Title: 13
Author: Joe Griffin
Last saved by: Matt Lawson
Company: GDC

The Saga of M.Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez		09-11-11.VD09-01 /

The Saga of M.Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez: Intro; Excerpts from Medal of Honor: One Man’s Journey from Poverty and Prejudice: Texas National Guard; U. S. Army; Korea; West Point’s Honor Code; Airborne Ranger; Vietnam: First Tour

The Saga of M.Sgt. Roy P. Benavidez
Veterans Day – 2009

Client nation America is conflicted.  Her prevailing attitude of ambivalence is reflected by constant mood swings indicative of a collective bipolar disorder.  Confusion breeds confusion so that rational thought is replaced by feel-good human viewpoint as the major problem-solving device.  This malady is potentially terminal short of a return to a biblical worldview.  The weakness of a people is manifest by its unwillingness to protect itself.  In the face of the glaring truth that we are engaged in a conflict with an enemy that grants no quarter, we cowardly explain the assassination of twelve soldiers with psychobabble from the current administration and the Army chief of staff.  The Army knows of this man’s religious views just as Homeland Security knows that each day thousands of children are being schooled in the art of terrorism in Muslim madrassas. 
To transform the Fort-Hood assassin into a victim rather than use the opportunity to fire a shot over Islam’s bow indicates that those who lead this country are engaged in political expediency or suffer from Stockholm syndrome—the psychological tendency of a hostage to bond with or sympathize with his captors.  Devotion to the dogma of political correctness becomes for the former only a rhetorical veil to conceal while advancing the hidden agenda of projecting blame away from self; for the latter the incompetence of leadership to admit we are the victims of yet another terrorist attack, this time at the largest U.S. Army instillation in the country.
To add to this injury, the mourners of the fallen down in Texas were subjected to the insult of having their loved ones memorialized by men whose weakness contributed to their deaths.  Religions have bad guys and unfortunately Islam has its pesky rouges, drones the president; this is the price we have to pay for the higher calling of a diverse society, counsels the general.  And the audience of survivors is forced by good manners to sit and listen to this drivel while dealing with the sorrow of personal loss.
Since World War II, this nation has never entered into a conflict that its leaders intended to win.  This has resulted in the crime of sending citizen soldiers into harm’s way with no intent of achieving victory.  The “conflicts,” “occupations,” and “operations” in Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, and several other engagements have resulted in over 100,000 American KIAs with no significant impact on the preservation of our freedom.  A nation possessing the best-trained, best-armed, and best-motivated armed forces in world history that is reticent to achieve victory has a conflicted soul.  Unless our freedom is threatened, this nation should not order its military into combat.  If freedom is truly in jeopardy then all measures should be taken to destroy that threat with undiminished violence geared toward a quick conclusion and minimal loss of American lives.
An example of those who have given the last full measure to their nation or incurred life-long debilitating injuries while fighting her wars is Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez, U. S. Army, Special Forces, Medal of Honor.  His story is one of devotion to the West Point creed, “duty, honor, country.”  His story is the subject of this Veterans Day salute to our nation’s veterans and those who presently serve in the various branches of the military.
I will quote from two sources:
Benavidez, Roy P. and John R. Craig.  Medal of Honor: One Man’s Journey from Poverty and Prejudice.  Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 1995.
Plaster, John L.  SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
Lesson 1:
Excerpts from Medal of Honor: One Man’s Journey from Poverty and Prejudice, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, and 7.

© 2009 by Joe Griffin Media Ministries.  All rights reserved.	www.joegriffin.org