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Why RedStateRascals.com?
For the longest time I have wanted to do something to help the effort in Iraq. As a 45 year-old I am too old to enlist. As a civil trial lawyer with no government experience, I wasn’t able to track down any temporary legal assignments in the Green Zone and, frankly, my skill set is not very transferable to a fledgling democracy just trying to figure out how to survive. With all the insecurity in Iraq, the last thing they need are American trial lawyers teaching Iraqi barristers how to litigate slip and fall cases.
So what to do? Back in January of this year, one of our local National Guard units, the 1-167th, found out they were being extended as a part of the surge. In classic military fashion, as the men were being told in Iraq that they would be coming home as planned in March, their wives were being briefed over here that they were being extended through July. When the soldiers talked to their families later in the day, it was the families who had to break the news to the men of the extension.
This means that these soldiers will be separated from their families for almost two years by the time they get back. The news was crushing to all involved. Knowing one of the affected families, I contacted the wife, Jen, and asked her how our church could help. We came up with the idea of doing Moms Days Out to give the moms a break and lawn mowing when the grass started to grow.
It has been a great experience for my kids and I to head up the project. Every other Saturday, my 15 year old daughter Kelsey packs up a bunch of play-dough, games, and Veggie Tale dvd’s and we head off to a local church to romp and play with some of the greatest military kids in the world. We play ball, draw pictures, shoot baskets, play goofy games, and, best of all, get down on the floor and wrestle ‘em up.
Now that the Spring rains have come, my boys and I load up our mowers every Monday evening and head out to attack the enemy: the ever growing grass. My 12 year-old Spencer loves the riding mower, my 9 year-old Hudson handles the push mower, and I fire up the string trimmer. We’re quite a team and we really enjoy helping these families. I tell the boys that this is what men do. The soldier dads in these homes are off protecting our family– the least we can do is help care for their families until they return. This is what men do.
So why RedStateRascals.com? After starting the Moms Day Out and lawn mowing projects, I still felt there was more that needed to be done. General Petraeus and our soldiers are laying it all on the line in the surge. We will not be defeated militarily in Iraq. The only way we can be defeated is if we lose our will.
My friend Scott, a former Marine and a Lt. Commander in the Naval Reserve, has taught me that three things must converge in order to achieve victory in war: intentions + capability + will. There is no doubt that we have the capability of defeating the jihadists militarily. They have never won a battle. Indeed, they won’t even stand up and fight us like men. They have to rely on roadside bombs and remote detonators that allow them to be far away when the blast occurs.
The only way we can lose, is if we lose our will to win. Clearly Harry Reid has lost his: “This war . . . is lost.” As the Majority Leader of the Senate this statement is the height of irresponsibility. As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker (Spiderman 3 opens tonight), “With great power comes great responsibility.” Harry Reid has great power. He has failed to understand that he has great responsibility.
And so along with our soldiers in Iraq, some of us here stateside want to surge. We want to do our part to shore up our national will. We want to mow lawns and watch kids and we want to call irresponsible leaders to account for their recklessness.
Jeff