Today, I feel rage. Real, hateful, all-consuming rage. Which is not an emotion I feel very often. As a matter of fact, the last time I felt exactly as I feel right now was 14 years ago when terrorists flew commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. If it’s possible to be so angry that you can feel the blood in your veins rising in temperature…that was how I felt then, and that is how I feel now.
Because on July 16, four United States Marines and a Navy Sailor were brutally murdered on American soil by what appears to be a radical islamic terrorist. Five people who voluntarily chose to defend this country, were shot to death, executed, on American soil.
Let me reiterate where they were murdered…by a radicalized muslim. On American soil. To make matters worse, they faced this lone-wolf extremist completely unarmed.
While the dead gunmen who carried out this plot can be held responsible for pulling the trigger, the blood of five members of our military stains the hands of countless others in American “leadership” who have sat idle as our President protects his legacy, and neglects our safety.
What took place in Chattanooga is what happens when you don’t have the balls to name your enemy. It’s what happens when you prioritize domestic feel-good-policies over a strategy to stop evil in its tracks.
In my opinion, the calculated execution of these service members by a radicalized muslim terrorist is equivalent to the acts of war we faced on September 11th, and when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In both cases, the loss of American life on our own soil was unacceptable, and we retaliated with full force against those who had committed such atrocities.
Like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, the Chattanooga murders were a shot across the bow. Will we now seek justice for the fallen by finally declaring war on an enemy who is already at war with us? Or will our “leaders” stamp some asinine classification on this shooting the same way they did with Ft. Hood, in an attempt to defer going to war. All in the name of Obama’s legacy as the “President of Peace”?
Two of the Marines and the sailor murdered yesterday leave behind children. And it’s crippling to imagine that one day those kids may have the following conversation with their mothers:
Child: Mom, how did Daddy die?
Mom: Well sweetheart, he died serving in the Marine Corps. He was killed by a terrorist.
Child: What country was he deployed to when he died, Mom?
Mom: Well honey…he wasn’t deployed. He was killed by that terrorist right here on American soil.
I don’t know about anyone else…but I can’t get that damn scenario out of my head. I can’t stop feeling rage because three families will have to have that conversation with their children and their grandchildren. I can’t stop feeling rage because a complete lack of “leadership” has led us to this place where our enemy is one step ahead of us.
Today, we are mourning the lives of four brave Marines and one Navy Sailor because our “leaders” are more concerned about not offending certain groups of people, than protecting this country from evil. Because they’re more concerned with the optics of the President’s term in office rather than making sure we are strong and safe from those who want to run a black sheet up the flag pole on the White House lawn.
To the families of GySgt. Thomas Sullivan, LCpl. Skip Wells, SSgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, PO2 Randall Smith, we’re praying for you, and we stand with you. Because #MilitaryLivesMatter.
God Bless our brave men and women in uniform, and God Bless America.
