Sorry this is so long.

A good friend of mine was an Infantry Battalion Commander in the Vietnam War, He often hoids different views of the world than mine. Reading the below, I wondered what he would think of it. Then I wondered what reaction you guys might have....

Claim: Vietnam veteran Brian Shul delivered a patriotic speech in Chico,
California, in 2001.

Status: True.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]

Speech by Brian Shul in Chico California in the Fall of 2001


Brian Shul is a Vietnam era USAF fighter pilot with 212 combat
missions. He was shot down near the end of the war and was so badly
burned that he was given next to no chance to live. He did live,
went on to fly SR-71s and completed a 20 year career in the Air
Force. Has written four books on aviation and runs a photo studio.
This is a speech he made in Chico California in the aftermath of the
September 11th attack on the U.S.




Thank you for the opportunity to address this rally today. It is not
often that a fighter pilot is asked to be the keynote speaker. There
is a rumor that they are unable to put two sentences together
coherently. I'd like to dispel that rumor today by saying that I can
do that, and in fact that I have written several books. I always
wanted to be an author, and I ARE one now.

I'm a pretty lucky person really. I'm like the little boy who tells
his father that when he grows up he wants to be a jet pilot, and his
father replies, "Sorry son, you can't do both". I made that choice a
long time ago and flew the jets. I was fortunate to live my dream,
and then some. I survived something I shouldn't have, and today,
tell people that I am 28 years old, as it has been that long since I
was released from the hospital. It was like I received a second
life, and in the past 28 years, I have gotten to see and do much, so
much that I would not have thought possible. Returning to fly jets
in the Air Force, flying the SR-71 on spy missions, spending a year
with the Blue Angels, running my own photo studio.... and so much
more. And now, seeing our country attacked in such a heinous way.

Some of you here today have heard me speak before, and know that I
enjoy sharing my aviation slide show. I have brought no slides to
show you, as I feel compelled today, to address different issues
concerning this very difficult time in our nation's history.

I stand before you today, not as some famous person, or war hero. I
am far from that. You know, they say a good landing is one you can
walk away from, and a really great one is when you can use the
airplane again. Well, I did neither...and I speak to you to today as
simply a fellow American citizen.

Like you, I was horrified at the events of September 11th. But I was
not totally surprised that such a thing could happen, or that there
were people in the world who would perpetrate such deeds, willingly,
against us. Having sat through many classified briefings while in
the Air Force, I was all too l aware of the threat, and I can assure
you, it has always been there in one form or another. And those of
you who have served in the defense of this nation, know all too well
the response that is needed. In every fighter squadron I was in,
there was a saying that we knew to be true, that said, when there
was a true enemy, you negotiate with that enemy with your knee in
his chest and your knife at his throat.

Many people are unfamiliar with this way of thinking, and shrink
from its ramifications. War is such a messy business, and there are
many who want no part of it, but rush to bask in the security
blanket of its victory.

I spent an entire military career fighting Communism, and was very
proud to do so. We won that war, we beat one of the worst scourges
to humankind the world has known. But it took a great effort, over
many years of sustained vigilance and much sacrifice by so many
whose names you will never know. And perhaps our nation, so weary
from so long a cold war, relaxed too much and felt the world was a
safer place with the demise of the Soviet Union. We indulged
ourselves in our own lives, and gave little thought to the threats
to our national
security.

You know, normally my talks are laced with numerous jokes as I share
my stories, but I have very few jokes to tell this afternoon. These
murdering fanatics came into our land, lived amongst our people,
flew on our planes, crashed them into our buildings, and killed
thousands of our citizens. And nowhere along their gruesome path
were they questioned or stopped. The joke is on us. We allowed this
country to become soft.

We shouldn't really be too surprised that this could happen. Did we
really think that we could keep electing officials who put self
above nation and this would make us stronger? Did we really think
that a strong economy adequately replaced a strong intelligence
community? Did we imagine that a President who practically gave away
the store on his watch, was insuring national security? While our
country was mired in the wasted excess of a White House sex scandal,
the drums of war beat loudly in foreign lands, and we were deaf. Our
response was to give the man two terms in office, and even then
barely half the American public exercised their right to vote. We
have only ourselves to blame. Our elected officials are merely a
reflection of our own values and what we deem important.

