To Protect and Defend the Constitution
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Welcome to The Right Blogfest. Please read about today’s topic at the other fine blogs participating in the blogfest today, Raisedonhoecakes and 2sisters from the right and Call of the Patriot for different Conservative takes on this same subject, Memorial Day 2011.
Today we honor those American men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom and liberty through military service such as my friend Air Force Staff Sergeant John Campese and my family’s own Doughboy, Army Private John Travis Bussey.
John 15:13 – Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Staff Sergeant John Campese and I were stationed in the Philippines together in the late 1980′s and our wives were good friends. He was killed at a “classified location” in Saudi Arabia during the initial Desert Shield deployment in a flightline accident and not by enemy fire. John was not even scheduled to deploy but as things often happen in the military he went to work one night expecting to be home for breakfast with his wife and kids the next morning after his midnight shift, but was sent home to pack instead.
With less than an hour to kiss his wife and kids goodbye for the last time this dutiful Staff Sergeant packed his bag and returned to the flightline for his ride to the desert, and was dead only days later.
John 15:13 – Greater love hath no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends.
According to the web site Militaryfactory.com, America’s war dead from 1775 through 2010 total approximately 1,317,588 (including both sides in the Civil War). Each one of those men and women swore their lives upon an oath and each had a personal story, a family, hopes and dreams that are forever lost.
The men and women we honor today did what few others could do. They kissed their loved ones goodbye for the very last time, left the comforts of hearth and home and marched dutifully off to war for an idea now long forsaken.
I celebrate their lives, honor their service and mourn their deaths, but I also lament that their deaths may have been in vain, the current commander-in chief having vowed not just to fix that which was wrong in this country in the opinion of some, but to fundamentally transform that for which they fought and died.
America is not simply land defined by borders. It is not a flag or a collection of people, for those are but the symbols and results of America.
America is the idea that man can be free to govern himself – the ideal codified in our national documents that all men are created equal with certain unalienable rights and that governments are instituted among men for the protection of those rights. It is the premise that you have the unalienable right to the fruits of your own labor and to raise your family as a free man unmolested by tyranny and oppression.
Each and every one of you are sovereign and the government only possesses those powers that you may delegate.
This is a picture of my Great-uncle John Travis Bussey, a man I would never know. He was a young farmer living with his family in Oklahoma when called upon to serve in WW I.
Like the men and women of today he sucked it up and trained, practiced and deployed as opposed to fleeing to Canada or Mexico. He gave up the carefree life and freedom of the family farm for sergeants and officers barking orders and determining his sleep and eating schedules. He left a life of hunting game to help feed the family in order to hunt men – enemy – in order to help feed a nation.
As a boy he hunted, fished, farmed, loved and laughed. I don’t know much more than that about him, such as what grade in school he achieved or if he ever even saw a car, much less ever drove one.
Military service was in John Travis’ DNA. His grandfather and uncles fought in the Civil War, his father (my great-grandfather) was reportedly a Texas Ranger at the tender age of 17 and his brother (my grandfather Charley Bussey) was a wrangler with F-Troop, 12th Cavalry in New Mexico in 1918. His distant relatives, George, Thomas, Benjamin, William and Hezekiah Bussey were all Continental Soldiers beginning in 1775 – each a volunteer and even more Bussey men served in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
Two weeks prior to the armistice signed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, John Travis Bussey was felled by a German machinegun bullet in the Meuse-Argonne Forest during the last major offensive of the war to end all wars and lays there to this day never again to enjoy the freedom or till the soil he gave his life to protect. He did that for you and me.
Psalm 23:4 – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
In honoring these brave men and women I feel it important to reflect upon that for which they gave their lives – freedom and individual liberty as embodied and codified in the Constitution of the United States.
Upon enlisting and before deploying to his death my great-uncle swore the following two part oath that was passed by Congress after the adoption of our new Constitution in 1789, a Constitution for which his forefathers had fought to produce and bequeath to their posterity:
“I, John Travis Bussey, do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.”
The second part read:
“I, John Travis Bussey, do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) to bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and to serve them honestly and faithfully, against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and to observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States of America, and the orders of the officers appointed over me.”
My great-uncle gave his life in support of the Constitution of the United States, something for which you and I are now said by modern politicians and pundits to have a “fetish.” To be sure, he swore to bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, “to serve them honestly,” them as in a collection of States – a Republic – and not as in a single collective.
I feel that the Constitution was primary in the military oath because if you take care of and protect our Constitution then all else shall be protected.
Thousands of men and women gave their lives having sworn that same oath, with some minor modifications, during subsequent wars until the oath was changed in 1960 to the following according to U.S. Military.about.com:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
That is the oath my father swore, my father-in-law, my brother, me and now my son and the oath to which every man and woman who died in Vietnam, Granada, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan and all points in between swore. It is the oath sworn by Staff Sergeant John Campese and the young airmen whose deaths I investigated in the Philippines over twenty years ago.
