Venomous Screed?
Sunday, August 27th, 2006Subject: Venomous Screed On Democrats Attributed to J.D. Pendry
Dear Sgt.Major Pendry:
I received this screed in an e-mail today which has been circulating evidently around cyberspace for some time. Because I don’t believe a person of your intellect, rank and responsibility would stoop this low to write such a venomous screed, I am sending it to you since it was received in my e-mail from an acquaintance attributing you as its author. Whoever the author was it is clear they don’t have a clear head for history since Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Duke Cunningham, Bill Frist, Tom DeLay, and a host of so called Republican Chickenhawks were not mentioned.
I wanted you to see it first so you can comment on it and perhaps issue a denial that can wind its way through cyberspace setting the record straight that a man of your polish, military bearing, and common decency does not deserve to be blasphemed in this way by Right Wing Conservative cranks.
Sincerely,
Rayne Poussard
Served: USN
Former: Maine State Police
Fortune 500 company retiree
***
I just received some crap you wrote, in an email.
What a crock of Bullshit.
While your credentials, on your website, appear admirable, your diatribe does little more than toss you in the mix with what’s wrong in this country.
Obviously you have a penchant for slamming the political left…. as if there is some value to your wayward observations. Surely they do little more than incite those who think as you do, and little to resolve issues.
While I am in agreement that the liberal mindset is misguided, I suspect that one Rush Limbaugh is more than needed.
Might you not be better suited doing something constructive with your experiences? Your babble is a far cry from an example of leadership.
Dave Navarro, Sr.
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J. D., you’re the lead axis idiot! Crawl back in the hole you came from!!
rdr SHALOM 666
There was Bob and Mel too and some others that now line the bottom of my cyber birdcage.
On June 24, 2006, I posted On Your Hands to my mail list. It’s been forwarded and reposted around the net and is now bringing a stream of cyber courage to my mailbox. I once responded to this stuff thinking I could rationalize with the senders. Turns out that I can’t. I don’t owe Payne, Dave, Mel, Bob, that last nut or any others an explanation for anything I say or write. Besides, when I converse with them I get their venomous screed in return. I’ve decided I’m no longer interested in their opinions nor should I be. If they were interested in discussion with me, they wouldn’t open with “What a crock of bullshit.” then end with condescending concern for my intellect, bearing and credentials. I guess they think I’ve lost my way.
Do you know what I care about? I care about what my subscribers think because of who they are. My mail list includes veterans from World War II through Iraq, active duty Servicemen and Women from all branches of the services, Parents and Grandparents of Serving Soldiers and Patriots who haven’t served but love our country and truly support our Military Men and Women – and probably some group I didn’t name, but also appreciate. The service and spirit of these outstanding Americans keeps us free. Their mail keeps me going. Whenever I feel like stopping – usually following a load of Payne mail -, I’ll get mail from some of the group thanking me for what I have to say. One of those notes counters all of the Payne mail I get. If my subscribers don’t like what I have to say, they vote by hitting the unsubscribe button which I must brag doesn’t happen too often. As long as I have subscribers, I’ll be writing each week. When I no longer have any, I’ll send notes to myself. I thank all of you right wing conservative cranks for your support of our Country and Troops.
It’s been a journey for me to arrive at this state of mind. I spent much time in uniform marveling at mediocre politicians and unable to talk about the harm their decisions often brought because it wasn’t my place to do that. My priorities had to be getting the job done and looking out for the Soldiers in my charge. On the inside looking out, it was rare to hear anyone calling politicians and others to task for their wrong-headed decisions that hurt the military or for their hateful comments. They enjoy their elite sport of politics often to the detriment of Service Men and Women. I promised myself that if I was ever able to speak out about them, I would. So I am. I’m a small voice in a cyber world of millions, but obviously what I share with my list of subscribers gets around some. Whether it does any good or not, I don’t know, but it makes me feel better. It also makes those suffering from terminal CRIS quite angry. I can’t help that. Their misguided hatred for anything slightly right of the far left is a problem for them – and maybe Joe Lieberman – but not me.
