Into the Breach

Reading accounts of the Fort Hood shootings, I am struck by the immediate and selfless behavior of the soldiers. One sentence particularly caught me attention:

Other unarmed soldiers in the area also began to sprint toward the gunfire.

They headed toward danger. Unarmed. No matter. They were ready to do what needed to be done. They would figure something out as the situation developed.

I call that bravery and professionalism. The normal person, upon hearing gunfire, would head the other way. Soldiers confront danger. That's the nature of the work.

Thursday at Fort Hood, the nation saw up close how good America's soldiers can be in difficult, dangerous circumstances. That's something to think about this coming Veterans Day.

Something else to think about is why America is squandering these soldiers in extended, foreign occupations. As has been often mentioned in the articles about the Fort Hood shootings, our soldiers and their families are bearing a disproportionate burden of America's "boots on the ground" around the world foreign policy.

Others are asking "What has America done in eight years?" Americans should ask the same question.