THE LAST STRAW: SAVAGING VETERANS ON THEIR DAY

(Editor's Note: 13 NOVEMBER 2023: NIC SERVICE NOW indicated incredible insensitivity to the sacrifices of American Veterans:

NIC ServiceNow

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On this US Veteran's Day, I would like to start by Honoring the memory of Astronaut Frank Borman who passed away last Tuesday. Most of you who are old enough to remember remember Frank as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first Human Spacecraft to orbit another celestial body other than Earth around Christmas 1968.

 

Frank, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders celebrated Christmas by reading traditional Christmas passages and from the Holy Bible as they took their 10 orbits around the Moon. Some 160 days later, their fellow Astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would be bouncing on the surface of the Moon. The First Moon Landing remains the single greatest Scientific and Technological Advancement in Human History.

 

I met all five Astronauts during SVC's Annual Commemoration of the First Moon Landing about 20 years ago. Frank's story is particularly compelling to me because his story matches mine.

 

Frank was on a “Alternate List” to attend West Point in 1946 just as I had been on “Alternate List” to attend the Navy's Fighters Weapons School (Top Gun) in 1982. In both cases, the three individuals who were ahead of us opted out. Obviously, the difference that stroke of Divine intervention meant to our futures cannot be calculated.

 

In my case, the US Navy took its sweet time deciding what to do with me. I had already been trained as an Aviator, but it took almost three months after I had been Commissioned an Ensign before I was sent to Miramar near San Diego, California, where the Seventh Fleet was moored until the Summer of 1941 when it was moved here to Pearl Harbor.

 

I had taken a job as a Live-in Counselor in a Group Home for Developmentally Disabled Adults in Havre, Montana. I was really beginning to wonder until I finally received my Orders.

 

Frank retired as a Colonel in the US Air Force in 1970 and eventually owned a ranch in my home state of Montana. He died in Billings. I retired in 2001 also as an 0-6, a Navy Captain.

 

I followed the Space Program religiously as a Boy and it greatly increased my desire to be an Aviator. Not to take away from non-Navy Aviators, but I have always taken great pride in the fact that six of the seven Commanders of the 7 Moonshots – Apollo 11-17 were Naval Aviators – Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11); Pete Conrad (Apollo 12); Jim Lovell (Apollo 13); Alan Shepard (Apollo 14); John Young (Apollo 16); and Gene Cernan (Apollo 17). US Naval Aviators are the best pilots in the world and I am proud to be one of them.

 

My first stint of active duty didn't last long. The following March I was involved in a major training accident on the USS Coral Sea when a scaffolding gave way and I had 14 others land right on top of me. My injuries were not life-threatening, but were career-threatening and I was mustered out of the Navy.

 

The USS Coral Sea was patrolling the eastern Mediterranean concerning the Lebanese Civil War and all the hostage taking by Hezbollah. I lost four buddies in the barracks bombing in Beirut that October. The casualties from this incident were greater than during the entire Persian Gulf War when I accepted the Navy's invitation to return in 1990.

 

About this time, the Final M*A*S*H episode – “Good Bye, Farewell & Amen” – aired on 28 February 1983. On the show's 40^th anniversary, Alan Alda sent me a tweet saying he understood I was in service to our country at the time and that I missed it.

 

I confirmed that is true and wrote him that I have always been a great fan and I didn't see the last episode until years later because it is rarely replayed on television. I also told him about the accident and as a ironic twist, that I spent five weeks in Seoul, South Korea in 2005 negotiating America's Trade Treaty with South Korea.

 

Alan and co-star Jamie Farr are actual Army Veterans and no doubt some of their wisecracks about the Army they used during the show came from actual experience. Jamie just happens to be Lebanese and from Toledo, Ohio, just as Klinger claimed.

 

I made the best of my return to the Navy and set American records concerning the number of sorties flown without any losses of Personnel or fighter jets under the same Commander. After the swift conclusion of hostilities, I was made Liaison to our Persian Gulf Allies with my chief duty to build adequate defenses against any future incursion led by Saddam Hussein.

 

In the process, I had to deal directly with Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Omar Bashir and Muammar Gaddafi. As far as anyone knows, I am the only westerner to have the misfortune to deal with all four. I have paid a horrible price for it in the service to my country and it has not been appreciated by my fellow Americans. My life, reputation and careers have been ruined in America because I took a stand for the United States of America.

 

I am not worried about it though. Just like the Creator intervened in Frank's and my life when we were very young men, I know my complete vindication is coming because I have remained in Faith and know that in my broken places the Creator will build something far better because I have been willing to sacrifice as I have and the world will be brought to a Peaceful conclusion before Jesus returns.

 

Just as a sample of what's coming, US Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) has recently given this old Sailor hope that all my efforts have not been in vein:

 

Dear Phil,

The number of people coming across our southern border from countries designated as State Sponsors of Terror continues to increase. The idea of a terror attack occurring in the United States is no longer just a what if — it is a when. With a war in the Middle East emboldening violent extremists and a wide-open southern border, we are more and more vulnerable for attacks on our soil right here at home.

Think what's happened in the Middle East can't happen right here? Think again. Enough is enough. President Biden's administration needs to protect our homeland. He needs to protect us on our southern border. (Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU2lOaH2eiw)

Montana Proud,

Senator Steve Daines

 

Senator Daines is right on and hopefully the numbskulls in Washington and the American mass media listen to his warnings. They certainly have not been listening to me over the past three decades.

