The following article was originally published by Illinois Review.
When retired Navy SEAL Kevin Lacz was asked why he decided to become a SEAL, he said: “It’s an easy question. I wanted to be one of the best of the best. I knew I’d always be in good company. I wanted to serve my country, and I thought the best way I could do it was to be a SEAL. It was the best decision I could make, and I’m really proud of it, and I’m really proud of the people I was able to serve with.”
The courage of the men and women of our armed forces is inspiring. Serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, they fight a primitive yet postmodern ideology that encourages its adherents to endanger civilians, sacrifice themselves and others as homicide bombers, carry out random acts of violence using improvised explosive devices, continually indoctrinate even children religiopolitically, and engage in psychological warfare—all in the name of Allah.
Fighting such an ideology in remote and desolate regions poses a significant challenge; fighting entrenched antipathy here at home poses another. Two generations ago actors such as Jimmy Stewart ran bombing raids on and off the screen, but today the mainstream media, and Hollywood in particular often marginalize the military, reclassifying heroes as victims (“Stop Loss”), brutes (“Badland”), or both (“Brothers”). In the news media, military casualties instead of military successes are emphasized—when the wars are mentioned at all.
Our men and women in uniform deserve better. They have sacrificed security, comfort, and so much more to defend this nation, and the least we can do is to show our gratitude. Veterans Day offers one opportunity to do this, but that leaves 364 more days a year to thank the mothers, fathers, brothers, and friends serving in the armed forces.
One way to do this is by taking part in Troopathon, an annual effort to support the troops by sending care packages. The organizers of Troopathon plan to raise more $500,000 between now and July 12th—in spite of ”hacktivist” attacks on their website. $25 sends one care package to one soldier or sailor, and $1,000 does the same for up to 60 soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen. To find out about all of the available options, see the Troopathon donation page.
Films such as Act of Valor are storming the media battlefront, and we must join in on the action. It’s up to us to show the 49,800 troops in Iraq, and 102,200 in Afghanistan that we stand with them.
As Rush Limbaugh has said, “I’ve talked with these guys in Afghanistan. The opportunity to tell them how much they’re loved and appreciated despite how they’re portrayed in the media at the time and how much they’re really respected was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up.
“What you’re doing for them, sending these care packages, a lot of people think the government takes care of all that for them. And they don’t. It’s impossible for the military to do for everybody what you guys are doing.”