For those of you that are going to
see the movie "Sniper", which is in most of
our movie theatres now; this is the story in addition to the story in the
film.
TEXAS GOODBYE by Derek's motherThis is why America will remain strong. We take care of our own as well as others who may not deserve taking care of. I just wanted to share with you all that out of a horrible tragedy we were blessed by so many people.Chris Kyle was Derek's teammate through 10 years of training and battle. They both suffer/suffered from PTSD to some extent and took great care of each other because of it.2006 in Ramadi was horrible for young men that never had any more aggressive physical contact with another human than on a Texas football field.They lost many friends. Chris became the armed services number #1 sniper of all time. Not something he was happy about, other than the fact that in so doing, he saved a lot of American lives.Three years ago, his wife Taya asked him to leave the SEAL teams as he had a huge bounty on his head by Al Qaeda. He did and wrote the book "The American Sniper." 100% of the proceeds from the book went to two of the SEAL families who had lost their sons in Iraq .That was the kind of guy Chris was. He formed a company in Dallas to train military, police and I think firemen as far as protecting themselves in difficult situations. He also formed a foundation to work with military people suffering from PTSD. Chris was a giver not a taker.He, along with a friend and neighbor, Chad Littlefield, were murdered trying to help a young man that had served six months in Iraq and claimed to have PTSD.Now I need to tell you about all of the blessings.Southwest Airlines flew in any SEAL and their family from any airport they flew into...free of charge.The employees donated buddy passes and one lady worked for four days without much of a break to see that it happened.Volunteers were at both airports in Dallas to drive them to the hotel.The Marriott Hotel reduced their rates to $45 a night and cleared the hotel for only SEALs and family.The Midlothian, TX Police Department paid the $45 a night for each room. I would guess there were about 200 people staying at the hotel, 100 of them were SEALs. Two large buses were chartered (an unknown donor paid the bill) to transport people to the different events and they also had a few rental cars (donated). The police and secret service were on duty 24 hours during the stay at our hotel.At the Kyle house, the Texas DPS parked a large motor home in front to block the view from reporters. It remained there the entire five days for the SEALs to congregate in and all to use the restroom so as not to have to go in the house. Taya, their two small children and both sets of parents were staying in the home.Only a hand full of SEALs went into the home as they had different duties and meetings were held sometimes on a hourly basis. It was a huge coordination of many different events and security. Derek was assigned to be a Pall Bearer, to escort Chris' body when it was transferred from the Midlothian Funeral Home to the Arlington Funeral Home, and to be with Taya. A tough job.Taya seldom came out of her bedroom. The house was full with people from the church and other family members that would come each day to help. I spent one morning in a bedroom with Chris’ mom and the next morning with Chad Littlefield's parents (the other man murdered with Chris). A tough job.George W Bush and his wife Laura met and talked to everyone on the Seal Team one on one. They went behind closed doors with Taya for quite a while. They had prayer with us all. You can tell when people were sincere and caringNolan Ryan sent his cooking team, a huge grill and lots of steaks, chicken and hamburgers. They set up in the front yard and fed people all day long including the 200 SEALs and their families. The next day a local BBQ restaurant set up a buffet in front of the house and fed all once again. Food was plentiful and all were taken care of. The family's church kept those inside the house well fed.Jerry Jones, the man everyone loves to hate, was a rock star. He made sure that we all were taken care of. His wife and he were just making sure everyone was taken care of….Class... He donated the use of Cowboy Stadium for the services as it was determined that so many wanted to attend.The charter buses transported us to the stadium on Monday at 10:30 am. Every car, bus, motorcycle was searched with bomb dogs and police. I am not sure if kooks were making threats trying to make a name for themselves or if so many SEALs in one place was a security risk, I don't know. We willingly obliged. No purses went into the stadium!We were taken to The Legends room high up and a large buffet was available. That was for about 300 people. We were growing.A Medal of Honor recipient was there, lots of secret service and police and Sarah Palin and her husband. She looked nice, this was a very formal military service.The service started at 1:00 pm and when we were escorted onto the field I was shocked. We heard that about 10,000 people had come to attend also. They were seated in the stadium seats behind us. It was a beautiful and emotional service.The Bagpipe and drum corps were wonderful and the Texas A&M men's choir stood through the entire service and sang right at the end. We were all in tears.The next day was the 200-mile procession from Midlothian, TX to Austin for burial. It was a cold, drizzly, windy day, but the people were out. We had dozens of police motorcycles riders, freedom riders, five chartered buses and lots of cars. You had to have a pass to be in the procession and still it was huge. Two helicopters circled the procession with snipers sitting out the side door for protection. It was the longest funeral procession ever in the state of Texas. People were everywhere. The entire route was shut down ahead of us, the people were lined up on the side of the road the entire way. Firemen were down on one knee, police officers were holding their hats over their hearts, children waving flags, veterans saluting as we went by. Every bridge had fire trucks with large flags displayed from their tall ladders, people