A Great American History Learning Opportunity Is Being Missed

Tonight I did something I haven't done in awhile, well ofcourse after I returned from taking Jake deer hunting. I got home and I sat and watched a video game that was being played on the television through our Wii game system. I usually pay little attention to these games, but this game was different. This game is titled. "Call Of Duty 3" As I watched the game being played, it was a very realistic re-enactment of the combat action of World War Two that took place between the American and Allied Forces against the enemy German Forces, during and right after the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. As I watched this game and noticed the graphic detail of the grunt's faces and their actions and the massive firepower in the battles. I asked the boys that were playing it; "What Is The Name Of This Game?" They told me and I said to them; " The combat scenes yall are playing out there on the screen are events that actually happened during World War Two, Did Yall Know That?" I was surprised to hear them tell me that they did not know it was something that actually happened.I went on and told them of the great second World War and what all was at stake in it, and how many American soldiers lost their lives in it, and then began to tell them that I had 5 uncles that served in combat in that war two of which gave their lives, and one of which was awarded The Congressional Medal of Honor for his valorous acts in combat. I have no problem whatsoever with companies making video games of the past wars or the current wars. I think it is actually a good thing, it could be a great learning tool to inform America's youth of what this country and so many Americans have gone through to keep this country strong and free and to secure freedom for other nations around the globe. These video games now with their great detail in graphics show very close to what the actual combat looked like from the soldier's ground eye view of it, normally through the view of the sights of his rifle.In order to insure that the youth are getting the information they really need to get from these games, it would be even better to see an introduction included in the beginning of these games that tells how the events depicted in the game are of events that really took place. It should give the players the dates that it happened, the names of the war and the enemy country's name, and it should give detail about casualties, how many served, how many wounded and how many were killed in action. Just be a complete aid in learning about some of America's great history and it's history of great struggle and sacrifice. As I stated previously, I have no problem or hang-ups at all whatsoever with the making and distributing these games for sale to teenagers, I think it is a fine idea. I just realized tonight what a great learning tool that it could also serve to be as well, if only the maker's of these games would include that introduction in the beginning of the game. Because alot of the kids playing these games, don't even really know that what they are playing and participating in is actually a realistic piece of American History. They don't realize that they probably have an uncle, father, or grandfather that served a major role in the war that they are sitting there playing, and that could so easily be reversed.Think about it, American History is a class taught in highschool or was when I was a teenager, and yes it was kind of boring, books and all that in most cases aren't top priority in a teenage boys brain lets face it. But what the teenager doesn't realize, is that when he is playing the game, he is taking an active role in parts of American History Class and just does not know it. A great educational opportunity is being missed here, and it's too easy to correct it, not to.

Veterans Day

You know something that I found kind of odd recently? We just celebrated Veteran's Day yesterday November 11th 2008. In my email I recieved numerous "Happy Veteran's Day" emails, many of them stating just how very much we owe our veterans and how our freedoms are secured by the sacrifices that our veterans made and make for us and our great nation.All of which I could not agree with more, for every word of that is the truth. It is indeed the veterans that keep this country strong, free and safe. I appreciate each and every one of them in my heart and in my soul.But what I found very odd or maybe a better term would be "confusing" about these emails and this Veteran's Day, was the fact that we just had our nations Presidential election. In the election race there were two main candidates. The Democrat candidate ofcourse being Barack Hussien Obama, and the Republican candidate being ofcourse John McCain.The thing I find relatively confusing about this celebration of Veterans Day, and all of the ceremonies and praises of the American War Veterans and all of the emails I recieved with words of honor and full support of the veterans, was the fact that in the campaign for The United States Presidency, it basically came down to two candidates, Obama and McCain. Now one of those candidates has never been a veteran and has never really served his country, that candidate is Barack Hussien Obama. But the other candidate is a man that is a highly honored and decorated veteran of war. A man who infact did serve his country and offered up his own life for our very freedom.Now the confusing part of this Veteran's Day, how is it that just days after the election in which the winning candidate was voted in by a large majority of voters, turned out to be the candidate that has never served his country? How is it that we can claim so much honor and admiration, thankfulness and support for our veterans, that a great veteran such as John McCain was defeated in the election for president of this country? I find that very confusing and even contradictory to the appreciation and honor we claim to hold in our hearts for our American veterans.I mean come on, if we believe in our veterans so much as we claim we do, and appreciate them as much as we claim we do, then how can something such as this happen? If a man or woman volunteers and signs the line and puts on the uniform of a soldier and goes willingly into harm's way for this country of ours and for us, then isn't that man or woman a veteran that we claim all of this appreciation and honor for? Well on this election day, I think we failed miserably in showing that we really mean it when we celebrate the veterans and speak words of honor about them. I think we showed just how fake many of us are when it comes to truth, honor and country. A man was voted into office basically just because of his skin color, which would make history by being the first of his race to be president of this country, it certainly was not because of his accomplishments or his experience, for he lacks terribly in both columns. But a man that has given to this country all of his life, was basically dismissed by the voters in the country that he has given his life to. This is something that I just found very confusing as I watched us celebrate veterans day and sung the praises of American veterans. How ironic that we did this just days after we greatly dismissed the experience and sacrifice of one of our great veterans John McCain. But by dismissing one veteran such as him, are we not infact dismissing the other veterans as well?Just something to think about.

I Fear Americans Have Made A Very Dangerous Mistake!

