JUDGING WHO IS A COWARD
CurryforAmerica.com
Courage comes in many shapes and forms. On one of my tours of duty in Vietnam I commanded the 220 Reconnaissance Airplane Company whose job it was to fly about a thousand feet above the battlefield, collect intelligence information and, when necessary, mark enemy targets with 2.75 inch rockets to show the jet bombers and fighters where to bomb. Oh, the airplanes had no built in armament such as self-sealing gas tanks or armor plated seats. Essentially we flew them naked.
One of my pilots, who has just recently died, was a captain who woke up each morning with his hands visibly shaking so bad that he had to hold his coffee cup with both of them to steady the cup enough to get it up to his lips. That is, every day he woke up scared stiff and made no attempt to hide it. During pre-flight inspection his hands continued to shake. We all felt sorry for him, but were powerless to help. Yet, he never once asked to be relieved of his duties. The flight surgeon said that if he gave him enough medication to calm his nerves and stop the shaking, he wouldn’t be fit to fly. So at the start of each day he fought his demons, alone, and won.
And each morning he went through the same routine of fighting his way through breakfast, pre-flighting and checking out his airplane and his mechanic helping him strap himself into the cockpit. Then he taxied out toward the end of the runway and waited for the tower to say, “Catkiller, you’re cleared into position and hold for takeoff instructions.” Every morning somewhere between leaving the parking area, taxing out to and lining up at the end of the runway for takeoff, a transition took place. His hands stopped shaking. They became rock still. When he advanced the throttle and his plane had climbed to altitude one could never imagine all the hell he had endured in getting there. Yet the next morning he started all over again from zero and the shaking coffee cup.
Throughout the day he flew for hours collecting intelligence information and marking enemy targets with his rockets, without the slightest murmur or complaint. In fact, he was one of my bravest and most dependable pilots who volunteered for some of the most dangerous missions.
One of the lessons I learned from him and his fellow pilots was that courage comes in many shapes and forms. That’s why this tiff that’s going on between McCain and Trump is so unnecessary. McCain’s supporters are right when they say that his kind of courage is what it takes to sit in the cockpit of a fighter plane over enemy territory with all sorts of rockets and lethal munitions whizzing past your plane, being shot down, captured, and then suffering through and enduring five years of unspeakable torture in a filthy Vietnamese prison camp.
This kind of individual courage is not the same as group leadership courage which requires you to stand to your feet with bullets zipping through the air all about you and pieces of hot shrapnel ripping at your clothes, cutting your men down, yet still have enough strength and voice left to shout, “Follow me!” This kind of courage requires men to have so much confidence in their leaders that they forsake the safety of their hiding places and go where angels fear to tread.
Yes, there are very different kinds of courage, and it takes all kinds to win a war, and both Trump and McCain are flat out wrong if they fail to acknowledge that fact. One is no better than the other, and you don’t take a political poll when you’re dodging and weaving through enemy fire at a thousand feet or rotting in the Hanoi Hilton prison.
On the other hand Trump is right concerning the treatment of our veterans. Neither he nor anyone else in the House or Senate has declared a war to the death concerning the treatment of our veterans and their causes. McCain would be the perfect man to carry their cross and help them bear their burden. And no one could market his efforts better than Trump. McCain has dedicated his life to protecting our country. By any definition he is a hero. Perhaps now would be a good time for him to take the lead in securing our southern border, because whoever secures it will be a true hero.
Courage comes in many shapes and forms. Surely now is the time to kiss and make up. There are many avenues Trump and McCain can stroll along arm in arm. The nation is crying out for leadership. Both men are capable leaders. So what’s to stop them from setting their personal feelings and political squabbles and side shows aside and getting the job done – let’s do it once more for President Reagan?