Revolution

This is a blog I wrote in July 2014.  I see Facebook posts suggesting revolution and I’m amazed.  People continue to talk of revolution as if it’s some first person shooter game that they can walk away from.  Perhaps that’s all they know.  So I’m reposting.  Let me recommend following the Chris Hernandez link.  I’ve only read about the elephant. Chris has seen it and shoveled the shit behind it.

July 2014

I wasn’t sure what to write.  Then one of the blogs I follow inspired me.  It’s about revolution.

A lot of folks I know worry about UN troops becoming stationed on our soil to enforce UN regulations.  So they spray their steel rifle and pistol targets sky blue and turn plinking into a political statement.  I’m not too concerned about UN troops stationed in or going door-to-door in Cleveland looking for arms.  The UN doesn’t seem to have the political will or stomach to undertake and endure such an undertaking.  Even now, with Nigeria’s Boko Haram kidnapping more than 290 young girls, the UN can’t seem to find a newspaper to roll up and smack ‘em on the nose.  And we’re worried about the UN stationing troops in Chicago?

But if they were to, that very well may cause a revolution.  And now we talk about an election that was lost because one candidate could not, would not control what he said.  

Before you rush into that cloud nine fantasy, stop and think about what it means.   It’s not Red Dawn.  Chris Hernandez paints a pictureof what a revolution looks like in the real world at ground zero.  It’s worth reading.

When I was in college I had a simplistic view of the world.  I didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the “real world”, for two reasons.  What did I know?  Many of my classmates were Vietnam veterans and they knew the difference between an asshole and a hole in the ground.  But I remember the stories of Hungarians battling Soviet tanks with rocks and flaming bottles of gasoline. Much of the country was destroyed.

But I also remember the conflict of Nixon’s embattled presidency. 

I read a brief snippet in the popular press, lacking any context, purported that the Pentagon had sent letters to all the National Guard units warning them to be careful about interpreting the president’s direct orders.

It seemed to me and many others, our country was on the edge.  One could imagine Nixon placing the Supreme Court in protective custody, closing both Houses of Congress, so they could go home and help calm troubled waters, and extending his presidency until the trouble was taken care of.

It was the first time I thought it was a good thing the NRA fought to keep guns in our hands. 

It was the beginning of my conservative journey in life.  Nixon made me think and speculate a lot.  I knew I would fight to retain our freedoms.

What would it be like?  I envisioned myself lying just over the crest of a hill in winter clothing with other poorly fed and equipped irregulars waiting for a chance to kill other young people my age and possibly be killed as well.  Our cities in ruins, industry set back a 100 years, our enemies waiting to cash in on our misfortune.  I wondered what my future would look like assuming I survived.  It certainly wasn’t the one I enjoyed.  I thought of the U.S. Civil War and how the areas that ‘hosted’ battles and troops were devastated following the war, taking years to recover.  And who could say what was left of our nation would be able to resist an opportunistic foreign invader.

Fortunately Nixon resigned.

Nowadays I think about Herbert McBride.  He wrote two books about his experience in WWI.  He had a great time for a while.  It was great fun killing Germans, until his best friend got shot and killed.  Then he wanted revenge, unable to see the boys he shot were someone else’s best friend.

I reflect on the young men I see today with a face or name tattooed on their calf muscle or bicep.  Remembrance of people they never want to forget for the rest of their lives.

No, a second American revolution isn’t going to be like some video game or chat room war.  It’s not going to be clean nor are you going to be able to partition your life so work is Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday is revolution.  No, you are going to give up the life you know for something quite different.

Part of the irony of this blog entry is next week I’m joining a group men and women to shoot the Navy Qualifier with my AR.  I’m also trying to figure out how I can set up a moving target so both pistol and rifle shooters can get some practice with a moving target.  Last winter I read everything I could get my hands on from the army training manuals about moving troops and setting up ambushes and defenses.  I don’t want to be an expert, but if I need to listen to an expert about it, I’ve got a leg up.

Do I think there is going to be a revolution in my time? 

No, there will not be because training is the deterrent that makes us focus on real outcomes and not fantasy TV.

And that makes revolution a last resort option.