Eleventh Day, Eleventh Month

[Urbane Guerrilla]

November the eleventh is Veterans' Day in the United States. Once we called it Armistice Day, and it got its name from the ceasefire at the end of the Great War.

I put my Navy Veteran hat on; the wife put her Navy Retired hat on. Today happened to be my day for duty as lay Eucharistic Minister at church -- time was, we included "Lay" in the title for the friendly acronym LEM, but no more, and really too bad, I think. During the Prayers of the People, I made particular mention of one of our fellow parishioners' relatives who is out there at the sharp end and has been a fixture on the prayer list for a long time. After the service I found we had another parishioner's nephew just assigned to duty in Iraq. We will be remembering these in our prayers.

Treating our armed forces members properly is a thing that is bonding a society that had been struggling with centrifugal effects for some while now. Whatever our squawks and squabbles, there's more a sense of "us" in America these days than once there was. It's a good thing.

BigV and I fight like wombats over about every second question of policy, foreign and domestic. I still like him for his kind remarks about veterans, how long ago now? (I ain't sayin'.) A guy shows his heart is in the right place, that counts, and for a lot.

A good many of us are more united on the fundamentals than we ever let on. But it won't hurt -- not much -- to let on, on occasion. It's not too long now until Thankful Turkey Day. I think I'm going to keep my blessings in mind.

To all the Dwellars who went to the trouble of wearing their country's uniform and learning to salute, remember that we thank you, and heartily. There were other things you might have chosen to do, but you spent some time being your society's protectors.

[ViennaWaits]

What a beautiful post, UG, thanks for being the first.

To all who have put your life on the line, now and in the past, our family thanks you.

God Bless!

[HungLikeJesus]

Here is an interesting article written by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman called "On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs." It's an excerpt from "On Combat."

It's long, but I thought it was worth spending a few minutes reading.

Here's the first part:

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” Or, as a sign in one California law enforcement agency put it, “We intimidate those who intimidate others.”

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

The gift of aggression
Everyone has been given a gift in life. Some people have a gift for science and some have a flair for art. And warriors have been given the gift of aggression. They would no more misuse this gift than a doctor would misuse his healing arts, but they yearn for the opportunity to use their gift to help others. These people, the ones who have been blessed with the gift of aggression and a love for others, are our sheepdogs. These are our warriors.

One career police officer wrote to me about this after attending one of my Bulletproof Mind training sessions:

"I want to say thank you for finally shedding some light on why it is that I can do what I do. I always knew why I did it. I love my [citizens], even the bad ones, and had a talent that I could return to my community. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I could wade through the chaos, the gore, the sadness, if given a chance try to make it all better, and walk right out the other side."

Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by school fires, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. As Kipling said in his poem about “Tommy” the British soldier:

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001, when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
...

The rest can be found at the link above.

[Sundae]

I didn't serve, but members of my family did during WWII.
I was brought up to take Remembrance Day very seriously.

I watched the laying of the wreaths on television and cried a little, as usual. I observed the two minutes silence and thought of the fallen. It's a sober time of year, but well worth it.

[slang]

*civilian salute* Thanks UG and all other veterans. Whether you washed the laundry on a carrier during peacetime or were the toughest, baddest ass in combat....most sincerly, thank you.

HLJ - good article too. True, it's long but well placed.

[ZenGum]

I can't remember the exact quote, nor who said it, but it is something like this:

Peaceful people sleep safely in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Nowadays they're not all rough, and they're not all men, but in this imperfect world, we still need them. I will argue about the politician's decisions where to send them and when, but I don't blame the troops for being where they are or were.

I don't salute with my arm because I don't know how to do it properly and don't want to pretend to be something I'm not. Instead I stand still at the appropriate times, and very sincerely lower my head.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

That was Orwell, Zen.