Did we not realize that America had become a laughing stock around
the world? We had lost credibility, even amongst our allies. To our
enemies we had no resolve. We made a lot of money, watched a lot of
TV, and understood little about what was happening beyond our
shores. We were, simply, an easy target.

But we are a country awakened now. We have been attacked in our
homeland. We have now felt the reality of what an unstable and
dangerous world it truly is. And still, in the face of this
unprecedented carnage in our most prominent city, there are those
who choose to take this opportunity to protest, and even burn the
flag.

If I were the regents or alumni of certain large universities in
this county, I would be embarrassed to be producing students of such
ignorance and naïve notions. Like mindless sheep, they march with
painted faces and trite sayings on signs, blissfully ignorant of the
world they live in, and the system that protects them, hoping maybe
to make the evening news. Perhaps if they had spent more time in
class they would have learned that those who forget the past are
condemned to repeat it. They might have learned that all it takes
for evil to succeed in the world, is for good people to stand by and
do nothing. If they had simply gone back in history as recently as
the Viet Nam War, they would have learned that an enemy that knows
it can never defeat us militarily, will persist as long as there is
dissention and disruption in our land. Their ignorance can be
understood, as their young empty minds have been filled with the
re-written history tripe that tenured leftist professors can spew
out with no fear of removal. But the unwitting aid they provide the
enemy, in disrupting the national resolve, is unforgivable. I think
this is wonderful country, though, that gives everyone their voice
of dissention. I am all for people expressing their views publicly
because it makes it much easier for us to identify the truly
foolish, and to know who cannot be counted on in times of crisis.
These are the weak and cowardly who, when the enemy is crashing
through the front door, will cower in the back room, counting on
better men than themselves to make and keep them free. Well, the
enemy is at our front door, and isn't it interesting those who cry
loudest and most often for their rights, are usually those least
willing to defend it.

I heard a student on TV the other day say that this war just wasn't
in his plans and he would simply head to Canada if a draft occurred.
Just wasn't in his plans. I wonder what plans the young men at the
beaches of Normandy had that they never got to live. I wonder if it
was in the plans of 19-year-old boys in Viet Nam to lie dying in a
jungle far from home. I guess the men and women at Pearl Harbor one
morning had their plans slightly rearranged too. Gee, I hope we
haven't inconvenienced this student. Those people in the World Trade
Center have no more plans. It is up to us to have a plan now. And it
isn't going to be easy. Who ever said it would? Just what part of
our history spoke of how easy it was to form a free nation? It has
never been easy and has always required vigilance and sacrifice, and
sometimes war, to preserved this union. If it were easy, everyone
would have done it. But no one else has, and we stand alone as the
most unique country on earth.

And isn't it amazing that we have spent a generation stamping God
out of our schools and government, and now as a nation, have
collectively turned to God in memorial services, prayer vigils and
churches around this country.

I am also very disturbed to hear that there are people in this
country, at this particular time, who feel it inappropriate to wear
the flag on their lapel because they are on the news or in a public
job, and school officials who want to remove pro-American stickers
so as not to offend foreign students. Well I am offended that these
people call themselves Americans. I am offended that innocent people
were killed in a mass attack of unthinkable proportions. And I am
offended at listening to TV broadcasters speak to me
condescendingly, with a bias that screams of their drowning in a
cesspool of political correctness. I pity the person who thinks they
are going to remove this flag from my lapel.

This flag of ours is the symbol of all that is good about this
country. America is an idea. It is an idea lived, and fought for, by
a people. We are America, and this is our symbol. We are imperfect
in many ways, but we continue to strive toward the ideal our
forefathers laid down for us over 225 years ago. I could never
imagine desecrating that symbol. Perhaps there are many people in
this nation who have never been abroad, or in harms way, and seen
the flag upon their return. Those poor souls can never know the deep
pride and honor one feels to see it wave, to know that there is
still a good ol' USA. With all our warts we are still the greatest
nation on earth, and the flag is the most powerful symbol of that
greatness. When I was in grade school, we used to say the Pledge of
Allegiance every morning. It is something I never forgot. I wonder
how many children even know that pledge today.

