Thursday, April 9, 2009

Say what?

From the Fayetteville Observer on Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Ft. Bragg:

“I am absolutely confident the Iraqis are in a much better place to take care of their own nation,” Biden said. “It’s amazing to me as I go out into these battle spaces, how you just look at it like, ‘This is my job, sir. Mr. Vice President, or senator, this is my job,’ like you’re showing up to the bakery that morning to make sure the muffins get put out.

I know what he was trying to say but when my son was deployed to Iraq during the surge I didn't feel he was over there putting out muffins.

What a lot of politicians don't understand is the military parlance has changed over the years. When I was in the Army decades ago, when the day was done I would say that I was off duty. Now they say they are off work. Duty = work these days. But the tasks are the same.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Excellent post! Thank you for taking the time to clarify the mission of our soldiers!
~AM

Infantry Dad said...

Just go to show ya how out of touch some of these guys are.
Time to get some sleep. Gotta get up and make the donuts.

lola said...

I think people have misconstrued what he's saying -- what he's saying is he's shocked that these men and women do such dangerous jobs without expecting any extra recognition -- much like a baker wouldn't expect recognition for putting out muffins. He's simply saying that they see their job as their job, despite the fact that it requires exceptional bravery.

That actually was one of my favorite parts of his speech. It reminded me of my husband in that he doesn't want attention for the fact that he puts his life on the line everyday. He's nonchalant about it, despite him being my hero. :)

lola said...

Also, I received the multiple (!!) prints in the mail this evening. They are ALL gorgeous and I so appreciate them. I will be putting up an extra bit in my blog about them tomorrow :) Thank you again.

lola said...

Oh, and as to him being "out of touch" -- sorry Infantry Dad, I'm calling you out on this one, his son is deployed to Iraq. While Beau's MOS may not be infantry like your son or my husband, he's serving our country and away from his family.

Biden was actually my candidate of choice for President. As of September 2007 (ages ago, I know) he had made more trips to Iraq/Afghanistan than any other politician running for President. I think of any of the candidates, he had the best idea of what was going on over there. In my humble opinion, of course. :)

Also, if you read the rest of his speech, you see how much he recognizes the day to day sacrifices that we as military families make. He gets it.