I’m an Army enlisted retiree, not a Fortune 500 retiree, who lives on a hillside in West Virginia. My perspective on life and the times from out here in fly over around country probably differs some from what they’re accustomed. They often try to correct my view of history. Problem with that is that the history reference on which I most rely is a living one. Most often, it’s a reference to which they didn’t have access.
When President Jimmy Carter became Commander in Chief, he inherited an Army that was broken by many years of political mishandling of the Vietnam War. A war committed to by John Kennedy, broadened by Lyndon Johnson, ran from Washington and ended in defeat by Richard Nixon. A Democrat Congress eventually abandoned South Vietnam and the region to communist murderers. The monument to their achievement was communist reeducation camps and the Cambodian killing fields. They’ll do it again given the opportunity.
The Army’s morale was lower than whale crap because the only public recognition Soldiers coming home from war got was from lying hippies the likes of John Kerry and Hanoi Jane Fonda. During what needed to be a rebuilding time for our Army, politicians neglected us and a misled public disdained us. There was no money for training nor was there any to repair and replace worn-out, broken equipment. We rationed toilet paper. Imagine that for the most powerful nation on earth. Carter raised our morale by granting amnesty to draft dodgers and upgrading the dishonorable discharges of deserters. He also took away from us a long-range threat when he cancelled production of the B1 bomber. A flaccid response to Iranian terrorism and a disastrous rescue attempt put the capper on Carter’s Army for me. And I was still a youngun.
When President Regan became the Commander in Chief, it was as if the clouds parted for the sun to come out. We got our first decent pay raises in years. We started rebuilding and retraining our Army. When Soldiers have good equipment and the funds to maintain it along with good training, the morale rises proportionately. I was disappointed some when we didn’t pound the snot out of Hezbollah and their state sponsors in 1983. Maybe the time wasn’t right. Study tells me the President’s advisors talked him out of retaliation. We did hit the Iranians in the Becca Valley, but we should have put a few in Khomeini’s living room just as we did in Gadafi’s in 1986. Heard from Gadafi lately? It’s a practice we should’ve continued.
President Regan strengthened and modernized our forces in Europe, not intent only to defend against potentially invading Soviet bloc forces but to destroy them – on the front line and their follow-on forces still at home before they could join the fight. He rebuilt our military strength at such a pace the Soviets couldn’t keep up so they gave up. Silly politicians laughed at President Regan’s vision of ballistic missile defense snickeringly labeling his Strategic Defense Initiative Star Wars. History will recall Harry Reid’s “We just killed the Patriot Act” the same way it recalls that mistake. President Regan could see this day when tin pot dictators and Islamic fascists could threaten our country with ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. His opponents could only see another play in their endless quest to win at the sport of politics where the most important prize is political power. They’re not laughing so much today. And thanks to them, neither are the rest of us.
The first President Bush inherited a great Military force and when needed it cut through the Soviet equipped, liberal media named “elite Republican Guard” and world’s fourth largest standing Army in 100 hours of ground combat. Fresh from the war, the heavily armored VII Corps based in Germany was among the first to deactivate as we started to downsize the military and cash in on our mythical “peace dividend” since the political consensus was that we no longer had an enemy that required a large standing military force. We’ve made the same mistake throughout our history. Our motto should be Once Dominant, Always Dominant. We’ll only know peace in this world when everyone knows we can and decisively will kick their hind ends if need be.
