Grandma Hexham's War

A reprint of an actual "Letter to the Editor" seen in the local liberal rag in my beloved Up Norf region:

Entertainment or Reality?

The first time I ever heard the Blue Angels was in 2004 when they were practicing for their air show in Traverse City.

I was taking care of my first grandson in his home about a mile from the airport. He was 4 months old at the time and snuggled in my arms when they went screaming over his house. His reaction to the terrible sound as self-defense, pulling his tiny body into a tight fetal position and burrowing his little head into my chest.

It was at that very moment that a very real and somber reality hit me. That same sound is the last sound that many grandmothers holding their grandbabies ever heard in Iraq!

Something that is touted as entertainment for so many in this country is actually shock and awe in the most heinous degree. I hope that as many watch the talented Blue Angels, they pause to really grasp what they are supporting and the negative and deadly impact these "heroes" have on the nameless and faceless victims in Iraq and other targets of United States military action.

Jacquelyn Hexham
Traverse City

I recall this letter to my Blog because I just experienced the Blue Angels again over Grand Traverse Bay last week, and like the very first time, words almost fail me when I try to describe the pride and appreciation I have for the men and machines of this group. Quite a different impression than that of Ms. Hexham's!

Why even give this letter more "light of day" when it obviously is in total opposition to my opinions? Because it deserves to be properly dissected by The Mole Hole!

My biggest challenge here is to try and comprehend how any intelligent (or even semi-intelligent), freedom loving American can have this point of view. Here's where the dissection begins:

First, she has been a grandmother since at least 2004. So I can assume that she's probably "north" of 50, but she could be 100 too. Really don't know. But in any case, she's old enough to have experienced plenty of life in these United States, and many years of freedom. Amazingly, she has no appreciation for what the U.S. Military has provided her, her children and her grandchildren. A world fought for and died for, by heroes (which she disgustingly puts in quotation marks) from the Continental Army to the Blue Angels.

Maybe she's been a pacifist her entire life. Or perhaps she's like a lot of the more seasoned people I've met, who just somehow become pacifists in their senior years. I don't know why that is, but I seem to run into them quite often. (Could be future Blog material all to itself!)

For sure, she has an incredible sense about what infants can "feel" even at four months of age. Just listen to how her grandson "burrows his little head" in self defense. I'm certain he would never react that way to the noise of a chainsaw, a Led Zepplin CD or a thunder-clap. No, this little guy actually felt the fear of proximity to that 20,000 lbs. of thrust from those GE engines, the near-sonic speed and the potential for the thousands of pounds of ordinance typically carried underneath those swept-wings. How could he know that it was unarmed, this "Death from Above"? Poor little fella. Despite this incredibly damaging experience, I can guarantee you that he'll be grow up more nervous and paranoid because of his grandmother's influence on him, than from three and a half seconds of jet blast. (Actually, since he lives just a mile from the airport, he's probably heard jet engines quite a few times, wouldn't you think?)

She is also keenly aware of some of the civilian casualty statistics in the Iraq war. She obviously has seen some data that is being withheld somehow from the public. I've read nothing about so many Iraqi grandmothers being bombed while actually holding their grandchildren. I'm just amazed that emergency workers there can actually reconstruct the scene in a pile of rubble to know that the adult female had been holding the infant just before the city block was leveled. Amazing forensics over there, and she knows all this stuff!

Finally, she hopes that many of us watching the Angels really grasp the deadly impact these "heroes" have on our military targets. The answer Ms. Hexham, is that we do, and that is actually part of the immense appreciation most of us have for these men and the U.S. Navy. Thanks to these Heroes (no quotation marks) your little grandson will enjoy the same freedoms you have had, and maybe, if you don't succeed in poisoning his mind too deeply, he'll watch a future Blue Angels team with pride and awe.