all along the entire 200 miles were standing in the cold weather. It was so heartwarming. Taya rode in the hearse with Chris' body so Derek rode the route with us. I was so grateful to have that time with him.The service was at Texas National Cemetery. Very few are buried there and you have to apply to get in. It is like people from the Civil War, Medal of Honor winners, a few from the Alamo and all the historical people of Texas. It was a nice service and the Freedom Riders surrounded the outside of the entire cemetery to keep the crazy church people from Kansas that protest at military funerals away from us.Each SEAL put his Trident (metal SEAL badge) on the top of Chris' casket, one at a time. A lot hit it in with one blow. Derek was the only one to take four taps to put his in and it was almost like he was caressing it as he did it. Another tearful moment.After the service Governor Rick Perry and his wife, Anita, invited us to the governor's mansion. She stood at the door, greeted each of us individually, and gave each of the SEALs a coin of Texas. She was a sincere, compassionate, and gracious hostess.We were able to tour the ground floor and then went into the garden for beverages and BBQ. So many of the Seal team guys said that after they get out they are moving to Texas. They remarked that they had never felt so much love and hospitality. The charter buses then took the guys to the airport to catch their returning flights. Derek just now called and after a 20 hours flight he is back in his spot, in a dangerous land on the other side of the world, protecting America.We just wanted to share with you, the events of a quite emotional, but blessed week.Punch-line:To this day, no one in the White House has ever acknowledged Chris Kyle.However, the President can call some sport person and congratulate him on announcing to the world that he is gay? What the hell is happening to our
society, our honor and our pride??Please, keep this moving!
William you ask about your society, your honor and your pride. Herein lies the problem with the Tea Party ideals.Honor was lost when Burr killed Hamilton. Society suffered grievously post WW2 when debit became the norm for the poor as they tried to emulate the rich who had always lived beyond their means and pride was lost when government became so powerful that there was nothing left to engender pride in ones country or people. It is a new era William, going back will not help, finding the way forward will prove to be impossible unless you stop walking backwards. I note that this short comment of mine is the first response to the article you have posted.A story of sacrifice and grief with causation too obvious to require naming. To the survivors of this tragedy, my sincere condolences, you too have suffered at the hands of blind prejudice.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see your response and that you are well in the new year. As always your text book snap shots of our history leave large holes in the narrative. Many of their time related that Hamilton was a scoundrel and needed killing. Your reference to post WWII is related more to Breton Woods than the reaction of our returning service people to their economic situation.
DeleteMy reason for posting this mothers diary notes expands upon my thesis regarding "two America's" and "cold civil war" that we are and have been experiencing. Ric and Max of course posit that local folks and militia's would not stand a chance against the weight of our national military. After reading her recent experience it is apparent that much of our military feels little or no alligence towards those that only use them for cannon fodder.
My heart goes out to these honorable people and my faith in American exceptionalism is renewed because of the seals and the leaders that value their contributions. We pray for Derek's safe return and his finding balance in his life.
William. Pleased to read your response although it appears there is little interest among other scribblers on this site. It is very difficult to quote or to reference from your rich history the “missing “pieces of the narrative. I would however mention that Hamilton was not short of political enemies, Burr perhaps being the most obvious. That there were many who declared Hamilton a rogue is not surprising, anyone in public life with strong views attracts enemies as well as friends.
ReplyDeleteHamilton was of course a Federalist, one of the leading figures in the short lived organisation and certainly one of the leading thinkers along with Madison and James Wilson. That the Federalists had the temerity to oppose the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the constitution was I suppose enough to generate animosity; perhaps the roots of that animosity we see today as Americans try to defend the indefensible provisions of the second amendment.
No my friend, Hamilton lived and died a patriot, as did so many others for what has been proved a just cause as the pages of history have been written. His death was partly his own doing as he thwarted the political aims of Burr and made his position in politics and society almost untenable. The “Honor” I referred to was in the manner of the duel and the custom of the times. It was a sneakily arranged affair where neither protagonist had the courage to declare public ally what was to take place.
I once, in my very early days of looking at your history declared that Hamilton was the greatest patriot never to become President. I went on to say that this was a mistake as he would have perhaps been the greatest of them all. My ignorance was politely pointed out by (of course) an American who reminded me of the provisions of the constitution concerning the ancestral history of candidates!
You take issue with me concerning the post WW2 period and the sudden shift in personal debit levels of the middle class. I cannot agree that Bretton Woods was responsible for this.BW was an attempt, generally successful and advantageous to the US, to bring the finances of the world into some order and to provide stability of the currencies and provide credit through the World Bank for reconstruction purposes.
