It's Wednesday Hero Time Again!

Pippa nominated me for the thinking blogger based upon my participation in the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.

I get those as canned emails that I then re-post, and I feel like a little bit of a fraud for accepting the award. Chris does all of the hard work. Go check it out, the link is at the end of the post.

I try to add my two cents at the end of each post (except for last week--lazy me, crazy week), but my bit really is worth two cents or less.

But I come from people who serve. My grandfather, both of my uncles and my aunt. My parents were not in the military, but they served their communities as nurses, and now my brother is a firefighter, HIS wife is a nurse. One of my uncles, the one I'll refer to as the Hippy, lied about his age so he could go to Vietnam at fifteen. Can you imagine that today? How could they not tell? How could his parents stand it? My other uncle was drafted. They both came back changed.

My nephew (Ex's Sister) enlisted out of high school. He went to Iraq and came home safe. His little brother is now in the Navy, but sucks at writing so much as an email, so I'm not sure where or how he is doing. But I am proud of him, too.

I think we as Americans ARE spoiled lazy and unappreciative of all that we have and are really handed on a silver platter. By virtue of being born American, we are given tremendous opportunities, and I hate the shallow "bling" culture that has replaced basic moral standards. I'm not talking abortion (Pro choice), or ancient outdated sodomy laws (guess you know where I stand on the whole gay thing now too). I am talking about basic decency, accountability, and consideration. I still think that the military can exemplify the things that are slowly slipping away.

I'm not saying that we should be in Iraq. I was green the FIRST time we elected Dubya, and almost stroked out upon realizing he had managed to get re-elected in both the popular and electoral votes. ugh. Nor am I saying that the military should be trusted without reservation. Our whole system is a checks and balances kind of deal.

But it is a volunteer Army. Men and women like my nephews offered to go and fight, and we owe them far more than they are probably ever going to get from this country. For every morally bankrupt adrenaline junkie that slips by, there are thousands of individuals serving honorably who believe in the same things that I do (overall). Reposting Wednesday Heroes is the very least, the absolute minimum I can do.

We should read the names at every public event. We should honor those who serve. We should not be allowed to forget. If you ever have the traveling Vietnam Wall come to your town, go see it. It's stunning. It's heartbreaking.

Thanks for reading, now here's your Wednesday Hero.

Maj. William D. Chesarek, Jr.
Royal Air Force's 847th Naval Air Squadron, Commando Helicopter Force


Maj. William D. Chesarek, Jr. has done something no other U.S. service member has done since WWII. On March 21 of this year, Maj. Chesarek was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross, by Queen Elizabeth, for saving lives and in recognition for his bravery during combat operations in Iraq. Maj. Chesark was assigned as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force's 847th Naval Air Squadron, Commando Helicopter Force in 2005 and was the pilot of the RAF’s Lynx Mk7 helicopter.

On the evening of June 10, 2006, Chesarek was providing radio communication relay for British ground troops conducting a company-sized search operation near Amarah, Iraq. Listening to radio transmissions, he overheard that a vehicle involved in the operation had became disabled and a crowd of insurgents was firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at the company.

According to his award citation, "Chesarek elected to fly low over the area in an attempt to distract the crowd and if possible, to engage the insurgents." Because the crowd was so close to the ground troops, instead of engaging his machine gun, he "opted instead to provide bold, harassing, very low level flight over the area in an attempt to disperse the crowd."

You can read Maj. Chesarek's story in it's entirety here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.