by OPOVV, ©2021
(Aug. 31, 2021) — It’s over, and we left behind all the weapons the enemy needs to kill pretty much nearly all of us. Let’s rewind the clock to 50 years ago and see what may have happened.
“Son, we’re buggin’ out so we’ll leave everything behind.”
“Rodger that, Sir.”
“Let’s go, son; get on the chopper.”
“Sir, we can’t leave all this for the Gooks.”
“I got orders from the Joint Chiefs to leave everything intact. Get on the chopper; that’s an order, soldier.”
“Oh, look, sir, I’m holding a grenade without the pin. I wonder what I should do with it; maybe I’ll roll it into that hangar over there, the hangar with all the weapons and cash. I mean, what else can I do?”
“You can toss it behind that deuce and a half and let’s get out of here.”
“Sorry, sir, I didn’t hear that so I’ll just roll it into that hangar with all that ammo and machine guns. We wouldn’t want any of this ammo to come back and haunt us some day, now, would we, sir?”
“What are you, a PFC?”
“No, sir, I’m a Navy NCO who lost his way.”
“Didn’t they teach you to follow orders in the Navy?”
“Sir, yes, sir, they certainly did, but I’m not going to follow any order that is just too darn stupid or that may hurt me or my shipmates in the future or, for that matter, any other American.”
“The Joint Chiefs know best, sailor.”
“If you say so, sir, but, just the same, I’m rolling this-here grenade into that hangar and run like the dickens and jump in that chopper because when it blows, it’ll really blow. There must be a million rounds of M16 ammo in there and all kinds of good stuff, like mortar rounds and rockets.”
“You’ll get court-martialed for disobeying a direct order from a superior officer.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but would you please get on the chopper?”
FINI
Now we fast forward to Kabul, to the here and now.
“Son, we’re buggin’ out so we’ll leave everything behind.”
“Yes, sir.”
[In the last decade we’ve seen two honorable soldiers disrespected and wrongly treated for standing up to corruption and stupidity: LTC Terry Lakin and Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller.]