The upsurge in borrowing by the working classes was caused by the sudden release of constraint occasioned by the war and the proliferation of manufactured goods as war production was suddenly cut off. The phenomenon in America was gradually followed by other members of the victorious nations and the public reliance on “Hire Purchase or HP as it became universally known became the norm for all rather than the province of the wealthy.
So my friend, we begin again the New Year, the world no better and with the events in France a few days ago, perhaps a worse place in which to try to live a decent life. My wish for the year is to see not more or even as many needlessly killed as in the year just passed but to see far less citizen’s resort to the trigger rather than the tongue to resolve differences. If Hamilton and Burr had talked rather than fired, perhaps both would have become better servants of a country born of a glorious revolution.
Cheers from Aussie
Thomas Fleming relates in his book about the Duel that Hamilton suffered greatly over his daughters insanity, and losing his 19 year old son in a duel. General Hamiltons life was also complicated by an affair with his wife's oldest sister. Marta Washington had nicknamed her large headed tomcat "Hamilton" a glimps into his reputation as a ladies man.
DeleteFleming terms Hamilton in 1894 as carrying a substantial load of psychological baggage.
The year was 1804 of course.
DeleteA new epoch of what exactly? As the construction goes, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same.’ The Moors are advancing again and the West will either succumb and be divided into Mawali, Dhimini or slaves as appears to be the general wont of Islam or a new Crusades will banish the Ottoman Empire back to its Middle East origins. The life long battle between the Republican and Federalist will continue and the totalitarian exploits any opportunity presented. The federalist minion will relegate themselves, will little resistance, to the overlord that allowed them birth or they will see that the breath they take is no privilege at all and stand firmly with the republicans. Some will relinquish their ability defend themselves while others will tenaciously guard that ability.
DeleteI would suggest that under colonial common law duelling was against the law; the practice itself dubious to established order. Never the less, duels were performed and conducted by the ‘Code Duello’ and rule 8 clearly states that no public announcements, as to reason, need be made if the challenged does not require it. According to rule 17, Hamilton chose the place of the duel(where his son died), chose which weapon rule 16 and it was carried out in a future morning according to rule 15. If honor was broken it was Hamilton who fired with intent not to hit Burr in violation of rule 13… reconciliation, rule 7, should have occurred prior to taking the weapon.
I disagree with the premise that consumerism is a pent-up release of WWII constraint. Certainly much of the moral fabric of western society changed but consumerism is a function of the industrial revolution. The phrase, ‘keeping up with the joneses’, originated with a newspaper cartoon strip about consumerism in 1913. ‘Buy now, Pay later’ was a slogan of Henry Ford in 1919 with his creation of GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation). What changed was ill advised but central banking pushed, use of credit. Rick said that inflation isn’t a creation of government and is a function of time. These misconceptions are what give power to central banking policy and the easy money they create. The roaring twenties were fuelled by easy money. Its exponential growth occurred with the advent of widely available consumer credit… a functional part of central banking and its ability to skew bankruptcy laws via government favor. Broad issuance of credit cards started in the 1950’s and truly easy credit began when the dollar untethered from it anchor. While the mobile society had been brewing for many years, post WWII saw a fundamental change in the family and certain social mores that released the use of credit from the evil admonishments it once received to a mainstream way of life and torment… Next stop… digital cash and perpetual indebtedness. While ads may entice those with less money to elevate their lives, it is the money changers that receive no consequence for their damage and are driven by a central banking system with a mission of its own…
A short video of personal debt to income sense 1960…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKW0VuXrwkw
note the slight dip after 2008… and the climb to previous levels… we have learned nothing and the central bankers love the ignorance.
Might I recommend a recent read. Lewis Lehrman, "The True Gold Standard."
Delete"America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton.
In Lewis E. Lehrman, she has finally found him."
—James Grant
http://thegoldstandardnow.org/the-true-gold-standard
I go to his web site from time to time. He posts both his own thoughts and articals on monitary policy and constitutional matters.
Deletehttp://yale.academia.edu/LewisELehrman
TS an interesting post with one or two points requiring clarification. Firstly the duel and the loss of Honor. My volume of Alexander Hamilton,an essay on American Union by Frederick Scott Oliver (1906). Demonstrates how even historians have trouble with verification of historical facts. Oliver makes the case that no one was sure as to which of the protagonists initiated fire. He makes a case that Hamilton’s pistol discharged as he was falling towards the ground following the discharge of the pistol held by Burr.
