12/08/2004 09:55:44 AM|||Toni|||BLACKFIVE: Compassion From Killers - Marine Commander Speaks Out

You just have to go read what this LtCol has to say. He may be a simple man but he sure has an eloquent way of expressing himself!

Compassion From Killers - Marine Commander Speaks Out
"We're going out where the bad guys live, and we're going to slay them in their ZIP code." - Marine LtCol Mark Smith, Commander of 2/24 Marines before the Assault on Fallujah.

The following is an email from Marine LtCol Mark Smith who commands the 2/24 Marines - a Reserve Battalion out of the great city of Chicago. LtCol Smith is an Indiana State Trooper in civilian life. The New York Times recently wrote an article about 2/24 (thanks to JarheadDad for the link). Here is what the LtCol has to say:
If you will indulge me a few moments of your time, I feel absolutely compelled to share some thoughts with you, based on some recent events.I have expressed with you on many occasions that I am a simple man. To me "class" is where you go in school and "sophisticated" is drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon from a bottle, and while wearing a tie. With that said, and with the disclaimer that for me "art appreciation" was a required class before I could be commissioned in the Marine Corps and learn how to kill things and blow trash up, not a skill; I would like to communicate to you a recent masterpiece I was subject to.You see, I like to think of God as an artist. His painting is life, his subjects are us and his canvas is the earth we live on. Now, under normal conditions, you see the painting and only identify the biggest shapes and the brightest colors. However, either when one takes the time to focus, or when situations of intensity change the prism through which you view the painting, you start to notice the incredible amount of work that the artist puts into his creation. You notice subtly of color. You notice various shapes. You notice fine details. You notice intricate patterns. You notice connection and blending and contrast and shadow. You find yourself immersed in the study of the work and inside the mind of the artist, trying to see and FEEL what he was thinking as he created.
|||110252135542515401|||BLACKFIVE: Compassion From Killers - Marine Commander Speaks Out