ghts from the ammoline // (Scott Johnson).
Ammo Grrll notes UNPAYABLE DEBTS, UNSUNG HEROES. She writes:
Last week’s column missed Thanksgiving by a day. I believe it is still appropriate (and always appropriate) to reflect on our Unpayable Debts. Gratitude is not out of favor; entitlement, along with hatred and disparagement of every blessing we have inherited, is The Current Thing. Most of my readers don’t care much about The Current Thing.
Unpayable Debts is our topic, but I hurry to assure all the entitled children that I am not referring to your college loans in which you spent tens of thousands on a Degree of Nonbinary Anti-Imperialist Poetics. You don’t want to pay those debts, but they WILL eventually be paid. Yeah, #MeToo. My Home Owners’ Association is something I feel the exact same way. I pay my Arizona water bill and my dues. I’m not being bribed for my vote. I pay my bills as I have done for the past 60 years.
In utero, I was the first to incur an unpayable debt. As I’ve mentioned, my mother, a sainted and beloved former mother, was in a life-threatening pregnancy (toxemia that became full-blown eclampsia). The doctor suggested “terminating” the pregnancy in 1946. She declined. Here I am. There has never been a closer mother-daughter relationship.
Another installment of the Unpayable Debt is owed to my family. I was forced to leave that sweet spot in American History when my Daddies and soon-to be-Daddies won the Big War against various forms fascism. They began filling the country with new born babies. After all the horrors of the ’30s and the ’40s, newborns weren’t considered a carbon footprint blighting Gaia but rather a promissory note to a brighter future. They even wrote our tiny carbon footprints on our Birth Certificates!
I grew up in a loving, small-town family. I was also raised in the most free and prosperous nation on God’s green earth. It is a republic (if it can be kept), governed by a Constitution and Bill of Rights and checks and balances. Talk about an unpayable debt! It was the best medical care available at that time. My God, Dr. Reinhardt came to our home to give us flu shots or prescriptions. We received free education that taught us how to read, write, and “figger” without knowing anything about the sexual lives of any of our teachers who were, statistically speaking, either men or women. What were the odds?
America remains The Shining City on the Hill for all and sundry. This column is about our next Unpayable Debt. It’s the Unpayable Debt to our military veterans, and especially to those who gave everything. All of our male relatives served in wartime. My paternal grandfather was a soldier in WWI. Joe’s Hungarian grandfather fought in World War I as well, but on the opposite side. (His service however did not save him from Auschwitz. Both of our fathers were in World War II.
Joe and I have had the pleasure of meeting many smart, kind, and tough patriots who have served our country through this column. I hate to name names, lest I forget someone, but a few of those people would be TonyP173, JimJ and Sgt. Dufus, Colonel Will and MikeC are MikeC, uffdaphil, MikeC and Capt. JimW. JimW.
One column last summer, a new commenter (FIIGMO), noticed that we were in Prescott. He offered in the comments to take us out for a beer at a well-known local pizza joint. Who could refuse that offer? We made many wonderful friends while we were there. That feeling you get when you meet someone new and instantly know you are with Someone Special? Yeah, that. He had also brought his brilliant, beautiful wife, so it was multiplied by 2.
Joe Shaffer III holds degrees in Philosophy, History, and Philosophy. He is a Vietnam vet who served as a Medical Service Specialist in the United States Air Force. TonyP173, my friend, was immediately impressed by my praises. He said, “A Medic?” All soldiers love medics. After a distinguished career in the Honors Program of Northern AZ University, Mr. Shaffer volunteers in the Northern Arizona VA Health Care System’s Emergency Department in Prescott, AZ. (Of course, he does!)
Dr. Paula Kapp Greene is Associate Professor Emeritus at NAU. She holds a Master’s degree and a Doctorate of Education from Vanderbilt University. She is most proud of the fact that her children are both decorated Navy EOD operators and Naval Senior Intelligence officers.
Joe and Paula shared their manuscript that they had just finished, which they hoped would be published in a book. This was almost immediately after our first pizza/beer meeting. It was about the men, women and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) community in the United States Navy. They describe them in the opening Preface operators/technicians who quietly do some of the most dangerous work done by American military personnel.
It was a little monograph, I thought. That assumption is not correct. Unsung is a work of exquisite, meticulous, and painstaking scholarship that is almost impossible to describe. It is not a light novel that can be read in one sitting and forgotten.
It begins with a brief biography about Admiral Draper-Kauffman, who is considered the “Father of both Navy EOD and Navy SEALS.” The book’s heart and soul is made up of dozens of interviews with the EOD’s extraordinary men and women, as well as their families. These vignettes should be read one at a time. Then, linger on the incredible personal sacrifices made by the participants. These men and their families will be etched in your mind for a long time. Some people use their real names. In many cases, pseudonyms are used for operational security. It’s a dangerous world out there and we currently have no borders.
Francis A. Morneau (RADM, U.S Navy (ret), wrote the foreword to this extraordinary book and gave us a rare dose pride and optimism in this fractious, depressing environment. Let me quote him:
Think again if you think America is becoming timid and soft. There are men who believe in the strong moral principles this country was founded on and will fight for them regardless of what happens. They possess the rare combination of commando strength and physicist intelligence, and are willing and able to make great sacrifices to protect their country… This book is an insight into their story. As an American, I will forever be in their debt.
It is fitting that we pay tribute in a world of Safe Spaces, Participation Trophies and Self-Esteem Boosting workshops to people who are simply better than us. People whose boots are not worthy of shining. We wouldn’t be able do a good job enough.
Here’s the amazing thing: Of all the vets I have had the privilege to know, not one considers HIMSELF or HERSELF a hero. They all said, often with choked voices or flowing tears, that the heroes were those who were badly wounded or didn’t return.
So, I hope you are convinced to order this book from Amazon- Unsung: Quiet Voices for the US Navy’s EOD Warriors (and Their Families. You can search for UNSUNG: Quiet Voices by using the drop-down menu. If it is not listed, you can search Amazon via Google.
Many hundreds have flocked out of doors when you have ordered a new column compilation from me or the latest novel written by Max Cossack in the past. Let’s set a new record.
Even if you don’t love Amazon, please get over it and order this important book. It won’t affect Mr. Bezos in any way, trust me. You might order one for yourself and a few to honor veterans you know or for Christmas gifts. This book is not cheap, but it supports two great non-profit organizations which provide support to families of fallen EOD warriors. These two organizations will receive 50% of net sales.
Next week, I have a much more amusing column in the making, but for today, I felt strongly a temporary break from the Humor Zone was necessary, as one small installment of that Unpayable Debt. We cannot “pay it back” in multiple lifetimes. All we can do is pay it forward.
