Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

US & Int'l Papers

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A Renewal Weekend

Monday February 26, 2007

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Dear Mr. Mullings

From Mountain Home, Arkansas
The Baxter County Lincoln Day Dinner

After two weeks of the Democrats in Congress pretending to be George S. Patton and the Pentagon medical guys pretending that a couple of pieces of drywall and a coat of paint will fix what's wrong with their long-term care system, I was way cranky.

So, of course, I came to Arkansas. And I have two stories to share with you.

I came here to speak to the Baxter County Republicans on Saturday night, but I took the opportunity to have dinner, on Friday night, with one of my favorite people on the planet, 1st Sgt Tom Bercher (Ret.) and his wife, Rebecca.

I have written about 1st Sgt Bercher before (The Quiet Courage of True Leadership). He was the senior NCO for the Psychological Operations unit in Tikrit when I was in Iraq.

I said back in December, 2004 "Tom Bercher is one of the best senior NCOs I met in Iraq. Or anywhere."

Bercher and his wife, Rebecca, had both been on active duty in Bosnia. Rebecca was an NCO with a Military Intelligence unit; they met, fell in love, and got married. She got out of the military and now watches over their two sons (5 and 4 years old) and teaches 8th grade history. "Hormones in sneakers," is how she describes her students.

We had dinner on Friday night and Tom invited another former PsyOpper, CPT Alan Roper, to join us. Alan was in Iraq when I was there, too. ( "A buddy photo" of the three of them is on the Secret Decoder Ring page)

I asked Tom if he would go back to Iraq. He told me he had been offered jobs by a number of contractors but he wouldn't go back for the money. "If I went back," he said, "it would be as a soldier."

Leadership, like beauty, is difficult to define. Nevertheless, you know it when you see it.

The US Army is the worse for having Tom Bercher retire, but this is why he did it:

While Tom was out moving booster seats from one truck to another on Saturday morning, Rebecca told me that the previous day she had told the boys their dad was going to the airport to pick up Mr. Galen.
They asked who Mr. Galen was. Rebecca said that their dad had met me in Iraq.
She said they both became very quiet. One asked, "Is daddy going back to Iraq?" The other then asked softly, "Is daddy going away forever?"

Their daddy is staying home with his family. He has done his duty for his nation.

I am honored to know such a man as Tom Bercher and such a woman as Rebecca Bercher.

Second Story:

The man who runs the Washington, DC office of the PR firm to which I am semi-attached, Manning Selvage & Lee, is named Don Hannaford.

Don has a son who volunteered for the Marine Corps and, last weekend, graduated from boot camp. This is the e-mail Don sent to me:

Yesterday morning, members of my family assembled in the bleachers of the parade deck at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot at Parris Island, SC to witness the Eagle-Globe-Anchor ceremony where recruits (one of whom is my son) get the emblem that says they are Marines - graduation day.
Before the ceremony, a Lieutenant Colonel came through the bleachers to thank the families. He had been at Parris Island for five years, and said that the graduation ceremony his first year filled only about half the bleachers.
This year, the crowd over-flowed the bleachers, spilling out around the edges of the parade deck; 4,500 attendees for 552 new Marines. My daughter is the math whiz in the family, but even I can figure that's more than eight friends and family for every newly-minted Marine.

I have a suggestion for the Nancy Pelosis and the Jack Murthas who would starve these brave men and women of needed mat�riel solely for the purpose of scoring cheap political points; and to the John Kerrys who truly believe our service members aren't smart enough to get good civilian jobs; and to every Member of, or staffer in, Congress who mouths the words, "We support our troops" and then runs to a cocktail party to brag, over their glasses of Pinot Grigio or Noir, about how hard they are working to force defeat in Iraq through parliamentary maneuvering in Washington:

Spend a day with Tom and Rebbeca Bercher. Or Alan Roper. Or Don Hannaford. Or with the family of any "newly-minted" US Marine.
See what bravery and patriotism is all about.

I had that opportunity this weekend, and my faith in America - and Americans - was restored.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Marine Corps' Parris Island webpage; also a link to the Iraq Travelogue from Fallujah which included the PsyOps unit and which is worth a re-read. As promised, the photo of Tom, Rebecca and Alan; and a Mullfoto which makes an unfair reference to the fact that Al Gore is as big as a house.

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