[congressman]

Its no secret that I'm in the military. But, I suppose I should take it one step further and describe the mindset that I have, and whats expected of me in with my job.

Imagine this. Imagine someone breaking into your house late at night. You wake up, find broken glass, and hear screams from down the hall. You rush into your childs room, and find a crazed killer strangling your daughter. Using the weapon you had by your bed, you pull up, and fire off 3 rounds. Careful not to hit your innocent daughter (cavemaster, lets assume she's innocent... lol). You hit him twice in the back, and he falls into the floor.

What do you do next? He's no longer a threat, because whatever weapon if any, is in your possession. He's barely breathing, and rapidly falling unconscience... Most would probably pick up the weapon and finish empyting it into his already limp body to finish him off. Or at least something of that nature. Most legal entities would allow this, and you'd probably go to bed the next night without so much as a second of lost sleep over taking this insane child molesting and potential killer's life.

Now lets switch gears. Same situation, different characters. I'm laying in my bunk, and I hear gasps coming from across the room. Its my battle buddy, and he's got a radical islamic terrorist on him, strangling him and stabbing with a knife. Somehow a worker on the camp made it through hiding his terrorist intentions. I grab my m9, and fire off a few rounds hitting him, as you did, in the back a couple of times. He falls to the floor, I grab the knife and notice he's not moving, and bleeding badly. I check my battle buddy, and he's got several stab wounds to abdomen, but is talking and has since caught his breath, and has no trouble breathing.

My quick thinking allows me to bend his knees to take pressure off the injured abdomen. I apply moist sterile guaze to the wounds, and cover them occlusive dressing. I think check to make sure the suspect is still not moving and unable to cause any further injury to anyone who is in the area. By now, the medivac has arrived and my buddy is gonna be ok after a few weeks in germany... meanwhile, the perpetrator has died from a tension pnuemothorax as a result of the penetrating chest wounds. I'm a hero, I just killed a would-be assassin, and saved the life of an American Soldier. Right? Wrong. I just broke international law (as a soldier), as well as federal and state laws (as a result of paramedic certification and medical provider laws). The UN, Geneva Convention, and UCMJ were not followed, because as a Medic, I have to be blind and not see what uniform the wounded are wearing. The only thing people I can discriminate against, are those who are less severely wounded. When I triage wounded soldiers, whether they be soldiers of Allah, or soldiers of Freedom.. I first have to dismiss those who are expected to die regardless of treatment. My next priority, is the most severely wounded remaining. If it is an American soldier, he gets first treatment. If its the terrorist, I must step overtop of my guy, and ignore his pleas for help... and do everything within my power to save the life of the man or woman who was just trying to kill some of my own. If I fail to do this, I will have set myself up for a possible trial in the international criminal courts, violated my own values, and ignored what I believe to be a God given duty to treat the worst first. How hard is it to do? You will never have a clue. But its my job.

And the same goes for the civilian world. If a drunk driver severely injures a family of 5, but his injuries are more severe and he has a fighting chance to live.. I must ignore the cries of the 3 year old laying 20 feet away in a bed of shattered glass. It sucks. But, I respect life more than anyone I've ever met. And although I once thought I had it right, being for the death penalty.. I have never felt better about a decision in my entire life, than the decision I made to walk away from the culture of death, and into the world of second chances and changed lives.

Few here know my real identity, and its probably best kept that way. However, I can say without any doubt... that a second chance changed my life forever. And the part I love to tell the most, when I get up the nerve to even talk about it... is that, it changed the lives of everyone around me as well. If Saul could become Paul. I'm convinced that anyone can do the same.

And as far as whomever it was that said that anyone who scars a child for life should die... you better be careful how you say things, because more kids than you'll ever know about are scarred for life because of mental abuse.. either directly, or indirectly. The kid who found their father in bed with a woman besides their mom. The child who witnessed their mother drinking until she passed out, and neglected them the love they should have had. More often than not, kids are more scarred by emotional neglect, than sexual abuse. Its a fact, that a child that recieve the love he or she needs, will have a harder time in life than a child who can't even remember an incident that you propose should end someone's life. Based on your logic, we need a new federal agency to 'take care' of a few million parents.

Now, who wants to be the first to say that I'm soft of crime? I'm guessing... hmm.. I dunno, surprise me.

I'm not afraid of what I believe. Nor am I the criticism of those who don't understand. As Bush said, Bring 'em on. I need some laughs....