The Commander in Chief’s Constituents
Keith Nightingale
The candidates for President are making promises to voters, but there is one demographic that will be disproportionately affected by their actions when one becomes Commander in Chief: Service members. To these voters, policy often means fighting, but the reality of combat is distant to indiscernible to whoever occupies the White House. An education about how these voters have to deal with the consequences of Oval Office decisions may be helpful.
For more than a year, we have been engaged in the Presidential campaign. Ultimately we will have the opportunity to vote in both primary and final elections for a President and Commander in Chief. Every one of our citizens will have a polling place to go and cast a ballot. Concurrently, we will have thousands of citizens that cannot go to their precinct of record-they are called uniformed members of the Department of Defense. However, Lincoln recognized both the inequity and the meaning of this circumstance and he established the first absentee voting system for those engaged in our Civil War. For every engagement since and in periods of peace, our deployed personnel have been able to cast a ballot wherever they may be located to participate in this most important aspect of our citizenship and their choice for Commander in Chief.
The Service member’s polling place is wherever the mail finds him or her. Some are in buildings, ships and planes. Others, the Infantry in particular, are in the open distant wards doing what they have been directed to do. They may or may not vote but they will maintain their precinct or die trying-as many have. Here is a snapshot of two precincts and our member-citizens at work for us.
The first is an image of a specific precinct where the absentee ballot probably was not cast. This is what the Infantry/eligible voter sees and does on bad days in his precinct. This is the degree of dedication and ennoblement every Commander in Chief may expect when he or she signs an order sending our citizens into combat. It is the deep reservoir of our Nation and requires a constant conservation. The Commander in Chief, regardless of the issue, will receive extraordinary service from ordinary people. It is a National gift to be guarded and not squandered.
Look at the image carefully. It tells a great deal that you will not see in movies or read in books nor will it be described in the political boundaries drawn so carefully at home. No reality TV show can depict what this potential voter has been through and is going through for his Commander in Chief. This is what being Commander in Chief is all about.
His helmet chin strap is off-as he had it knocked off several times and is now in haste to move around his position. His canteen is partially out of its holder-he has extracted all he can to satiate the continuous thirst that Adrenalin, temperature and emotion wracks on the body. His rifle, held at the ready, holds a bayonet on the barrel. The rifle is tilted sideways probably because it is now much lighter with few rounds to weight it into an upright position.
This is a very rare occasion and clearly required-the enemy is very close and getting closer. The precinct he occupies is decidedly primordial. He knows he will need the sharp appendage if he has not already used it in a truly desperate situation. The ejector cover is open indicating the rifle has been used already and is about to be used again. His carryall sack at his side is open and close to empty. The grenades and extra magazines he stored there for quick access are probably expended. It has been a very busy morning at his polling place.
His shirt is sodden with sweat and dirt but it is the least of his concerns. Those lie beyond his gaze and to his front. He is as animal alert as were his predecessors thousands of years ago walking the Serengeti, both aware that they are one of the most vulnerable animals in this space.
He is mortally engaged with a large aggressive force and the pressure is such that he has to personally act as an individual rifleman rather than issue orders and supervise as his rank would dictate. His eyes tell you the situation is desperate. He is an Infantryman doing what we expect him to do on our behalf and as ordered by his Commander in Chief.
We see the parades and honors and applause in the airports-but only those that have been in similar absentee precincts have seen what he actually does. Our candidates all announce their capability to be Commander in Chief but it is doubtful any truly understand what occurs in these distant polling places. Perhaps this photo will help. His image could pass for the vast multitude of men throughout our history that on occasion have had that look, that desperation and that will to persevere to success if not merely to survive-which is success in itself. As in our land, some precincts are less friendly than others.
This is Lt Rick Rescorla on LZ X-Ray-credited by the Battalion Commander, with probably saving the precinct perimeter. He is in the process of doing that with no knowledge or interest of the larger issues. We and our many candidates for Office should appreciate the reality of their distant voter’s polling places.
Rick did not change when he returned from Vietnam. He was last seen running up the stairs of the World Trade Center when everyone else was running down. His intention then as it was at X-Ray was to shepherd his flock to safety. He went down with the towers but he extracted the bulk of his people to vote another day.
The second image is of an absentee voter who had an accident on the way to work. He is one of the thousands of our citizens who made a choice to serve in some distant precinct and had an unfortunate encounter. It is very doubtful that any candidate’s exit poll was administered seeking his opinion.
A close examination will show the photo was taken very shortly after this unfortunate event disrupted what was his focus group. The man is lying on a field stretcher on the floor of a helicopter within moments of his conversion from combatant to casualty. The rough handling and field modifications to his uniform were probably borne of necessity rather than nicety. On occasion, some precincts get both unruly and uninhabitable.
The fact that he has no functioning IV drip is very telling as to the precinct condition. Ringer’s 5% is the “always administer” blood expander carried by the combat field medics to both replenish fluids and to stave off shock. His has been expended and its empty bag is in use plugging another hole. The fact that he has no replacement is indicative of the fierce competitiveness of the opposition and the resulting exhaustion of fluid bags earlier. Holes are plugged as best as possible preparatory to sending him to his next precinct.
He has been fully engaged by the opposition in a disagreement over larger strategic issues. The disagreement was probably manifested by either a booby trap or a mortar round as it engaged the bulk of his body. He is still wearing one of his gloves and may well have been on point clearing a path to the next polling station. He has not yet been “cleaned up” as he later may be in a sanitary setting propped in bed to receive the thanks of seniors working the wards.
He is clearly aware of the tenuousness of his condition as he covers his eye to blot out his condition. The only issue he can focus on at this point is his ultimate survival. How he got here and how or why something happened are issues beyond his interest. He is one of many messengers to the Commander in Chief regarding the price of responsibility.
He may not have a particular interest in ecology or environmental policies though he has clearly been close to the earth. Beside him is a long yellow seed head-probably previously imbedded in him or on him glued by the sweat, dirt and blood all simultaneously engaged when he was so close to the earth. He has truly given at the office all that any potential Commander in Chief may wish.
Whoever the ultimate selection is for our next Commander in Chief, he or she should have these images under the glass of the desk in the Oval Office to assist in understanding some absentee voters/constituents and how they may appear in performing directed duties. And for all the candidates to remember that the most important precincts are those they cannot easily visit.