It is almost the anniversary of the day that changed American life, and not for the better. I will be busy that day, so I took the opportunity to visit my shipmates who were murdered by the Saudi jihadis at the Pentagon.

The groundskeepers were watering the 9/11 memorial and the graves adjacent to them, presumably in preparation for the anniversary.

There is something I do not understand about Arlington- some of the markers have the letters filled in with bold black color. Others are natural, which makes Vince’s stone a little more difficult to identify, since there only some of the highlighting in the letters that mark his name, rank, Service, Wartime service era, birth and death dates and his combat decoration. There is no question these soldiers, sailors, airmen and Defense civilians were killed in combat.

It makes me wonder why the Department was so insistent that the victims of Major Hassan were not. So many curious things have happened over the last dozen years, as if we are in denial of exactly who we are fighting.

Oh well. I am sure those in power know best, and what is the award of the Purple Heart to them now, except an honest acknowledgement of what was involved in their sacrifice?

That is not true with Mac, which startled me. I mean, I was just there. I remember the day I drove him over to attend a service at the Columbarium, a combat casualty of the war in Iraq, and he pointed out the stone in Section 66 where his wife Billie was waiting for him to join her. He pointed it out as we drove by.

After the grand procession when his family, the Army’s Old Guard, the assembled officers and Sailors of the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Navy Honor Guard and the Piper laid him to rest, I never thought I could lose him.

Vince and Dan and the others I could find it by touch at this point. But I was filled with dismay as I walked the place I thought I could never forget.

I never thought to look up the number that is engraved on the pale white stone, which would have made it easy. Instead, I had to go row on row, peering at the names. I ran across a couple of stones with the Congressional Medal etched on the surface, two roses in my hands.

In the end, I found Mac right where we had left him, joined forever with his wife Billie.

I left the roses, one on each side, and put a penny on top of the stone.

As I drove away in the Panzer, I was listening to the White House Chief of Staff on the radio. He is a fellow named Dennis McDonough, and he was making the case for military action in Syria:

“The common-sense test says Assad is responsible for this. He should be held to account.”

The Common Sense test? That is a new one on me. Then he went on to describe the concept of a limited, targeted and consequential attack.

I had to consider that carefully as I navigated up the bluff through the gardens of stone, row on row, terraced into the slopes. The targeting part should go without saying- if you think the professionals would consider any other approach…well, that would be unprofessional.

And as to that Common Sense thing. I think maybe we should have retired the phrase after Tom Paine used it in Revolutionary times It seems to have changed meanings down through the years, like everything that comes after those words is not.

It is almost as bad as statements that begin with the words: “the fact of the matter is…” We know enough now to know that once those words are uttered, it isn’t.

Funny, this common sense matter overseas. The fact of the matter is that This place and these white stones have been a long time coming, and all of us, myself and all my comrades, will be a long time gone.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303