I Was Surprised How Open And Unguarded

During The Air War Of 1944, A Four-man Combat Crew On A B-17 Bomber Took A Vow To Never Abandon One Another No Matter How Desperate The Situation. The Aircraft Was Hit By Flak During A Mission And Went Into A Terminal Dive, And The Pilot Ordered Everyone To Bail Out. The Top Turret Gunner Obeyed The Order, But The Ball Turret Gunner Discovered That A Piece Of Flak Had Jammed His Turret And He Could Not Get Out. The Other Three Men In His Pact Could Have Bailed Out With The Parachutes, But They Stayed With Him Until The Plan Hit The Ground And Exploded. They All Died.

No One Will Remember That President Obama Supported The Arab Spring If It Eventually Fails And The Region Collapses Back Into The Political Dark Ages. If We Actively Engage These Movements With Advice, With Money, And, When Necessary, With Military Force, Then We Get A Vote In How It All Turns Out.

I Would Never Want To Pass A Law Limiting Freedom Of Speech, But That Doesn't Mean We Have To Condone Statements That Undermine Basic National Unity And Respect. Imagine Being Asked To Defend A Country Where Some Citizens Say The Man In The White House Isn't Their President. Or A Major Presidential Contender Accuses The Commander In Chief Of Not Even Being A U.s. Citizen. Those Kinds Of Statements Erode Trust In Our Democracy, And It's Up To Both Parties To Publicly Reject Them. We Have To Restore Confidence That We Are A Nation That Loves And Believes In Itself.

If You Shell A Military Base And Happen To Kill Civilians, You Have Not Committed A War Crime; If You Deliberately Target Cities And Towns, You Have.

In My Eyes Marlantes Has Become The Pre-eminent Literary Voice On War Of Our Generation. He Is A Natural Storyteller And A Deeply Profound Thinker Who Not Only Illuminates War For Civilians, But Also Offers A Kind Of Spiritual Guidance To Vets Themselves. As This Generation Of Warriors Comes Home, They Will Be Enormously Helped By What Marlantes Has Written. I’m Sure He Will Literally Save Lives.