Core Participant: Maj Dennis McCool (Ret)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 05:23 PM
by BlogMasters
I am a resident of Sanford, Florida, a 60 year old Army retiree, Vietnam Vet, voluntarily recalled to active duty, serving in Iraq from December 06 to December 07. I served on active duty from October 1965 to November 1985. During my 20 year career I served in Vietnam as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division's, Charlie Company, 326th Engineer Battlion. I am a member of the American Legion FL post 53 (Sanford, FL) and the VFW post 8207 (Longwood, FL).
I believe that I understand “resolve” very well because I had an excellent teacher. My father spent his adult life in the Navy, a WWII veteran, stationed aboard the USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, a Korean War veteran and a veteran of three tours in Vietnam. I have the greatest admiration for him and his generation because, I believe, they were the last generation to demonstrate their resolve to defeat our Nations enemies, no matter how long it took or how hard it was, anything less than VICTORY was unthinkable to them. I salute you all. Many of us have served and tried our best, many have died in the attempt, but our National Will seems to have eroded to a level that only allows the easy or quick victory.
Thank God there are still young men and women willing to try. Thank God there are families willing to support their attempt. But a dedicated, educated and trained Military is not enough. Our Nation must be willing to support that Military even when VICTORY is difficult. I am very proud to have a son who has spent half of his adult life in the Military, who understands the spirit of Service to our Nation and who answered the call to serve a year in the Middle East immediately after 9/11.
The reason for this March is to show support for the Troops and the Mission of the Troops. The purpose is to demonstrate RESOLVE TO WIN and complete a difficult task and to create a dialog about the importance of Winning in Iraq.
We believe that you can not support the Troops without supporting the Mission which the Troops are asked to give their lives for. Sacrificing your life demonstrates the greatest possible resolve. Not since WWII has America demonstrated the resolve to do whatever it takes to defeat the enemies of our nation.
The young American men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan can be America's Next Great Generation and America needs to know it.
I have never been more proud to be an American that I have been serving with the young men and women in today's military. They are the best trained, best educated, best equipped and most highly motive military in our history. (period) It is a distinct honor and privilege to be here among our finest.
We have the most capable General General in recent history in command of the war effort. We CAN achieve a satisfactory resolution in Iraq. It is absolutely in America's best interest to ensure stability in Iraq and the Middle East and to dismember Al Qaeda here and now. These people (AQI) have been after us for 30 years. I would encourage everyone to read COL David Hunt's book, "They Just Don't Get It" for a detailed accounting of terrorism since 1968.
For purposes of credibility, we feel that the Core Group needs to walk the entire distance. As you might imagine this is a grueling undertaking, which we are not viewing lightly. But the reality is, if it were not an awesome undertaking it would mean nothing. The fact that I will be almost 61 and the other two, committed at this time, will be 60 and 56 years old at the time of this March, obviously increases the degree of difficulty.
We are planning this March during the month of March 08. That should coincide with the next Congressional testimony by Gen. Petraeus. I believe that if our "March for Resolve" were taking place during his testimony it could send a signal that although all Americans want the Troops out of Iraq, we have the resolve to complete task, before we leave.
Clearly, the success of this effort depend almost entirely on the amount of participation along the way, the media coverage and resulting perception of the general public. This require CLARITY of the message, so there is no misunderstanding what the participants believe.
For those who are interested in participating: We need to understand their level of participation / commitment. I am trying to organize this so that WE provide ALL logistical support for the CORE PARTICIPANTS. (That is the group making the entire trek). I believe that other groups which join in for various segment of the march should be organized in such a fashion to provide they're own logistics. I am sure that all the Core Participants would welcome the opportunity to break bread with our brothers along the way, and if that occurs it would be a plus. But, we must plan for self- sufficiency and ensure that other participants understand that we are NOT equipped to handle the needs of an indeterminate number of people.
In addition to logistical support, we want to ensure that everyone considering this undertaking is physically and mentally prepared. To that end, we have started collecting information sources for endurance training, nutrition and preventive medicine.
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