Monday, May 2, 2011

It's not over

I wasn’t expecting to wake up this morning to the news that bin Laden had been caught, killed and his body has already been buried at sea.

I’m glad that he’s dead. I’m glad his body has been buried at sea. I’m glad that a “bad guy” (a really REALLY bad guy) is now off the face of this earth. A bad guy whose ill-intended actions influenced Seth to join the Army shortly after 9/11. The events of that day have deployed Seth three different times, totaling about 39 months. While I'm glad that he's been killed, I am not "celebrating" by any means.

But at the same time, I’m worried that his killing will cause retaliation. What does it mean for America now? Will other members of al Qaeda retaliate? In their country? In ours? Somewhere else? Will other countries get involved and retaliate? What does it mean for our troops currently overseas? It’s scary when you think about it like that. Of course, his killing does not bring back any of the lives that were lost on 9/11, or the lives that have been lost in the war since it began. Unfortunately, his killing does not mean the end of the war that is still going on.

Major props to the guy(s) that shot bin Laden in the head. (That’s really morbid, I know. One article said he was shot in the left eye? Damn, good shot). Even more major props to the group of SEALS that carried out this mission and kept their team safe and unharmed.

I will say that I have enjoyed listening to all of the country songs that have been playing non-stop today. After watching coverage of this on the morning news, I turned CMT on. What song was playing? One that made me get teary eyed, and reminded me of nearly four weeks ago, when I stepped into the activity center at 2330 on a post in Germany for a welcome home ceremony for my Soldier: American Soldier, by Toby Keith.


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