 

What most Americans do not understand is that terrorists do not need to conduct a 9/11 to either make their point or successfully take over a society. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda took over the Taliban government in Afghanistan and funding the process through the opiate trade without ever resorting to violent attacks. Hamas members control the Palestinian Parliament and always have. Enough said.

 

The US Capitol Hill Insurrection on 6 January 2021 is the closest America has come to a take over by organized terrorism. At The Hague and SVC, we have known that the only difference between the 9/11 hijackers and the terrorists responsible for the siege on the Benghazi Consulate 11 years later and the terrorists responsible for 1/6 is their nationality.

 

Face it, some of our fellow Americans have crossed over to the other side. We do not need known terrorists crossing our border in droves to reinforce the terrorists who are already here, but that is exactly what is happening.

 

These domestic terrorists - aka the traitors/terrorists of the American Opprobrium - have no redemptive qualities and even if they did, the traitors/terrorists are so incorrigible that the damage on society they have have wrought is irreparable. The traitors/ terrorists must be held out as examples of never again so no one would even remotely consider emulating what they have done!

 

Right now, this is perfect timing for Justice to finally be done and coincides with what the International Community Plans for the defeat of organized terror and more specifically the terrorists of the American Opprobrium.

 

While the world watches the Middle East blow up for the nth time, one must be reminded that is a warning from the Creator that Armageddon is lurking if we allow it.

 

America is supporting Israel, but at a high cost with our Arab allies. The same United Nations Resolution that created Israel 76 years ago also created a Palestinian State and neither side wants the other to exist. That's a harsh attitude, but horrible reality.

 

Israel should be able to exist with Peaceful, secure borders, but at the same time coexist with a Palestinian nation. For this to happen Hamas and all those who think, talk and act like them must surrender and forever leave their terrorists days and ways behind them.

 

Ironically, the same thing must happen in the United States. The traitors/ terrorists of the American Opprobrium must be removed from American Society for they have adopted the same attitudes and lifestyle that the Hamas, al Qaeda and Hezbollah have. It is hard to say, but it is true!

Hamas must accept responsibility for the denial of Palestinian Statehood the past 76 years and all other consequences thereof. In the same way, the traitors/terrorists of the American Opprobrium must accept responsibility for the partition of the State of Colorado; the sequestering of Missoula County, Montana; the permanent closures of the University of Montana and UCCS and UCD if not the entire Colorado University System; major reform in all Professional Licensing and Certification Programs in the USA; and major reform in all government support programs at all levels, particularly for Veterans, the disabled; victims of gun and law enforcement violence; and Social Security.

 

What remains - quite literally - is the Biblical separation of the sheep from the goats. It is quite clear by now which is which.

 

What We must do is begin to utilize that Divine power within Us to do good and leave the terrorists and those of their ilk way behind Us. That will mean separating ourselves from those who are incapable of taking all this heart, no matter who they are.

Jesus told Us he had come to divide, not unify and that taking up our metaphoric cross would be difficult in order to follow him and be known as one of his Apostles. He didn't mince words.

As Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, We must never tire of doing good, even in the face of great persecution. Historians and Theologians have long debated what Paul meant by the thorn in his side. It may have been a physical affliction of some kind, but I think it was more an affliction in his Spirit.

Even the Great Epistle Author of the early Christian Church harbored doubts about all this and that was the metaphoric thorn in his side. The sheer immensity of all this and its implications is sure to cause doubts to even the Greatest amongst Us, but at all costs must be resisted. That is where Faith comes in.

 

Twenty years ago, Wayne Dyer visited us here at Pearl Harbor. He and his wife Marcelene were considering divorce and he, believe it or not, was in need for inspiration. He eventually became my Success Coach.

 

Wayne's greatest impact on My Life is to Teach his about the power of our imagination. It is there the Creator plants the Themes of Greatness. Your imagination is uniquely and supremely yours. You don't have to consult with anything one about what you place there. Pay no attention to what your senses or the alleged facts in the World are telling you to the contrary. Anything you place there is possible. You are a Co-Creator with the Creator. You have that power!!!!!!!

In Matthew 19, Jesus is confronted with the who could be saved because the standards for entering Heaven are so high. In verse 26, Jesus said, “With Man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

If what you place in your imagination feels natural to you and you just know is meant to be, then it shall be. Nothing can stop it. That is the power you have. If it Divinely inspired, so much the better. Guess what I have placed in his imagination and what he knows is intended for the World by the Creator? Right. The Accomplishment of the Mission Statement of The SVC International Dreamweaver Plexus: THE DREAMWEAVER PLEXUS HAS SUCCESSFULLY DEMOCRATIZED THE WORLD & ESTABLISHED A LIFESTYLE WHERE THERE IS ONLY PEACE, PROSPERITY AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION EVERYWHERE ON EARTH.

Wayne said that he placed a "do not disturb sign" on his imagination and did not let anything from the outside World polluted its contents. The metaphoric thorn I believe Paul suffered from was his occasional inability to do so because he understood how important it was.

In Philippians 4:8, Paul wrote, 'Finally Brothers and Sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.’

 

My own modern Version of this Biblical quote has more to do with the Human condition in the modern World:

 

"...whatever deprives People of basic Human dignity & Rights, whatever is defaming, whatever is wrong, whatever is criminal, whatever is destructive, whatever is corrupt - if anything is deceptive and unjust - We will oppose it - sure as the Sun comes up in the morning, We will oppose it."

 

One way or the other, Human History is hurtling towards its conclusion with stark differences in its outcome...

 

Phil Sutton, DBA & PhD

Sutton Viewpoint Center President & CEO

 

SVC STANDING COMMITTEES REPORT

US VETERANS DAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2023