Memorial Day 2023 Thoughts

The purpose of Memorial Day is to honor the sacrifice of those who were killed in action in service to the United States for the sake of liberty and representative government, as I have posted every year. It is not for honoring those currently serving or veterans, living or deceased, and it certainly is not a celebratory holiday, despite the customary practice of regarding it as an unofficial start of summer. Although focused on armed service members, it is appropriate to recall those civilians who also were killed by hostile forces while serving America. This year is the second year in a row in which there had been no additional servicemembers killed in action since the previous Memorial Day. This fact reflects not only superior U.S. military power, but mostly the reduced activity in the War on Terrorism, especially since the disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, as well as an increased reliance on drone strikes over manned combat missions. There have been only occasional strikes from aircraft or ground raids against Islamist terrorists in Syria and Somalia, particularly. The U.S. relies also on supporting various allies in the War on Terrorism. Although violent jihadists have suffered major blows since the war began after the September 11, 2001 Attacks against America that killed a record of nearly 3,000 people, they remain a deadly threat to world security. It is good, of course, that no Americans have been killed in combat, but a reluctance to risk lives ought never to take precedence over protecting the security of the United States and lives of the American people, especially against the threat from terrorism, which is the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians to terrorize them to give into the demands of the terrorists. Vanquishing the Islamist terrorists would save more lives of Americans and others around the globe and safeguard freedom. It is hoped that no more Americans will have to make the ultimate sacrifice, but also that the continued various efforts by brave volunteers and others against terrorism will also prevent the deaths of any more innocent civilians.