Well the Presidential election has come and gone, and I can't say that I am feeling very confident about the winner. I was and still am a fan and supporter of John McCain. I honestly feel that the citizens of America that voted Obama into office have made a great mistake. A mistake that was guided completely upon the color of the man's skin. So many people were so desperate to make history by electing the first black person as President in the history of this great nation, that I feel their desire blinded them to much more important issues.This is a time of grave danger for this country in the world's eye. We have Muslim enemies that wish nothing more than to see this country destroyed completely and all Americans struck dead. They have proven this over the years and have proven that they will stop at nothing in order to achieve this, even if it means taking their own lives to do it.This is certainly not a time to elect a "Terrorist Friendly" President, or a president that is weak and inexperienced when it comes to defense. But that is certainly what has been done. Not only has a president that is weak and inexperienced in defense been elected into office, but a president who has basically zero experience in leadership. This fact certainly cannot be disputed by anyone. Obama has led absolutely nothing in his lifetime that qualifies him to lead this nation.As I watched the news on election night, and saw when they announced that Obama had officially won the election. For the first time ever I saw the American news agency "CNN" show a live feed of the people in Africa celebrating in the streets wildly the victory of Obama, one would have thought that those too were Americans who had supported Obama. Why on earth would an American news agency show the celebration of people in Africa because a certain candidate won the presidency of The United States Of America? I mean what's it to the people of Africa? Absolutely nothing!At least it should mean absolutely nothing to them, but why does it? I think we will soon find out the answer to that question in the coming months after January 20th 2009. I think when we see Obama pull the American troops from Iraq, we will very soon after that, see Obama order American troops to Africa to try and stop the waring and genocide that is taking place in many parts of Africa.Pulling the troops from Iraq before the goal is achieved, will be a disgrace to all that have served there. It will be a slap in the face to all of the families of those brave American soldiers that have given their lives in Iraq and those that have been wounded. To bring them home before victory is achieved will be the same as sending a message to all of those loved ones of soldiers that gave their lives in Iraq that says; " Sorry we have decided that the war was a mistake and wasn't worth fighting afterall, oops sorry your loved one died for nothing." That is a message this country cannot afford to send again. We sent it after the Vietnam War and it devastated hundreds of thousands of vets and their families.If there is one place on earth that is unworthy of sending American soldiers to fight in, that place is Africa! Anywhere on the continent of Africa. Those are barbaric people, they could care less about the Americans. Many of you may not know, but in 1993 American troops were in Africa. They were in the region near Somalia. They were there to keep peace and aid in the safe distribution of relief food shipments sent from all around the world to aid the starving people in Africa. They were starving because of waring clans in Africa. The worst was headed by a warlord named Muhammed Farah Adid. He was a ferocious warlord and is responsible for the death of millions. American Rangers and other United Nation peacekeepers in the area stood watch over the hungry and gave them protection and food. Then came the day of October 3rd 1993. The Elite 75th rangers 3rd Bat along with members of the also Elite Delta Force, were ordered into the city of Mogadishu, Somalia, actually into the Bakara Market section. We flew in and roped down from Blackhawk Helicopters and in a humvee convoy.Once inside the Barkara Market section, the citizens along with Adid's militia began blocking off the streets behind us with old cars, wagons, tires and setting them on fire, virtually trapping us within the city.They opened fire on American Rangers and Delta Force, a long fight ensued that would last all day and through the night of the 3rd of October and into the morning of the 4th. By the end of the battle (which was the worst battle since the Vietnam War) 19 young American soldiers would lay dead, and another 78 would be wounded, and two Blackhawk Helicopters would be shot down. Some of the bodies of the American soldiers killed in the combat, were taken by the enemy stripped of their uniforms naked, dragged around the dirty streets and hacked to pieces with machetes. Two Congressional Medals Of Honor were posthumously awarded to Sgt. Randy Shugart and Sgt. Gary Gordon, for their greatly heroic acts of leaving the safety of the helicopter they were on high above the action where they were serving as snipers, they requested 3 times to be put on the ground near the site of one of the helicopter crashes so they could protect the injured crewmen who were being advanced upon quickly by hundreds of armed militia. Gordon and Shugart fought gallantly until their last round of ammunition was used at which time the enemy overtook them killing them both. It was the first time a Congressional Medal Of Honor had been awarded since the Vietnam War.The very people we were there to help, turned on us, bit the hand that fed them. After the assault President Clinton ordered all American servicemen out of Africa. A request by General Garrison was made to allow the remaining rangers and delta force to go back into the Bakara Market and hit the enemy back, but the request was denied and all American servicemen were denied the victory over a rag tag militia and ordered home.So should we go back into Africa again to help the people? Absolutely not, but it is quite evident that we will end up there within the next four years if not sooner. And what a disgrace that will be going back to where we had tried to help people before but were shamlessly slaughtered. But now we have a president that has ties in Africa, his father was a muslim from Africa, his grandmother is a muslim that lives still today in Africa.Americans have made a terrible mistake in voting this man into office, I firmly believe that. I firmly believe we will greatly regret it. America brace yourself for a long and bloody war that I feel sure looms like a dark cloud on the horizon. A war to completely stop what is taking place in Africa will take more years and more lives than the war in Iraq ever could. We stand to lose as many lives in Africa in the first few months of battle than we have in Iraq since it began.My last and final word in this column, is how did we as Americans sink so low as to elect a president with no leadership experience, no dedication to this country's values and morals, no service to this country whatsoever, over electing a man that has proven himself all of his life to be a leader? John McCain has served his country all of his life, almost giving his life for this country. He was offered early release from being a prisoner of war in Vietnam because his father was an Admiral in The United States Navy, but John McCain being the dedicated leader he is, refused to accept the early release offered to him by the enemy. He refused the early release because the enemy refused to release his fellow soldiers along with him. He would not leave his fellow soldiers in the hands of the enemy alone. That is the sign of dedication, that is the sign of a proven leader, and that my friends, is the sign of a Great President!