Tridents Are A Nation's Best Friend

I have just finished reading two books written by Navy Seals that I would recommend to anyone, The Trident by Ensign Redman, a Navy Seal who was severely wounded in Iraq and after 30 plus surgeries survived his wounds and although he failed in his desire to be able to return to operational status with the Seals is very active in Wounded Wear and Wounded Warriors. The second book is No Easy Day written by former Navy Seal, Matt Bissonnette, writing under the pseudonym of Mark Owen, native of Alaska and a member to the Seal team that killed Osama Bin Laden and was involved in the termination of the Somali pirates who seized the Maersk Alabama and put the crew and the captain through hell.

               Mark’s book produced a firestorm of criticism (he did not obtain prior clearance from the DOD) as has Robert Gates book Duty of which I have preordered from Barnes & Noble and still waiting for it to be downloaded to my Nook.  What is common to the books by Redman and Owen is a sense of dedication, courage, sacrifice and shear mental, emotional and physical commitment to overcoming all hurdles to become a Seal and the further exhaustive training needed to be in a position to defend this country.
               The releases of excerpts from Duty reveal the awesome burden a Secretary of Defense must feel in sending young men and women to distant lands to protect our freedom and safety at a time when military service as a percentage of the population declines each year. I could barely imagine the burden Gates would feel if he were in office today seeing pension promises made dishonored by our Congress and President. Not large amounts of money in the scheme of things when you consider the cuts would affect small numbers of veterans, those who serve at least 20 years. When there are billions upon billions of fraud, waste and abuse in an ever expanding, out of touch, remote and dysfunctional federal government, why we could not find a few billions to honor this nation’s obligations is beyond me.

              Senator Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire proposed a mechanism to close a tiny amount of that fraud, proving that in many cases women are more effective in finding solutions—So simple requiring social security numbers in order to obtain a child credit. That thought evaporated as Boxer bobbed and weaved, throwing punch after punch of rhetoric of taking food from the mouths of children, whether they exist or whether they are undocumented aliens.

               The poem that follows was prompted by the book Trident and some of the gridlock events facing us in D.C. As Gates reveals a lack of passion of this Administration for anything military other than the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” how long do the Redmans and Owens continue to put their lives and limbs on the line, in many cases scarred emotionally, mentally and physically for life if they do not become KIA? I doubt if Senator Boxer has ever considered the question.
Tridents

Thanks to a Huckabee show on Fox with Redman as his guest

I was moved to order and read Trident, a story of a Seal and his courage at its very best

Never again will I complain about aging arthritis in my knees

Or aging eyes that make it sometimes hard to see

Or fingers and thumbs that scream with pain

Too much texting and typing with joints to inflame

A Seal to even become a Seal Team member meets trials almost all of us non warriors could not endure

To put his family aside and life and put limbs on the line not for fame or money, but motives pure

To defend this country from foes away from our cities and towns

To never leave a fellow warrior dead or wounded behind when shot down

I was honored to meet in the pages his brave and supporting wife and three kids

To laugh at his jokes and to laugh when in Ranger training he was called a squid

While reading in many pages to feel the tears moisting down my cheek

When he was shot to hell and back, wasted jaw wired and could not speak

A drive to recover not just to recover and with wife and kids to retire

No, a drive to return to his Seals with a courage only a human robot would not admire

While I watch the return of Al Qaeda in Iraq, its flags over Fallujah flying at full mast

Wondering will our honor and appreciation of Seals like Redman fade or even last

While waiting to receive for my Nook Duty by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates

Excerpts on how our President did not believe in his policy to send men into harms' fate

I could feel my anger and disappointment begin to new disgust levels soar

More so as pension cuts to the military Reid seems to be fighting all steps to restore

As Senator Boxer as the pure Blue ideologue of more spending, swinging weighs in

That to cut fraud in child credits to pay for restoration by giving a SSN will in the Senate never win

Sadly, despite the efforts of all Reds and one brave Blue, to no surprise

A chance to restore the earned pension cuts went down to a solid Blue demise

A trident is not just an image of a mythical Greek god or a symbol carried by the mascot of Arizona State

After reading Trident, it’s a living, breathing  symbol of a warrior’s courage and honor, never broken, never bent. 

So Reid and Boxer and your fellow Blues, when it is time for the march of terror to stall

Who among the warriors among us will with open arms answer the call?

© January 11, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet