Retired Gen. Tommy Franks during Celebration of Freedom festival. Franks has backed Romney for President.
Gen. Tommy Franks, USA (Ret.), Past Commander, U.S. Central Command released his opinion on leadership explaining why We need to vote Romney for President in this election.
Leadership is the glue that binds groups of people together and helps us achieve common goals. In the military, where I served for nearly forty years, leadership is more than just a means to an end. It is an ethos, a deeply respected way of life that helps keep our soldiers safe and our nation secure. Leadership starts at the top. Leaders know that the mission and the welfare of our soldiers falls squarely on their shoulders.
It is distressing when leaders do not take responsibility, when they blame others for the challenges we face and their own inability to solve those challenges. With sad regret, this is the tone the current White House has set. In a recent address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars , President Obama said this of the impending defense cuts known as sequestration:
“Those big, across-the-board cuts, including defense that Congress said would occur next year if they couldn’t reach a deal to reduce the deficit? Let’s understand, first of all, there’s no reason that should happen, because people in Congress ought to be able to come together and agree on a plan.”
Shifting the burden of defense cuts to Congress may resonate inside the Beltway, but not with those who serve. Veterans and service members value leadership as deeply as honor and integrity. Loyalty is unconditional……..and it works both up and down the chain of command. Those who serve are responsible to “support and defend the Constitution.” The Commander in Chief is responsible to take care of the security needs of our country, and the needs of the troops. That requires leadership. …. The kind of leadership that brings people together. No doubt many members of the VFW were disappointed that the Commander-in-Chief, while eloquent in describing the log jam on Capital Hill, has done little to resolve it.
The President’s remarks saturated the audience with all of the important things the government is doing for veterans. He spoke of increasing funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs, he regaled the audience with tales of government-centric initiatives. He took credit for keeping faith with veterans and military families. To polite applause, the President approached the VFW as a salesman would approach a prospective client.
In contrast, the following day Mitt Romney delivered an honest “thank you” to these same patriots. He described his vision of our Armed Forces and the role they play in America’s global leadership. He singled out our military as a stabilizing element that bolsters the free world and makes our prosperity possible. He warmly appealed to their stoicism and their principles. And he did not promise them a thing.
Put more plainly, Governor Romney talked like a leader, and addressed veterans as if they were partners in a high and noble mission. President Obama spoke as if military service is an economic transaction. It is neither unsurprising nor unexpected that recent polls reflect a nearly twenty point advantage for Romney with the veteran community.
The military community does not measure itself by how much money it can squeeze from the taxpayers. When they volunteer to serve, military members enter into a sacred agreement with their fellow citizens. In return for their service, which guarantees our freedom, we agree to respect them, fund their education and care for the wounds they receive during their time in uniform. All they ask is that we hold up our end of the bargain.
Our Veterans and members of our Armed Forces pride themselves on their time in service, and the services they provide to their communities. The major veterans service organizations, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, and Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, do incredible work helping troops transition back to civilian life. They also volunteer to help keep parks clean and raise scholarship money for local youth. They bring their communities together with fundraising BBQs …..and they bear America’s colors at the funerals of fellow patriots.
Members of the military take great pride in the fact that they stand in ranks with a rifle, or wrench, or stethoscope in their hands and an American flag on their sleeve. Many take offense when their Commander in Chief appeals to their pocketbooks rather than their principles.
For veterans, watching the proud military they served being reduced in size and under resourced in a time of war, and hearing their Commander-in-Chief blame others can be intolerable. Avoiding responsibility, rather than working to find common ground and positive solutions, is considered a terminal sin in a community that reveres the virtues of leadership. Current and former service members bristle when the President refuses to utter the word “victory” when he talks of ending wars, and when he doesn’t seem to have an understanding of the noble qualities that guide their lives.
Our veterans and the serving members of our military are deeply invested in America. They are a community of action, not words. And they have never failed to act when this Republic finds itself in troubled times. I expect they will act in November.
This is why we need to vote Romney for President.
See also story in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Retired Army General Franks backs Romney” http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/