Honor the fallen by getting the rule set right as quickly as possible

POST: Lt. Mark Daily, RIP

A beautiful piece of writing from an amazingly self-aware young man who wanted to connect to a future worth creating, and whose sacrifice reminds us all that no such future is possible unless we learn to associate--in this connected world--U.S. national security to global stability and--ultimately--freedom.

That's what this fallen officer was talking about, and his profound awareness of where his individual sacrifice fits within our shared global future reflects how America logically serves as sourcecode for this era's globalization--the single most liberating and empowering revolution yet unleashed upon the planet. An intolerable "burden" to some, a very noble cause to others.

We honor him best by getting the rule set right--as quickly as possible.

And to that conversation, all must be welcome, or all will be lost.

Thanks to Tom Wade for sending this

Comments

[Lou]

How could anyone oppose what this young man has written? Just amazing.

[GLASR]

Outstanding.

[Jim G.]

2nd Lt. Mark Daily made the case for transforming the Gap better than even you did in PNM,Thomas.

This should be required reading for every voter and high school/college student in this country. With that depth of understanding of the task ahead of the Core maybe, just maybe we might get the ball rolling, big time.

[Shaun FitzPatrick]

I salute Lt Daily's efforts. Godspeed to him in Elysium. To those who are so bewildered by a man of such calibre, I can only say that you probably will never understand him.As a lifelong Marine, I wonder at the dilemma so many go through to understand a choice to perform one's duty. I have gone to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and a dozen other shitholes, oops, I mean "Gap" countries, for one simple reason. My Marines were there. And that's why I will surely go again.To those in the civilian, corporate world I realize this is an alien frame of mind. They have their motivations for doing whatever it is they do, and most of them arise from a keen sense of self interest, a desire for a certain quality of life and, I suppose, a need for social status. We, warriors, do what we do because of who we are. We choose to fight because we are warriors and our fellows are fighting. We fight, in the end, for love and for glory. The love of our brothers and sisters and the glory of their respect. This is timeless. It has nothing to do with Iraq and will have nothing to do with wherever we go next.