In Memoriam: The Navy SEALs

I had just started reading Richard Marcinko's newest book in his Rogue Warrior fictional series about the Navy SEALs when the news broke that a helicopter with about 30 SEALs and some others was shot down, and all were killed.

Marcinko was the founder of SEAL Team 6, and his first book, Rogue Warrior, was a non-fiction one about its founding.  He, along with the rest of us, must be extremely sad about the recent loss of so many Navy SEALs.

Before the fictional part of his latest book, there was a page that had The Navy SEAL Prayer.  I thought it was an appropriate time to display the prayer here. 

The Navy SEAL Prayer 

Dear Father in Heaven, 

If I may respectfully say so sometimes you are a strange God.

Though you love all mankind, it seems you have a special predilections too.

You seem to love those men who can stand up alone who face impossible odds. Who challenge every bully and every tyrant- Those men who know the heat and loneliness of a Calvary.

Possibly you cherish men of this stamp because you recognize the mark of your only Son in them. 

Since this unique group of men known as the SEALs know Calvary and suffering, teach them now the mystery of the resurrection- that they are indestructible, they they will live forever because of their deep faith in you.

And when they do come to heaven, may I respectfully warn you, Dear Father, they also know how to celebrate.

So please be ready for them when they insert under your pearly gates. 

Bless them, their devoted families, and their country on this glorious occasion. We ask this through the merits of your Son, Christ Jesus the Lord.

Amen 

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I like that the prayer had, "they also know how to celebrate."  Recall Christ's words, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." This is exactly what these sailors did, and I believe they will be rewarded greatly for it.

So go ahead, my dear SEALs, and celebrate away - you deserve it.  And when you are ready, walk with Christ and continue on your journey toward God. 

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Tim Farage is a Senior Lecturer in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. You are welcome to comment upon this blog entry and/or to contact him at tfarage@hotmail.com.

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Now that Bin Laden is dead, where do we go from here?

I wish to start by congratulating the efforts of President Obama, our military and our intelligence services on finally bringing Osama to justice.  It has taken 10 years, but we did what we said we would do.  Now there can be some rest and closure to the thousands of Americans who lost loved ones on that day.  And we have also sent a strong message to those who wish to harm us: don't do it or you'll pay to the last farthing.

And now how should we handle our military?

1) We should always have the best military in the world, so that no country would think that they could prevail against us.  The U.S. Navy still dominates the oceans, and can defend the U.S. from attacks from just about anywhere in the world.

2) We have more than 350,000 troops deployed abroad in over 100 foreign bases.  Given that the only significant threat is that of Islamo-terrorism, there seems to be no reason for this.  We only need our intelligence agencies, and our special forces to find and eliminate threats to the United States.  Bring the rest of our troops home and close our foreign bases.  This includes troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea, Japan, Germany, and hundreds of other locations.

3) We should discontinue our policy of foreign intervention - by trying to use our military to make other countries into democracies.  We are not the policemen of the world, and the fate of other countries is up to them.  

4) Stopping this policemen role would likely result in less hostility toward us, and would allow us to bring our troops home to protect our own borders and ports, and saving tons of money in the process.

5) Similarly, we should phase out continual foreign aid.  The only time we should give money to other countries is when a natural disaster occurs, such as the earthquake in Japan, or the tsunami in Indonesia which killed over 200,000 people.
 
6) We would save U.S. lives, taxpayer's money, and be better prepared to deal with attacks against us, and would give no reason for others to think that we are interfering with their countries.

Now is that time for the United States to go back to its proper military role: that of protecting the United States.