President Bill Clinton became the first honest-to-God draft dodger to become Commander in Chief, yet I don’t recall any Dan Rather breaking news stories about that. I don’t profess to speak for everyone who served in the Armed Forces during President Clinton’s two terms, but the Military air of respect that generally surrounds the CINC was missing in action for me. Maybe it was just me, but I could never get past his draft dodger status and this:
“I am writing too in the hope that my telling this one story will help you to understand more clearly how so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military…” - Bill Clinton, December 3, 1969
Google his letter, read the whole thing, and remember there’s worse than him hoping to lead our country into capitulation to radical Islam. One of his first moves was to declare that he would scrap the ban on homosexuals serving in the Military. I remember reading to a battalion of Soldiers the required, canned briefing on the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy and reprimanding those in uniform who openly opposed it. Along with other social reengineering, we continued to cut the strength of our forces throughout his presidency. We reduced an active Army of 760,000 to around 460,000 yet the National Security Strategy of fighting two major regional conflicts simultaneously never changed. The strength of the Army nearly halved while deployments tripled and quadrupled – again, not much on that in the media. The leading cheerleaders for the cuts are now the loudest voices proclaiming that we don’t have enough troops. With smaller forces, we kept and maintained unneeded U.S. bases – and still do - for the benefit of political pork. The citizens of our country need to give thanks, each day for the quality military force, with top notch Soldiers and leaders that President Clinton inherited. A lesser quality force could not have sustained and made the adjustments needed to continue the mission of defending our country. Still, we endured losses to terrorists; the most memorable a humanitarian aid effort that mission crept into something else and cost us Soldiers in Mogadishu. It was a light Infantry force of Special Operations and Rangers. The Commander in Chief denied them the armor they requested that would’ve easily squashed and extricated them from the ambush they encountered. Not much play on that angle in the news either.
Never adequately responding to them, the terrorists became bolder with each successive attack – until 9/11.
Contrary to the beliefs of liberal leaning Americans and the news media, President George Bush is not responsible for the actions of the Islamic Nazis that killed nearly 3000 of us in a span of minutes. Nor is he responsible for the fact that they’ve been doing it for many years and continue to do it around the world. Failed policy or actually no policy for the years prior to President Bush got us where we were on 9/11. Like him or not, he’s the Commander in Chief that insists on taking the fight to our enemy. People like Payne call the President and others Chickenhawks. I suppose in their view the CINC should strap it on and lead the troops into battle. I served more than half my existence on this planet in uniform and people like Payne call me a Chickenhawk too. It says more about Payne than it does anyone else. I guess I don’t possess the warrior qualities of Johns Kerry and Murtha. Was President Clinton a Chickenhawk when he committed troops to Bosnia and Kosovo? Or, when he flung a few missiles in the general direction of bin Laden?
A couple of days before I wrote On Your Hands, I saw pictures of the grossly mutilated bodies of two young American Soldiers. I was as angry that day as I was on 9/11 when I lost friends in the Pentagon. I saw those pictures posted on the Internet and wondered if any of their family members might have seen them.
In my minds eye, I saw something else. Something Payne and friends may or may not understand. I saw the faces of the 14 platoon’s worth of young men and women I trained as a Drill Sergeant. I saw the faces of many great men and women that I served with for 28 years. I saw something else in there too. I saw a gin-soaked Ted Kennedy with his poster of Abu Ghraib proclaiming that Sadaam’s torture chambers reopened under U.S. management. I saw Dick Durbin equating our Soldiers to Nazis and operators of Soviet gulags. I saw John Kerry reliving his glory days by saying that American Soldiers were terrorizing Iraqi women and children in their homes each night. I saw that other Democrat war hero John Murtha labeling U.S. Marines as cold-blooded murderers. I saw an endless string of stupid politicians – Democrat and Republican - undermining the efforts of our Commander in Chief and every single member of his cabinet. I saw the New York Times running stories about our intelligence gathering techniques. I saw enough to decide that I wasn’t going to sit around and listen anymore to people who are too silly to realize that we’re at war with an enemy that’s proven repeatedly that they’ll keep coming for us until we destroy them. We’ve ran from them since 1979. It’s time to push back.
Yes Payne, I wrote that venomous screed and I stand by every word of it.
Copyright (C) JD Pendry 2006
I usually avoid weekday postings to my mail list. I’m grateful that a growing number of new subscribers invite me into their mailbox daily so I choose not to wear out my welcome. I never know which of my comments caused them to want to subscribe, but I’m appreciative that they do. I try to respond to each right away if possible. 