The men and women we celebrate today gave their lives not to protect you and me, our national borders, our flag or our politicians but our Constitution to the exclusion of all else – it is that important.
Does an oath matter in our modern society or is it simply ceremonial? Can we honor these men and women today and their sacrifice while we dishonor their oaths? Can we sit back today and honor their lives while we fail to do even the easiest things to protect our Constitution?
Are we not simply paying lip service to their memory if we do not also guard mightily that for which they fell?
Sadly, there are more deaths to mourn, lives to celebrate and families to honor this year than last. Over the course of the coming year, between this Memorial Day and next, yet more men and women will lay down their lives in military service to this Country for the protection of our Constitution.
But our president, their Commander-in Chief, will meet with his advisors to determine how best to circumvent that Constitution through regulation or executive order to illegally “spread the wealth” and “fundamentally transform” America with an eye toward winning the next election while we sit here idle risking nothing and send our children to risk all.
Today, I am ashamed. I am ashamed of you and of me and our inaction, our lack of courage, our political sloth, hubris and stupidity. I have not lived up to the example set by so many, such as John Travis Bussey or the five Bussey men from whom what is left of the constitutionally protected freedoms you and I enjoy were originally bequeathed, and neither have you.
If you will indulge me I’d like to play this short video honoring the military service of John Travis Bussey, his forefathers and the military legacy he left behind as well as all of America’s fallen (with a hearty thank you to Toby Keith for his patriotism as well as his art):
Now let’s all go eat a hotdog while our nation burns.
May 30th, 2011 at 1:59 am
Excellent essay Steve. We all need to be reminded that when men and women enlist they take an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States. That I’m sure is a fact that not many Americans know unless they have served.
I know that you are rightfully proud of your family’s military tradition. Seeing that photo of your great uncle gave me goosebumps. How fortunate you are to have access to such wonderful and historic memorabilia.
Thank you and your son for your service to your country. God Bless the USA.
May 30th, 2011 at 9:43 am
Steve, excellent work today. At our shurch’s service yesterday, our pastor used the very same verse from John to discuss Memorial Day. The fact that Jesus Christ and all our war dead not ony gave all for our freedom, both physical and spiritual, but also suffered violent deaths in doing so.
One can only hope that the efforts of people such as you through your blog and redio work, as well as all of us in our daily interactions with fellow citizens, can help more Americans understand what is unique about our nation and what is needed to maintain the hope, opportunity and freedom we all cherish. The alternative is to watch as we, as a people, continue to put the chains of servitude on ourselves as our nation pursues, at best, well-intentioned but foolish policies.
God bless your family for its longstanding service to our country and our freedoms, and to you for your tireless efforts to get the message out.
May 30th, 2011 at 10:18 am
I had to get the Toby Keith song in today’s post, and then remembered that I used it for my family video, so voila!
May 30th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Excellent work, Steve! God bless the Busseys for their service to their country. I just hope there are still enough people left in this country who DO take oaths seriously and who will keep working to turn things around.
May 30th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Steve, I thank you and your son for your service. To defend one’s country and fellow man under God and Constitution is indeed an HONOR.
America holds a unique and special place in the world and people like you are doing all they can to keep these flames of liberty burning brightly. While our country is being dismantled, the Constitution horribly circumvented and subverted by our present administration, it is of the utmost importance that in the times that we grew up in, there was never an effort to muzzle our freedom and liberty as we see today.The world would be a much more violent and hostile place had it not been for the willingness of those in the United States to stand up, step forward, be counted and fight against evil and tyranny.
Evil,once again is on our doorstep and the words you have so eloquently written will never fade from my mind or heart. Thanks!!!!
August 13th, 2012 at 9:44 am
Was this John T. Bussey from Company A, 141st Infantry, 36th Division? If so, you can get his service card (sort of like a wwi dd-214) from the Texas Military Forces Museum.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I believe so Jim – thank you!!
Steve
August 24th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Just a follow up, if I might. Company A, 141st, in which John T. Bussey served, was formed by Richard F. Burges,an extremely prominent El Paso attorney. Around El Paso, Company A was known as “El Paso’s Own” and was quite famous after the war (at least in El Paso and to some extent nationally). Among its members were Sgt. Sam Dreben, who was nationally famous after the war and for whom the Texas Governor ordered all flags to fly at half-staff after he died in 1925 and who Gen. Pershing called one of the bravest men I know. A number of leading citizens from El Paso were also in Co. A, as was William Harvey Dixon, my grandfather. Company A trained at Camp Bowie, Texas. Thought you might like to know this. Best wishes.