America’s First Responders

At the dawn of our American history, there were no professional firemen. Firemen consisted of the citizenry of a town who came together to save some poor soul’s house and possessions from fire in the off chance they had the misfortune to suffer such a catastrophe.

Likewise, there were no professional lawmen. A constable or Sheriff was appointed or elected and performed his duties without a large coterie of assistants. On occasion, if he required help, he would deputize as many as needed and proceed to capture the miscreant.

On the other hand, since our inception, we have been forced to go to war on more than one occasion. Americans of all creeds and colors have flocked to these undertakings with patriotism and great gusto. These men (and now women) don’t ask for special privileges, extra pay, parades, or accolades. They don’t hold themselves forth as unique and deserving of funds to be set aside for their wives and children in the event they are killed in the line of duty. They don’t advocate for higher wages and threaten to go on strike for same. They don’t have a strong union representing them. In fact, they are forbidden by law to do so. When duty calls, they are the first to put themselves in harm’s way to protect America. If it occurs between the hours of 5 P.M.-7 A.M., they do not demand time and a half. If it should carry over into a weekend, they do not demand double overtime. The men and women of our Armed Forces ask little and give much in spite of their meager pay.

I submit that these are truly America’s First Responders. Anyone other than a Veteran who covets this term is simply riding on their coattails. JOVO (Just one Veteran’s opinion), mind you.

The gentlemen pictured below are a classic example. The reason they weren’t wearing uniforms is quite simple. We were forbidden to do so while serving in Laos during the Vietnam “conflict”. It was officially known as Project 404. Unofficially, it was nicknamed the “Steve Canyon Program”. It didn’t dim our patriotism one bit. We had to volunteer for this and they wouldn’t even tell you what it was you were volunteering for.