IN THIS ENTRY
I would like to present the thoughts and experiences of two men who I greatly respect. They both served as Unites States Marines. They are father and son.
William Seiple was my high school band director. He is a pastor at the Fellowship Church in Lopatcong, New Jersey.
He has been a spriritual role model for myself and many others. He saw combat in the Viet Nam war. His son, also named William, experienced combat in Kosovo and Iraq. Pastor Seiple responded to my
journal entry about the candle light vigil for those who have died in Iraq. He gave me permission to quote his words on the website. He also suggested that I
contact his son for insights from someone who has seen the situation in Iraq firsthand.
I feel that the words of these two men warrant honest reflection. Many of the issues surrounding the war in Iraq and the upcoming American elections are not all that clear cut. There are many issues that
I wrestle with and wonder which is the right way to resolve these issues for the good of our country and for all of those who love peace and freedom. I think that there are others who read these journal entries
who also wrestle with these issues. So I present these words which differ from my appraisal of the current political situation.
Please let me state very clearly that in anything that I wrote in my previous entry referred to above I did not intend to give offense to any of our soldiers. I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who
have the courage and discipline to serve our country in many selfless ways. It is true that the freedom that we enjoy has been purchased with the blood of many such men and women. I was moved by the younger William Seiple's
words that said that when those of us who feel we must give our opinion of the war in Iraq, "remember who is standing within earshot" when we do so.
First, the email I received from Pastor William Seiple:
Dear Sam,
I saw your take on the war and couldn't disagree with you more. My son recently returned from Iraq after fighting in An Nasiryah during the worst of it and he also agrees with me. The American press has an agenda and is reporting only on the negative. Yes 1,000 men have died. Everyone of them should be mourned. Yes civilians have been killed. That is tragic. But don't forget that there are mass graves still being uncovered containing the bodies of thousands of civilians who were murdered by Sadaam with WMD's. What is reported by a biased press is only the negative. Actually most of the country is quite peaceful with hospitals opened, kids going to school, stores operating, and Christian churches, of all things, coming into existence. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading for the first time since Jonah and Daniel. [Nineveh was at Mosel, just north of Bagdagh.]
The dangerous thing about the liberal media and the politicizing of the war to get Kerry elected, is that Al Jazeera, the Arab CNN, reports everything negative that Kennedy, Kerry, et al are saying and it gives the dissidents encouragement to keep on keeping on. It was the same when Jane Fonda went to Hanoi during the Viet Nam war. No one knows how many American soldiers were killed because of the encouragement she gave the enemy. And no one knows how many American soldiers are being killed, along with civilian casualties, because of the encouragement our own politicians are giving the enemy. They don't understand, or don't care, that in their zeal to bring down our Commander in Chief they are killing our young men. I hope you will consider this point of view from the father of a Marine who was there with another son who may go next year.
Bill Seiple
Below are the words of Pastor Seiple's son:
Mr. Snyder,
I did serve in Iraq in An Nasiryah south of Baghdad.
I was in country from
late March until late July of 2003.
You asked me to
shed my thoughts and
feelings about the war that's going on over there.
Unfortunately its not
that simple. Let me try to explain. There's nothing
romantic about what
you are going to here from me today. Its not in any
movies or in any books.
Its the reality that I live with. The same reality
that everyone else
that's like me lives with.
First let me give you some
background about how
I grew up. I grew up in rural Warren County NJ.
Mostly farmland and back
roads. In the town that I lived in just about every
boy’s father or
grandfather had served in either WWII or Vietnam. We
all grew up playing
war in the woods with plastic rifles and homemade
camouflage utilities. We
fantasized about going on patrols in enemy infested
jungles. We got into
imaginary firefights and mock hand to hand battles
with each other. We even
died trying our best to make it look like how
Hollywood glamorizes it.
Going to war was more of a future reality for us. For
me it seemed my
destiny. When graduated high school I enlisted in the
USMC infantry. I
joined the Marines because they are the best at
combat. I wanted to be part
of the best. I wanted to be the best. I knew I would
someday most likely
go.
Since then I have served in Kosovo and Iraq. While in
those places I was
able to experience just about everything I had
imagined I would and many
things more. Most of those things were more horrific
than I ever could have
imagined. Many of those things still visit me as I
sleep at night.
When I returned home Iraq I felt empty and useless. I
received my honorable
discharge from the Marine Corps and attempted to live
a normal life with a
normal job. I was very depressed as were many of the
comrades that I served
with. I missed the sense of duty and excitement. I
learned these feelings
are normal when transitioning back to civilian life.
I never thought much
about the war as an political issue until recently.
Democrats are using the
war as a political weapon in order to remove George
Bush from office. Many
Americans are starting to say that the war was a waste
of American life and
US tax dollars.
You asked me for an opinion. Here's
the best that I can
do. Many men and women went to Iraq. Many died.
Many more lived. I
lived. I got the chance carry the orders given to me
by my superiors and I
have no regrets. Beyond that I really have no
opinion. I got a chance to
do what I trained to do. It was hot and miserable.
It was terrifying and
morbid. It was war. If not for anything else, we
made the Iraqi way of
life a lot better. Their way of life was one step
above hell. The only
thing Americans know about Sadaam and his regime is
what the press allows
them to know. It was a terrible life for the Iraqi's.
They were starved
and terrified. That's the only lifestyle they know.
Sadaam was a
dictator. He is a madman. I know this firsthand. He
had to be removed.
Given the capabilities Sadaam would have annihilated
us and our allies. I
view him no differently than Osama Bin Laden.
I'm
glad that President Bush
was proactive enough to make a tough decision in the
face of certain
criticism and possible career ending odds for the sake
of our way of life.
Freedom is a beautiful thing however; it takes blood
to preserve it.
You can say whatever you want about the war. This is
a free country and you
have the right to express whatever opinion you want.
Many men have died over
the centuries so you can have that right.
Just keep
one thing in mind. For
those of you that feel the need to express your
opinion about how wrong the
Iraq war is and how we wasted so many human lives
remember who's standing
within earshot. There are many men and women out
there just like me, trying
to mingle in with society that don't view their hard
work and devotion as a
waste at all. We choose to look at the positive side
of the story and focus
on the good things that the war accomplished. We know
that the comrades
that we lost didn't waste their lives. We all
volunteered. We all did
everything we could to get there. You will never
understand this unless you are
like me. If I was ever called upon again to go
back, I would go in an
instant.
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