Memorial Day 2025: Remembering America’s Fallen…A Charge to Keep We Have

“Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it.” – Pete Hegseth

As I sat down to write today’s post, I tried to think about something pithy to write. Then, I realized that today is not a day for witticisms and sarcasm.

I thought about all of the American lives, all of the brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives out of love and devotion for our Sovereign
Nation and their fellow Americans, both their comrades and their families back home.

The unselfish devotion shown by these brave Americans is made fun of and remains the source of derision by many devotees of the anti-American political philosophy who consider themselves to be the “smartest people in the room”.

These same “enlightened” individuals consider “patriotism” to be a bad word.

They have replaced it words like “nationalism” and “jingoism”.

The devotees of this political philosophy do not believe in American Exceptionalism.

They believe that America is “just another country,” certainly not worthy of sacrificing their lives for.

These people just don’t get it.

Freedom is not free.

That is why brave men and women of the past and the present age have fought and died while wearing the uniforms of our Armed Forces.

When they went into battle, they did not just represent their hometowns… They represented all of us.

From the germ of an idea to the greatest country on the face of God’s green Earth, this country has stood strong because of resolute men and women who were willing to “pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” to protect “The Shining City Upon a Hill”.

Today, standing up and being vocal in our opposition to those who would “radically change” EVERYTHING that these American Heroes and Heroines fought and died for is our “charge to keep.”

Because…

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13-17

May God bless and comfort the families of our Fallen Heroes, and may their memories and our American Freedom endure.

Here is a song by the great Trace Adkins that honors them and a special place where they are laid to rest.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Popular With Only 15% Of Our Military

Obamacoffeecupsalute9232014Have you ever noticed that when United States President Barack Hussein Obama enters a room to address a group of the United States Armed Forces, a silence falls over those assembled?

Well… There’s a reason for that.

They don’t like him.

The Military Times reports that

In his first term, President Obama oversaw repeal of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Then he broke with one of the military’s most deeply rooted traditions and vowed to lift the ban on women serving in combat.

And the commander in chief has aggressively sought to change military culture by cracking down on sexual assault and sexual harassment, problems that for years were underreported or overlooked.

Obama is an unpopular president in the eyes of the men and women in uniform. Yet his two-term administration is etching a deep imprint on the culture inside the armed forces. As commander in chief, he will leave behind a legacy that will shape the Pentagon’s personnel policies and the social customs of rank-and-file troops for decades to come.

For Obama’s supporters, the cultural changes he’s overseeing are on a level with President Truman’s 1948 order that desegregated the military and put it at the forefront of the national push for racial equality.

But to his critics, his moves amount to heavy-handed social engineering that erode deep-seated traditions and potentially undermine good order and discipline.

And for the troops in today’s career force, the wave of changes to deep-seated policies and attitudes can be jarring.

“It’s a very different Army than the one I came in to,” said Sgt. 1st Class Eric Rexilius, who joined the Army 21 years ago
is now a helicopter repairman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

“I personally don’t think it’s a bad change,” he said — while acknowledging that among his cohort of older career soldiers, “I’m probably a minority.”

“For most of my peers,” Rexilius said, “it makes them uncomfortable because it’s not what they are used to.”

The long-term effects of Obama’s social policies on the military remain unknown. But one thing is clear: He is a deeper unpopular commander in chief among the troops.

According to a Military Times survey of almost 2,300 active-duty service members, Obama’s popularity — never high to begin with — has crumbled, falling from 35 percent in 2009 to just 15 percent this year, while his disapproval ratings have increased to 55 percent from 40 percent over that time.

Back on November 12, 2007, then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D-IL) proclaimed,

I’ll be a President who ensures that America serves our men and women in uniform as well as they’ve served us, and that’s why I’m proud to have the support of these veterans advising me on the issues facing our troops and veterans.

After seven years of an Administration that has stretched our military to the breaking point, ignored deplorable conditions at some VA hospitals, and neglected the planning and preparation necessary to care for our returning heroes, America’s veterans deserve a President who will fight for them not just when it’s easy or convenient, but every hour of every day for the next four years.

An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.

Obama is our Armed Forces Commander in-Chief (unfortunately). The responsibility for everything that happens to the men and women serving in our armed forces, in which some part of our federal government is involved, both during and after their service, falls on his shoulders and his alone.

Through his treatment of our Heroes as “ancillary” servants to be used for social experimentation and budget cutting, when he wants to use their money to further his socialization of America, Obama has placed our Armed Forces in an untenable situation.

Distinguished American Veteran, Former United States Representative Lt. Col. Allen B. West wrote the following, concerning Obama’s treatment of our Armed Forces:

Barack Hussein Obama cannot be seen as a Commander-in-Chief and I will never refer to him that way. His fundamental transformation of America means weakening our nation and leaving our Republic less secure. I can just imagine how appreciative and elated his Muslim Brotherhood friends are at this point, to include Turkey’s President Erdogan, as well as the mad mullahs in Iran.

Spot on.

I remember my ex-brother-in-law, Dave. My late step-sister met him at the USO in Memphis during the Vietnam War. David was a Polish Catholic from outside of Detroit, a Navy guy who received his training in the computers of the day, while in service to our country. When he got out, they got married and moved to Dearborn (now Dearbornistan), Michigan, where he got a job with Burroughs. I remember Dave, because he was always good to me, even though I was just a runt kid, 15 years younger than him. I remember him cleaning his service rifle, sitting on the living room floor of our house, and, making sure it was empty, allowing me to to hold it. At the time,I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever done.

I also remember John. John was a friend of my sister’s, who stayed with us, because of problems at home. As I have related before, my folks were the ones whom all my sister’s friends would talk to when they had trouble at home. John was great guy, as well, who wound up enlisting and serving in that “crazy Asian War”, as Kenny Rogers and Mel Tillis once referred to it in song.

I have related before about my own Daddy and my Uncles, and their service in World War II. I have also had friends that served over the years, and one who is still serving in the Air National Guard.

All of these men were/are Patriots. They enlisted out of duty to God and Country.

Our Brightest and Best, who wear the uniform today, are no less dedicated. They deserve to be treated with respect, not as pawns in a game of political expediency, whose rules including social experimentation, political correctness, and blatant disrespect by the Commander-in-Chief..

The greatest American President in my lifetime, Ronald Reagan, once said,

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

Reagan was a realist. He realized that, as President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt once advised, the best way to keep America safe, is to “Speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Unfortunately for us, we are presently suffering through a president who speaks like a wuss and carries a feather pillow, a Mexican Flag, and a prayer rug.

Until He Comes,

KJ