A small taste of reality (UNCLASSIFIED)

………..FYI: this is a totally unsolicited, incredibly powerful e-mail sent by a young MRFF client soldier fighting in Afghanistan to Mike Stryer, the President of the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, which abruptly withdrew its previously awarded “Political Courage” Award for 2010 from me citing, as justification, the “shame” of my prior service in the Reagan Administration as a White House legal counsel…..Mikey

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Mr. Stryer,

Aristotle once said “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” (circa 334 BC). I’m no politician, no key leader of some political party; I’m a soldier, I’m an infantryman, and I am writing to you from Parwan Province, Afghanistan. Often times I see people back in the states, mostly civilians, receiving some accolade for their outspoken speeches against the war here in Afghanistan. People view them as cutting edge, new age, or progressive, when in reality, they’re just some obnoxious individual desperate for attention and because they have no backbone, intestinal fortitude, or courage to risk their lives for something they truly believe in, they find other means of drawing attention by speaking out against something controversial. It’s typically about a war that they were never apart of.

Mr. Weinstein however, was a part of a war, and he has continually been a part of war since he was a freshman cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy. And like so many other fathers, he has lived to see his own children fight a similar war. The war of course, being the battle between separation of church and state. I myself was at one point, a Cadet at USAFA. I witnessed this war first hand as one of a few Jewish cadets in the Cadet Wing. Both time and war have changed me , but at that time, I had not one ounce the courage that Mr. Weinstein has to address these issues bluntly, openly, and without fear of retribution.

Mr. Weinstein, his children, and many others like them who have served our nation courageously through military service, have dealt with and fought for the equality of all faiths in the military. As Aristotle put it, “…brave by performing brave actions.”

It disappoints me that, like so many politicians I have had the miss pleasure of pretending to support when they insist on visiting us here in theater, you are incapable of being just because you fear making a just action due to the pressures of your peers, and hence forth, are incapable of courageous actions.

I feel it necessary to remind you that there are young men and women over here right now prepared to die for the constitution of the United States. The same constitution that Mr. Weinstein himself has risked his own wellbeing to defend. Men like Sgt. Rob Barret, who was killed by a suicide bomber last month in Kabul. He was 22 years old and was a member of my Task Force. Women like 22 year old SPC. Jacque Villegas, who had to leave her 11 month old son behind to go fight this war.

Why is it, that those brave individuals willing to fight these wars are so willing to both risk and sacrifice so much on behalf of those individuals who are so ready to bend their wills at the slightest pressure? Last week I was almost killed during the attack on Bagram, I was stuck on the wrong side of base with one magazine for my M-4 (30 rounds of ammunition) and no body armor. When they asked for volunteers to pull security for a medical evacuation, do you think I stopped and asked myself “Will my peers support me in the decision? How will this make me look? What kind of political fallout can I expect from this?” Of course not! There was a soldier bleeding to death in a minefield and they needed men to pull security while they extracted him.

When a service member, who’s religious freedoms have been violated, when they have been harassed or disgraced for his or her religious beliefs, reprised by their chain of command, comes to Michael Weinstein and his foundation for assistance, do you think Mr. Weinstein says to himself, “Will people try to kill me for this?” “Will the media make me out to be some atheist liberal swine?” “How will this affect my public appearance?” Of course not! He has a job to do, and like a soldier, he does it. Like an officer, there is no second guessing himself; he just takes care of it because that is his job, and that is what he believes in.

Politicians, political activists, etc, etc, have always come across to me as fickle (with exception of a few). Your actions don’t surprise me. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you completely disregard everything I’ve said to you. After all, I don’t give any money to your organization, why should my opinion matter? But remember what Aristotle said, “Just by performing just actions…brave by performing brave actions.” Mr. Weinstein’s actions have been both just and brave. I’ll leave the politics to you and your peers, leave the war-fighting to me and my peers.

Respectfully,

SPC. (name withheld)
Company (combat unit team designation withheld) Team
(Troop and Cavalry combat units withheld)
Task Force (name withheld)
(Infantry unit # withheld)  Infantry Brigade Combat Team (mission designation withheld)