There
is another group of citizens that I think deserve a similar
recognition. The many thousands of citizens who work for the private
contractors in the Mideast fighting the War on Terror. Granted, they get
paid more but they receive no medals for bravery, not much recognition
for their service, no Veteran’s benefits, yet they are indispensable to
any victory we might achieve.
The
reason they are needed is because America’s armed forces have shrunk to
their smallest number in modern history. Less than 1 percent of our
population volunteers to serve. In our small church, in our small town,
we always seem to have a handful of young men working "overseas" for
private contractors. Some have a military background and some don’t.
The
most prominent description of the service offered by private
contractors is “providing security.” Which, of course, is what military
soldiers do. These unsung citizen soldiers are used by our government to
fill the "soldier gap." Their contributions range from combat in the
field, transport, construction, high technology, personnel, command and
control and training U.S. and allied military soldiers.
At this stage of the War on
Terror, the use of UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, drones to us
civilians) has become critical. Young men from my little town, my
little church, sign up with the private contractors, go to training
school and then ship off to the battlefields of Afghanistan or Iraq.
Back home we recognize them for their service.
We pray for them. We help their wives and children to endure. And we wait.
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