This flag is our history, our dreams, our accomplishments, indelibly
expressed in bright red, white, and blue. This flag was carried in
our Revolutionary War, although it had many less stars. But it
persevered and evolved throughout a war we had no right to believe
we could win. But we did, and built a country around it. This flag,
tattered and battle worn, waved proudly from the mast, as John Paul
Jones showed the enemy what true resolve was. This banner was raised
by the hands of brave men on a godforsaken island called Iwo Jima,
and became a part of the most famous photo of the 20th Century.
Those men are all dead now, but their legacy lives on in the Marine
Memorial in Washington, DC. Those of you who have seen it will
recall that inscribed within the stone monument are the words — When
Uncommon Valor, Was A Common Virtue — I don't believe you'll see the
words, "it was easy", anywhere on it. This flag has even been to the
moon, planted there for all time by men with a vision, and the
courage to see it through.

I personally know what it is to see the flag, and feel something
deep inside that makes you feel you are a part of something much
bigger than yourself. Laying in a hospital bed, I can vividly recall
looking out the only window in the room and on Sundays, seeing that
big garrison flag flying proudly in the breeze. It filled the entire
window, and filled my heart with a motivation that helped me leave
that bed, and enabled me to be standing here today. And many years
later, while fighting another terrorist over Libya, my backseater
and I outraced Khaddafi's missiles in our SR-71 as we headed for the
Mediterranean, and I can still clearly see that American flag patch
on the shoulder of my space suit, staring at me in the rear view
mirror as we headed west, and it was a good feeling. Now don't ask
me why we had rear view mirrors in the world's fastest jet. I can
assure you, no one was gaining on us that day.

I am so happy to see so many flags out here today. Long may it wave.


History will judge us. How we confront this chapter of American
history will be important for the future of this great nation. This
will be a war like none other we have endured. The combatants will
not just be the soldier on the battlefront, but will be fought by
us, the citizens. We are on the battlefield now; the war has been
brought to us. We will determine the outcome of this war by how well
we remain vigilant, how patient we are with tightened security, how
well we support the economy, and most importantly, in the resolve we
show the enemy. There are some things worth fighting for, and this
country is one of them.

I pray for our leaders at this time. In the Pacific, during WW II,
Admiral Bull Halsey said, "There are no great men, just great
circumstances, and how they handle those circumstances will
determine the outcome of history". Our future and the future of
coming generations are in our hands. Wars are not won just on
military fronts, but by the resolve of the people. We must remain
tenaciously strong in the pursuit of this enemy that threatens free
people everywhere.

I am encouraged that we will win this war. Even before the first
shot was finished being fired, there were brave Americans on Flight
93, fighting back. These people were the first true heroes of this
conflict, and gave their lives to save their fellow countrymen.

This nation, this melting pot of humanity, this free republic, must
be preserved. This idea that is America is important enough to be
defended. Fought for. Even die for. The enemy fears what you have,
for if their people ever become liberated into a free society,
tyrannical dictatorships will cease and he will lose power.

How can they ever understand this country of ours, so self-indulgent
and diverse, yet when attacked, so united in the defense of its
principals. This is the greatest country in the world because brave
people sacrificed to make it that way. We are a collective mix of
greatness and greed, hi-tech and heartland. We are the country of
Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mantle; from John Smith and Pocahontas to
John Glenn and an Atlas booster; from Charles Lindbergh to Charley
Brown; from Moby Dick to Microsoft; we are a nation that went from
Kitty Hawk to Tranquility Base in less than 70 years; we are rock
and roll, and the Bill of Rights; we are where everyone else wants
to be, the greatest nation in the world.

The enemy does not understand the dichotomy of our society, but they
should understand this; we will bandage our wounds, we will bury our
dead; and then we will come for you . . . and we will destroy you
and all you stand for.

I read this quote recently and would like to share it with you:

We are pressed on every side, but not crushed,
Perplexed, but not in despair,
Persecuted, but not abandoned,
Struck down, but not destroyed.

That is from II Corinthians. Not too long ago it would have been
politically incorrect to quote from the Bible. I am so happy to be
politically INCORRECT. And I am so proud to be an American.

Thank you all for coming out today and showing your support for your
government, and your nation. You are the true patriots, you are the
soldiers of this war, you are the strength of America.

Source www.snopes.com/rumors/shul.asp

~

What do you think ?