Ex military guys do salute, after the manner of their nation, although being no longer in the service they are by no means under any obligation to do so. The American salute shows the edge of the hand, either with index finger touching the brim of the cap or landing just above the right eyebrow, wrist, fingers and thumb all straight, upper arm ending up pretty much horizontal. The hand comes up in more or less a straight line from the hand being at the side, and returns by the same path. The Army and the Air Force may salute uncovered, that is without a cap on, indoors and the like. The Navy and Marines insist on one's either being under arms or with a cap on, and don't salute indoors for this reason -- it's against regs to keep a hat on indoors unless you're getting Article-Fifteened or court martialed.

The somewhat showier British salute shows the palm of the hand, wrist and fingers straight, sweeping up to cap brim or brow, by the rubric of "longest way up, shortest way down," so there's this big swoop of the open hand going up, stopping suddenly just so at the brow, then cutting straight down.

The hand or the hat over the heart is what the civilian does.

[HungLikeJesus]

UG - very nice description. The only thing you didn't mention is that, at least as far as I know, the salute is always done with the right hand.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Almost always. Under the specific ceremonial circumstance of piping a senior naval officer aboard ship, the Boatswain's Mate doing the piping, his right hand being occupied with his bosuns' whistle, will make do saluting said officer with his left. AFAIK, no one else anywhere goes to this kind of trouble.

The "rifle salute" if that's what it's called, is something I can't speak with authority on -- where your saluting hand goes to the stacking swivel of your rifle at Order Arms. Seems only to be done by sentries posted at the front door, and isn't much practiced nowadays.

Though I did find this about rifle salutes on an Anzac Day page, last paragraph. I think the US military adheres to a similar standard.

A US manual from quite a few years back

[HungLikeJesus]

When I was in boot camp I saluted with my left hand and haven't forgotten the response.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Wow. I can imagine. You a leftie, or were you striking for Boatswain's Mate a bit too early?

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

When I was in boot camp I saluted with my left hand and haven't forgotten the response.

LOL! That's something you'd only do once! So.... how many toothbrushes did you wear out scrubbing the parade ground?

Just wondering ... what about those whose right arm is, say, broken and in a cast? Or missing entirely? Whats the rule there?

[DanaC]

For Remembrance day I went to my ward's main service, along with my ward colleague and the local branch members of the Royal British Legion (of which I am non-serving member). It was, as usual very moving. The reading of the exhortation, the last post with the lowering standard, always brings a prickle to the back of my eyes. The reading of the names on the church monument, the laying of the wreath. I know it means such a lot to the servicemen and women whose branch of the legion I share.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

ZenG, if one cannot salute -- usually for something more mundane like carrying a large box -- one greets the officer courteously, with a sturdy military "sir." He will return the salute implied in the salutation.

Enlisted salute officers; officers salute everyone.

HLJ's use of "boot camp" says he was Navy or Marines. Army and Air Force say "basic," as in "Basic Training."

Worst saluting booboo I ever did was just glimpsing a Navy Chief when I was hastening to class and saluting him. Chief Petty Officers are the equivalent of Sergeants First Class, Master Sergeants, and upwards, very definitely enlisted. All I saw was metal insignia on collar, which the chiefs wear, and didn't have a good picture of its nature, so I saluted and he laughed at me. I think he did return the salute, as it is rather a conditioned reflex, but he did suggest I pay a bit more attention. After all, Navy officers wear metal on the collar too, on the uniform they usually wear, but under salutin' conditions they wear more metal, a great deal of it on their hats. Enlisted men have plain chinstraps or piping, while officers have metal chinstraps or metalized piping. Everyone but the Air Force uses gold metal chinstraps, while the Air Force goes with silver, and for senior officers, silver thunder-and-lightning embroidery on the cap bill rather than the gold oakleaves everyone else uses. The Army is famous for metal bits and insignia about everywhere, while the Marines are famous for metal almost nowhere -- almost the only shiny bit on a Marine enlisted Class A uniform, a forest-green outfit that looks straight out of the First World War but isn't, is a marksmanship badge.

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Wow. I can imagine. You a leftie, or were you striking for Boatswain's Mate a bit too early?

I believe my excuse was "I thought you were supposed to salute female officers with your left hand."

Yes, up until then I was left-handed.