Honor

[Michael Brown]

Hi All,

I'm re-posting an e-mail here that was sent to me by one of my former platoon-mates. I know this has nothing to do with home inspections, but for a retired GI such as myself it was particularly poignant. Nobody hates war more than a soldier. But, whether you agree with what is happening in Iraq or not, all should be able to feel proud of the way these soldiers were honored.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Subject: A Soldier was buried Today

Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 08:35:57 - 0500

Col Rex Forney on Kim Orlando's ceremony

LTC Kim Orlando was laid to rest Friday where he had told his wife he always wanted to be buried...among the rows and rows of soldiers interred at the Veterans National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

In typical 101st Airborne Division fashion, the "Screaming Eagles" pulled out all the stops to honor a great soldier, leader, husband and 43 year old father of two. As a Military Police Battalion Commander, he understood the dangers of Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). He knew where the most danger potentially would be on the night of 16 October, and that was where he was.

As ground forces often have to do, he was eyeball-to-eyeball with bad people, displaying the unrelenting determination and absolute resolve of the American Soldier and this countries' commitment to the Global War on Terrorism. The firefight was brutal and intense. The results are now history. The 716th MP Battalion recovered their dead, evacuated the wounded, accounted for sensitive items of equipment, redistributed ammo and continued with the mission.

Friday, I was present for this outstanding American's memorial ceremony at Fort Campbell Kentucky and burial in Nashville, Tennessee. What happened on the approximately fifty-mile funeral procession from Ft Campbell to the Cemetery is something I want to share with everyone, and something I'll never forget. I wish everyone who wears a uniform, or has ever worn a uniform, could have seen this.

Thanks to the Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs Association several law enforcement agencies quickly volunteered to assist with the funeral as it would proceed down I-24 South to metropolitan Nashville. Two other great MP noncommissioned officers, SSG Bellavia and SGT Grilley died in the firefight with their commander. SSG Bellavia has a brother on the Hendersonville, KY police department. In an effort to alert motorists and share the information with more local law enforcement, the plan was apparently announced via the NCIC computer system for general knowledge of police and emergency responders.

I haven't seen as many Fire Department, Police, Sheriff, State Trooper cars and motorcycles since the Watts riots. The show of support for our fallen soldiers was overwhelming. And it was a good thing, since the procession was at least two miles long. But the story doesn't end here. Kay and I were in the back of the procession on I-24 watching the myriad light show disappear forward over the horizon southbound. A news helicopter was paralleling the convoy. Then we noticed the first exit/on ramp was blocked with a law enforcement vehicle, driver standing outside and saluting as the vehicles passed. What a class act and great show of support. But then, the next ramp had a similar sight...and the next, and the next. And there were fire, EMT vehicles and emergency responders of all sorts. Lights flashing, people standing outside, lined up, with headgear removed or

saluting.

The Kentucky troopers and law enforcement stopped at the state line, and Tennessee showed how much their native son's sacrifice meant to them. More vehicles on the overpasses, waiving American Flags, displaying the POW/MIA Flag. These were units from small towns along the route, coming out to the interstate to show their support to a fallen soldier who was at the tip of the spear in the GWOT. To them, he and his troops had gone after the people who had inflicted such tremendous losses on our police, firemen, EMTs and civilians in Pennsylvania, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

It went on and on...it was about an hour drive. Then, we saw a sight that knocked our socks off. In the distance we could see two large hook and ladder type firetrucks on an overpass, literally spanning the south-bound lanes. One had the ladder extended straight up...and waving in the wind from it as the hearse and procession went under was an American flag that had to measure at least 30 feet by 50 feet. Enough said....that message was loud and clear.

A big "thank you" to each and every one of them for their show of support to our soldiers and the armed forces of this nation. One Team, One Fight.

In loving memory, respect and eternal gratitude for their devotion to duty and ultimate sacrifice for their country: LTC Kim S. Orlando, SSG Joseph P. Bellavia, SGT Sean R. Grilley. National treasures of the United States; soldiers that saw their duty and did it.

Very Respectfully,

Col. Rex Forney

[a46geo]

Quote:

Hi All,

I'm re-posting an e-mail here that was sent to me by one of my former platoon-mates. I know this has nothing to do with home inspections,

Actually Mike, it has everything to do with home inspections, AND every other freedom we have in America today.

LTC Kim Orlando and countless others before him are the providers and protectors of the rights and priveliges that we have to be and do whatever we wish, including becoming home inspectors.

Although most of us were not there for the honoring of this great American, this post allows us all the privelidge of seeing it in our minds eye. We each now, in our own way, can say "thank you", as well as "good by" to one who gave everything defending us.

[chrisprickett]

This says perfectly what I've thought for some time...

"Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such

surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too.

Here they are:

1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative." Listen

carefully: We're good, they're evil, nothing is relative. Say it with me

now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't

mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy

on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country

has, with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be

the greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in

history. If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what

happens.

2) "Violence only leads to more violence." This one is so stupid you

usually have to be the president of an Ivy League university to say it.

Here's the truth, which you know in your heads and hearts already:

Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence. Limp, panicky,

half measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully thought

through, professional, well executed violence never leads to more

violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead.

That's right, dead. Not "on trial," not "reeducated," not "nurtured back

into the bosom of love." Dead.

3) "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community have failed us."

For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the

ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not

protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee

Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided

that the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy

satellites. "After all, (they reasoned,) you can see a license plate

from 200 miles away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a

license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans

is not possible with satellites. You have to use other humans. When we

bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's the

really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans

into the worst places of the world. You can't just have a guy who looks

like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a

coffee shop in Kabul and say "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet

that bin Laden fella. "Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving

the bad guys a story they'll be telling for years.

4) "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at

us." Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a

desperate cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than

Elton John and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless

people, you see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in

power. Mohammed Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes

into the killing grounds is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew

this, too. In the sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching

against the war were upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any

cause they could think of to get out of their final papers and spend

more time drinking. It's the same today.

5) "Any profiling is racial profiling." Who's killing us here, the

Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an

article saying dozens of extended members of the gazillionaire bin Laden

family living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff,

never to return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm

crushed. Please come back. Let's all stop singing "We Are the World" for

a minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor

in the back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt.Rushmore and

turn, grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't

offend them."

SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our murdered

brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with their

immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political

science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper

sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "No

More Pearl Harbors."

THIS NEEDS TO STAY IN CIRCULATION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE OR WILL FALL FOR

THE STUPIDITY GOING AROUND. PLEASE PASS IT ON