ReplyDeleteNo matter who fired first, the act of duelling was illegal and in my view honor was destroyed by the very agreement to conduct the affair. As to the condition of the mind of Hamilton: he was certainly a ladies man and all who have studied the Reynolds affair will understand the mental turmoil he experienced. I have often wished to discuss this particular affair as it involved a future President in James Monroe. In that particular case there was an absence of honor by at least one of the participants.
Now TS,the second part of your very interesting post. The consumerism effect on the social fabric. Yes consumerism evolved during and after the industrial revolution but there were different dynamics at play post WW2. Americans came back from the war to a wealthy country, the leader of the world in an economic sense and with expectations that they and their countrymen were entitled to the riches of a victorious period in history. The great depression was still strong in the minds of ordinary Americans and the determination to live for the moment was thrust at them by the new forms of advertisement as TV and Radio blasted the message that consumerism is good for the people and by extension good for the country. Credit was extended to anyone with a job and in some cases those without a job provided a guarantor could be found. Buy now pay later, otherwise known as Hire Purchase or “the glad and sorry” repayment scheme became universal. No TS it was not the industrial revolution which caused Americans to embrace the debit religion.
I think we can extend the credit explosion from individual to national levels by looking at the economic conditions which brought the world to the present parlous state concerning national indebtedness. The same people who embraced personal debit became leaders of their nations and automatically embraced national debit; it was so much easier to do so as they had no responsibility for repayment. That would fall to their successors, the situation remains pretty much the same today. Gone is personal accountability, gone also is the national determination to live within our means and the situation has recently become evident here in Australia as well as in your country.
Cheers from Aussie.
King, the people that I knew growing up belonging to my fathers generation, or "the greatest generation" as named by Tom Brokaw, were very much children of the depression. Lay away, and other savings plans were followed religiously. Inflation remained modest until Nixon took us off the Breton Woods gold backed arrangement. At that point to this very day there has been a decoupling from monetary reality. Lew Lehrman lays it out in great detail what happens when the world's currency's encourage levels of nation wide insanity. This insanity we see here daily on the blog in the words of the our resident leftists. Free community college, sure, why not. One trillion dollar a year deficits, sure, why not. Bail out banks and car companies, sure, why the he'll not.
DeleteIf we were to get in our time machine and return to 1937 that generation would laugh our monetary progressives right out of the room. One word explains it, insanity.
King, I never meant to imply that the out of control credit we have today has its beginnings previous to WWII, only that consumerism, that need to have what wealthier people had, was. The difference of course was, people would plan and save within their means to obtain it as consumer credit wasn’t readily available to the masses nor was it in the mentality of the general population to be in debt. I do believe however that the desire for this type of credit mentality had its roots in the minds of those who pushed the 16th amendment… the children of the bank of England.
DeleteOne of the oldest quotations I can remember beyond John 3:16 is one by Rothschild: “Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes the laws.”
It was one of those statements that you (I) must stop and contemplate. It taught me early, the real power of money. While we have new names for it today like MMT, fiat money, as you well know, has been created and eventually bastardised for over 5000 years. Everything the central banking ethos has promulgated had been based on credit. Its distain for hard currency is evident as it puts a stranglehold on premise of money creation through fractional reserve banking. While they won’t admit it, everything Keyes economist promulgates is based on credit (I know they talk about saving in the good times but that part of the discussion gets short shrift to spending). Before the need to inflate away the debt of the Great Society was the mentality that created it in the first place and those people were no war babies.
The walls street hype to the people was that jobs creation would go on forever and that rising wages would more than compensate for loan interest. Credit cards have always had the hidden sting in the tail of the ‘minimum monthly payment’ where people could easily handle 2 or 3 or more credit cards. Americans and the world have been enticed, taught and now almost forced into accepting credit as a way of life… it was no accident, and the laws that Rothschild spoke about were just as much moral ones as legal.
William.
ReplyDeleteI would urge everyone here to read your post, that we often disagree with your political views in this case is irrelevant. Yes we paid our debits as they became due, problem of course is that so many had debits to pay off!. When Breton Woods fell apart we entered a void from which we have never found a way out. When fiat finance becomes the norm it is difficult for the average Joe to consider himself liable to pay his debits when the government simply rolls over the notes and refinances using as surety of "the word and honor” of the nation.
Problems arise when the nation loses honor among its trading partners and the economy collapses. Of course you are correct and the present situation is untenable in your country and will undoubtedly become so in mine. Perhaps another great depression will be the answer. The Global Financial Crisis of a few years ago appears to have taught us nothing and I see that some regulatory measures pertaining to the banks and Wall St are now under pressure for withdrawal.
On a personal level I must own up to never being in debit other than for our first house which was booked for twenty five years but which we cleared in five. Since then, we have paid cash for everything. Of course the money saved is invested at a good return to allow the debtors to continue their unsustainable lifestyle.
Cheers from Aussie