. I think most would agree...or at least in Rachel, Peanut, and our future's son's home we believe, that when someone attacks you in own backyard, retribution will be realized in one way or another. People who doubted the resolve of the Nation now must admit that our Country made a promise and it came through on it. I obviously feel it was worth the cost. Many others I'm sure do not. But that's the great thing about our Country; we can all feel and say what we want and have open dialogue about it. Freedom is a wonderful thing.