DIFF,
A few years back, I found myself stranded near Gettysburg for the Easter Holiday. The weather being very pretty, trees all green, grass green, flowers blooming....seemed a perfect opportunity to visit the battlefield.
One day I found myself walking the route of Pickett's Attack (third day of the battle)....the same path some of my ancestors travelled all those years before. I walked that mile and a half up the hill towards what is now known as the "High Water Mark" of the Confederacy. That is the point at which Georgia and North Carolina troops penetrated the Union lines by the stone wall atop the hill.
As I sat on the wall....contemplating all that had occurred there and thinking of all the soldiers from both sides that died there, were wounded and maimed there....fighting for what they believed was "Right".....I was moved beyond which words can describe adequately.
What can motivate men to endure the terrible effect of massed rifle fire, cannon fire, and finally rifle butts, bayonets, and knives....and continue the attack as they did....it is hard to imagine. At the same time, considering the courage it took to take a stand and not retreat or even withdraw....using bayonets and clubbed rifle butts to meet the enemy's charge also is hard to imagine.
This took place within a few hundred yards of the site at which Lincoln gave that wonderful speech. That site is surrounded by thousands of graves of Union Army dead....Southerners were buried where they fell on the battlefield before being moved long after the battle.
As I sat there in considering how sacred that bit of ground is....knowing the fate of the union was actually determined by the outcome of that battle. I was absolutely aghast as a tourist with a dog on a long lead was about to let her dog **** within feet of the "High Water" marker.
I had a US Army Warrant Officer Helicopter Pilot flashback....explained in my very best parade ground command voice....just what I was going to do to her and her dog's crap if her dog did in fact ****.
He did not....she wound him in onto a very short lease and left the site in a very hurried manner.
Silence was heard over that part of Gettysburg....until a Law Enforcement Park Ranger leaned over and whispered...."Would you have made her eat that like you said?" After I informed him I most certainly would have....he smiled and quietly said...."Well done Sir! Enjoy your day here!"
The sad thing Diff....so very many people have no clue what our military does nor understand the sacrifices they and their families make so that the rest of us can enjoy our freedom in peace.
It does not hurt to remind them whenever you get a chance.