Joe Speaks at TIVY HIGH SCHOOL ROTC

Posted by Joseph (Joe) Benham 
on May 03, 2016
 
 
I was privileged to speak and present awards at the Kerrville Tivy ROTC Awards Night April 26.  
 
 
 
TIVY HIGH SCHOOL ROTC   --   Kerrville  TX   --   April 26, 2016
 
    Thank you, Capt. Hill, cadet commanders and you ladies and
 
gentlemen of all ages for letting me remind you again of the
 
close ties between this ROTC Squadron and the Hill Country
 
Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.  It was our
 
privilege to help in the chartering of this unit, and to present you
 
with the American and Texas colors and the cases for them.
 
 
    On a purely personal note, I want to say again how this old
 
sergeant swells with pride when I see your razor-sharp color
 
guards present those colors at halftime in Antler Stadium and
 
during patriotic events at the Cailloux Theater and elsewhere.
 
 
    I'm sure that regardless of whether you're a history nut like I
 
am, everyone here knows that 2016 includes an anniversary
 
that's important to every American who values our freedoms.
 
 
    Soon, we'll celebrate the day way back in 1776 when a group
 
of patriots whom we've come to know as our Founding Fathers
 
declared that what had been 13 colonies were now the United
 
States of America.
 
 
    Yeah, OK, some may ask -- why is that a such a big deal for
 
you and your parents and these honored guests 240 years later?
 
 
     I have a lot of reasons for believing that July Fourth is a very
 
big deal for everyone in our country, but I don't want to abuse
 
the privilege of sharing thoughts with you, so I'll limit myself to
 
just two points:
 
 
    First, every man who signed that Declaration of Independence
 
knew that pledging "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred
 
honor" to the cause of American freedom was doing just that --
 
putting his property and his very life in jeopardy.  Every one of
 
them would have been hanged or shot had he been captured by
 
the British Army or mercenaries that King George III hired to
 
help fight the Americans.   Many of those patriots did in fact lose
 
everything that they owned.  The king's men looted what they
 
could and burned the rest.
 
 
    Second, and this is where you come in, the men who did the
 
fighting on the American side, and the women who raised the
 
food and wove the cloth for uniforms and blankets and did so
 
much more were mostly young like yourselves, and mostly
 
people who had to learn how to be soldiers, sailors and Marines
 
as they went along.  America didn't have Reserve Officer
 
Training Corps in our early wars, but every state had reserve
 
units called militias, made up of farmers and store clerks and the
 
like who turned out to fight for America's freedom.
 
 
     It's important to add that what I just said about fighting men
 
having to learn on the job is true of nearly all of their leaders as
 
well.  The notable exception is George Washington who fought
 
in the French and Indian War and was a lieutenant colonel in the
 
Virginia militia before being named commanding general in
 
charge of America's Continental Army and those militias.
 
 
     General Knox was a book dealer in civilian life who became a
 
brilliant, self-taught artillery commander.   General Greene, who
 
liberated the Carolinas and Georgia after it looked as if the war
 
in the South was lost, ran a family mill before he answered the
 
American call to arms.
 
 
     Alexander Hamilton, whose name has been in the news a lot
 
lately, was a teenager attending what's now Columbia University 
 
when he enlisted.  He rose from private to lieutenant colonel and
 
led the charge in the battle of Yorktown that convinced the
 
British to surrender to George Washington and begin the retreat
 
to Europe that ended the war.
 
 
    So, again, some may ask why that's such a big deal.  Well, I
 
see as it as very significant because it reaffirms the enormous
 
importance of citizen-soldiers (and sailors, Marines and airmen)
 
in winning and preserving not only American freedom but the
 
liberty of tens of millions of people throughout the world.
 
 
     As a veteran, as the father of a Commander in the United
 
States Navy who began his career as an ROTC midshipman, and
 
as a proud American, I pray that none of us here will ever take
 
that legacy or our freedoms for granted.
 
 
    May God bless you, may He bless those who have served our
 
nation and who serve it now, and may God always bless these
 
United States of America.
 
 
       Thank you.