A soldier's perspective

“(The following is a letter to the editor published today in our local newspaper)

I am an infantry squad leader, stationed at Fort Lewis.

While I am miles away, I still feel the cold knot in my gut, telling me that I have somehow failed in my job. I am a professional warrior, sworn to protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The initial reaction of my squad, eight children of America, was to close in and destroy the people who are responsible, and turn the harboring country into a parking lot. These young men have not felt the stinging cold fear of battle, and with the blessing of God, never will.

The Army has an acronym, LDRSHIP. It stands for Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless service, Honor, Integrity, Personal courage. It is odd that the Armed Forces in America are teaching ethics to the children of today, but who am I to decide? But it stresses one thing that I have been trying to pound into my soldiers' heads from day one. A military without ethics is just a gang of terrorists.

I want blood. I want the mothers of those responsible to weep when they see what I have done to their children. I welcome the bloodlust that overwhelms me, and I hear the call to arms as clear as I hear Liberty Bell. Let us bring the full might and power of the U.S. military to bear on those responsible, and rock the world with our thunder.

And when we are finished, you will hear the worried whispers of those who supported those who dared to tread on our soil, speaking in awe of the fury we have brought upon them, and warning others to shy away from the sacred ground of freedom.

But let us make certain we have the right people. For without our justice system, we are just the same as them.

The American spirit will bring us through this.

God bless America.

--Corey Last, Staff Sergeant, Fort Lewis, WA”

“He wants the BLOOD of those responsible? Who trained the terrorists to fly the planes? Who let them board the planes? Who aided and trained Bin Laden? Who failed to heed the Israeli intelligence thyat this was about to happen? Corey Last, there is an awful lot of blame for responsibilty to go around.”

“Those terrorist might've had a few hours on a flight similator, but surely they must've flown big planes before ie. jetliners or carriers in their own country. They seem like well trained pilots.

There was a lax in airport and airline security, that's for sure, but you can't put all the blame on them. It's like blaming the gun makers, gun owners and gun dealers because some baaad hoodlum shot someone. Maybe blame the Chinese also, since they discovered gunpowder a thousand years ago.”

“Down with the Chinese! They harbor computer terrorists who have attacked the White House web site.”

“Did you hear that they are thinking about lifting the executive order banning assasinations of political leaders?”

“Down with B. Gates, it's his company that supplied the comps to the White House...or was it Apple?”