(no subject)
Latest e-mail from Jon - intentionally NOT protected; feel free to pass along if you like. I love this guy like a brother...
In my Fire Support Team I have a Mexican from Nevada that calls himself the Dirty Mexican; a Redneck from Texas who talks exactly like the redneck character on the Fox TV show “King of the Hill”; a Native American from California who does not know what his heritage is, we just know he is Native American by looking at him; a 19-year old kid from Indiana who was a silver medallist in wrestling in the 2000 Summer Olympics; a young man from a small Colorado mountain town, who before he learned how to smoke himself physically was smoking himself silly on the reefer; a dweeb from Maine who, despite our best efforts, still manages to remain a dweeb, but is one of the most passion-filled kids I have ever met; a college-educated young man who wears his South Carolina “Cocks” hat everywhere because he thinks chicks dig it; an on-fire 22-year old father and husband who was forced to grow up too quickly when, shortly after his arrival here three years ago, was thrown immediately into America’s first strike against the Global War on Terrorism; a brand new kid who right now is timid, but eager to prove himself and I assure you that he will get the opportunity soon enough; and then there is me and my fire support NCO, a kid raised in the cities of Colorado and a man raised on the farms in Georgia. Two men charged with preparing this eclectic collection of young men for the rigors and unknowns they will face in combat.
That’s my team; they are what I have to work with. A group of men who are generationally, geographically, financially, racially, morally and ethically different from one another. Yet we are here, working together, fighting together, and loving each other, because of one ideal, America. This we believe in…this we fight for…this we love. One of my soldiers told me the other day in reference to another that, “I probably would not even like him or desire to get to know him if it were not for the Rangers, but now I love him.” And I assure that love amongst soldiers inspires them to perform such heroic deeds, both large and small that even if I were to try my best, could not put to words their actions; you would just have to have been there. These men my friends, are America.
Like Rome, and even to a degree ancient Greece, we have blessed, through the processes of birth and naturalization, the everyday man and woman with the title Citizen. There is no nobility greater; no gift more desired. Fellow Citizens, let us never take our birthright for granted.
1LT Jonathan C. Schmidt, 75th Ranger Regiment
"In everything that you do, do it with such passion that people question your sanity."
In my Fire Support Team I have a Mexican from Nevada that calls himself the Dirty Mexican; a Redneck from Texas who talks exactly like the redneck character on the Fox TV show “King of the Hill”; a Native American from California who does not know what his heritage is, we just know he is Native American by looking at him; a 19-year old kid from Indiana who was a silver medallist in wrestling in the 2000 Summer Olympics; a young man from a small Colorado mountain town, who before he learned how to smoke himself physically was smoking himself silly on the reefer; a dweeb from Maine who, despite our best efforts, still manages to remain a dweeb, but is one of the most passion-filled kids I have ever met; a college-educated young man who wears his South Carolina “Cocks” hat everywhere because he thinks chicks dig it; an on-fire 22-year old father and husband who was forced to grow up too quickly when, shortly after his arrival here three years ago, was thrown immediately into America’s first strike against the Global War on Terrorism; a brand new kid who right now is timid, but eager to prove himself and I assure you that he will get the opportunity soon enough; and then there is me and my fire support NCO, a kid raised in the cities of Colorado and a man raised on the farms in Georgia. Two men charged with preparing this eclectic collection of young men for the rigors and unknowns they will face in combat.
That’s my team; they are what I have to work with. A group of men who are generationally, geographically, financially, racially, morally and ethically different from one another. Yet we are here, working together, fighting together, and loving each other, because of one ideal, America. This we believe in…this we fight for…this we love. One of my soldiers told me the other day in reference to another that, “I probably would not even like him or desire to get to know him if it were not for the Rangers, but now I love him.” And I assure that love amongst soldiers inspires them to perform such heroic deeds, both large and small that even if I were to try my best, could not put to words their actions; you would just have to have been there. These men my friends, are America.
Like Rome, and even to a degree ancient Greece, we have blessed, through the processes of birth and naturalization, the everyday man and woman with the title Citizen. There is no nobility greater; no gift more desired. Fellow Citizens, let us never take our birthright for granted.
1LT Jonathan C. Schmidt, 75th Ranger Regiment
"In everything that you do, do it with such passion that people question your sanity."