Letters to the Editor: Another Patriot

I’m another patriot.

I attended the farewell ceremony for the 548th Transportation Co. Missouri National Guard. I knew one of the young men in the unit and sat with his family. This is his second deployment. The first deployment was to Iraq. The building was packed and the crowd roared as the 170 soldiers filed in. The ceremony was tremendous! I was impressed by Governor Jay Nixon’s speech. He has been to Iraq and Afghanistan several times in support of Missouri troops serving over there.

After the ceremony families gathered outside prior to the troops boarding the buses. Couples stood with their arms around each other with their children hugging them. There were a lot of tears.

Then after a while came the order “Load up!” One last hug, one last goodbye. A small boy calling out several times “Be careful Daddy! Be careful Daddy!” Then the buses pulled away with the escort of law enforcement and the Freedom Riders. I knew one of the Freedom Riders who is a Vietnam veteran.

I have had two of my sons go off to war. Jon was in the Navy serving on a ship in the middle east during the first Gulf War. Later, after 9-11 I watched him go off to Guam to serve for a year there. My youngest, Dustin, is on his second deployment to Iraq. The first time he was a Medevac helicopter pilot. This deployment he is flying a C-23 cargo plane. I didn’t get to attend either one of Dustin’s deployment ceremonies but I have a picture of his little three year old daughter waving goodbye as her daddy flies off in his helicopter that is to be loaded on a ship and sent to Iraq. I have a picture, taken a year later when he returned home, of him with his wife and the little girl and a baby daughter who was born while he was deployed.

I e-mailed him in Iraq a few hours before the recent deadline for the Government shutdown. He replied that he was very disappointed in Washington politicians and their endless bickering.

So many of the low ranking military don’t get paid very well. In the event of a Government shutdown the already rich politicians will still get their fat paychecks while the military will serve without pay.

Yes I’m a patriot. I’m fiercely proud of my country. I just wish I could have half as much pride in Washington politicians as I do our military men and women.

Ron McNeely,
Gallatin