He will raise you up on eagle's wings

While you're all out getting sheets, cars, and other stuff at fabulous discounts, perhaps it wouldn't be too much trouble to pause today and remember the selfless men and women who sacrificed everything to ensure you had the right to live your lives in freedom.
Many people who only know Memorial Day as having something to do with soldiers will doubtlessly want to thank each one of them they see today. They're not the ones we honor today. They're the ones who are still standing - the ones who remain to carry on the traditions, honor the memories, and finish the missions left by those who fell.
Don't thank the servicemember standing in front of you. Thank his brothers and sisters who aren't there to stand beside him.

I'm reminded of John Magee Jr. today. He was a young American who wouldn't sit idly by while freedom needed defenders in Europe in the days before the United States formally joined the war. He volunteered in the Canadian Air Force, and was soon sent across the Atlantic to England to defend civilization from the Nazis.

He was also a bit of a poet. In his letters home to his family, he would include bits of verse that he was working on. After a high-altitude test flight took him to 30,000 feet in a Spitfire V, he included the following poem in a letter to his parents.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

John Magee was killed in a training accident December 11, 1941. He was buried shortly thereafter in the cemetery near the air field where his unit was stationed. He never returned home.

At 3:00 p.m. local time, we pause today in the memory of John Magee, and the many others like him who will forever remain "over there."

As always, please remember to fly your flags properly today.

Season ticket on a one-way ride

Let's call this the obligatory "Osama is dead" post.

Much better coverage is available all over the internets. Washington Post, of all places, has a good writeup of the breakdown... although, I have two GLARING criticisms.

1. They just can;t help their petty little liberal hearts, but they have to get in a dig at President Bush, and the fucking "Mission Accomplished" banner at his speech marking the end of major combat operations in the invasion of Iraq - a war they spent barrels of ink telling us had nothing to do with 9/11 and Osama. Now, of course, when they can contrast it against Obama to make him look like some sort of conquering hero, they'll trot that out for one more haggard lap.

2. Wa-Po mentions the September 11 attacks NINE TIMES before a short list of the other terror attacks bin Laden was involved in planning. Sadly, at least those twisted news goblins even deigned to mention that the US isn't the only country in the world that's suffered attacks from AQ. There's the London and Madrid train bombings, the attack on the USS Cole, the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, not to mention the thousands of innocent civilians butchered by AQ in Iraq and Africa - most of whom are Muslims.

Did anyone hear Obama issue a peep about any of those horrible events, or even mention the countless blood and treasure that our numerous allies have given up to bring that evil bastard to justice? Because I sure as hell didn't.

Since actual gratitude from President "Look at ME!" won't be coming any time soon - if ever, I'll take it upon myself to send out thanks to all of the servicemembers around the world who contributed in ways large and small to bringing about this day.
Those who lost troops:

United States: 4,436
United Kingdom: 179
Italy: 33
Poland: 23
Ukraine: 18
Bulgaria: 13
Spain: 11
Denmark: 7
El Salvador: 5
Georgia: 5
Slovakia: 4
Latvia: 3
Romania: 3
Estonia: 2
Thailand: 2
Australia: 2
Netherlands: 2
Kazakhstan: 1
South Korea: 1
Hungary: 1
Czech Republic: 1
Azerbaijan: 1

Those who also sent troops:
* Moldova: 24 peak
* Albania: 240 troops
* Japan: 600 troops
* Tonga: 55 troops
* Singapore: 175 offshore
* Bosnia and Herzegovina: 85 peak
* Armenia: 46 troops
* Norway: 150 troops
* Portugal: 128 troops
* New Zealand: 61 troops
* Philippines: 51 troops
* Honduras: 368 troops
* Dominican Republic: 302 troops
* Nicaragua: 230 troops
* Iceland: 2 troops
* Macedonia: 77 peak
* Mongolia: 180 peak

Most of these nations didn't have the economic wherewithal to prosecute a decade-long war against a shadowy and elusive enemy, and were forced to withdraw their forces. But there are those who stood fast, and saw that they had the ability to fight, and that they had a duty to humanity to see bin Laden brought to justice, or at least to bring justice to him.

And so they did.

Some of those nations listed above lost their nerve when the going got rough. Some of them gave in to fear, and attempted to bargain with the terrorists when their troops were captured. While I don't blame the individual troops for the actions of their governments, it definitely cheapens their service, and takes the dignity and pride of service away from those who served. Benjamin Franklin said it best: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Fortunately for the rest of the free world, their betters stood ready to defend the rest of us, regardless of the cost.

One last thing. bin Laden is but one man. Sure, he was the head of the organization, and obviously well-connected and in a good deal of control of their operations, but even with him gone, the fight is far from over. Iraq remains a struggling democracy - though one with citizens fiercely committed to its success. The legions of purple-fingered civilians who turn out for elections there, despite very real threats to their lives and livelihoods are nothing short of amazing. They make the same sacrifices now that American colonists did during the Revolution, and for largely the same reason.
Afghanistan is still a basket case. Much of the population still regards bin Laden as a folk hero, and may never hear of his death, or may not believe it to be true. That country has a long climb out of its self-imposed islamic stone-age into the modern world... and until the people can see concrete improvements in their lives, they won't buy-in to jettisoning the Taliban. Granted, they can't buy-in to the modern world if they get shot for flying kites or listening to music.

The road ahead is rough, but our steps are lighter upon it today. Today we can celebrate.