letter to the editor,a young 2LT Named David Petraeous

[admin]

this is the letter that I wanted the group to read-------Please print this letter that I sent out to several newspapers as a letter to the editor, has our country failed its Military? US Paratrooper 1SG James Bryan . THANKS Jim B

James Bryan <jbryan_3ph@yahoo. com> wrote:

Back in the mid 70,s I was in the 509th paratroopers in N Italy,one of my dutys was to teach Jumpmaster students 2 times a year, one of my students was a smiling 2nd Lt that was at the top of his class.Every morning when I came in you could tell by his smiling face, he was special, he listened to every word said by the instructors , every jumpers life depended on no mistakes,no room for error, 2 months before we had lost to paratroopers killed in a Jump in Germany, due to error.Four weeks went by and most passed the course.Me and the 2nd Lt was also picked to brief several high ranking officers, secretary of the army, secretary of defence, several Gens Alexander Haig included, we were picked because we were exsperts in our field, years later at Ft Campbell Ky, I met the same smiling face as I was awarded my 3rd Purple Heart, by then he had 2 stars, at a young age this man showed the leadership our country needed, today I rank him up there with the names like McCarther, Ike, Bradley, Westmoreland, if our current leaders had have had this man in charge 4 yrs ago, no telling what or how far we would be along in the war on terror. As a a combat veteran I know first hand the cost of war, I know the price, its not cheap, when our country goes to war, the cost is also high as our troops come home, these men and wemen pay a price for years to come after the fighting is over, we as a nation must be willing to pay this price, are you? our military has not failed its mission, have we as a nation failed our military?Men like Gen Patraeus have gone far and beyond the call, have our politicans done the same? US Paratrooper 1SG James Bryan Retired