Back in the early 90’s when I was serving with 1^st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in the United States Marine Corps we used a tool that is usually connected to early grade school, flash cards.  No, we were not learning addition or subtraction; we were using flash cards with the silhouettes of Warsaw Pact, Russian, armored vehicles and helicopters to learn target identification.  We were expected to identify the vehicle by just the silhouette within a matter of seconds.  Military aviators do drills that are very similar only they add fixed wing aircraft to that mix because they may be tasked with acquiring any one of them and avoiding friendly fire is important.

A lot of time is spent in the Armored community on armor id, or target identification.  It is an integral part of the job that our men and women in uniform, especially in times of war, do day in and day out.  Target ID is one of the things that keep fratricide down to a minimum.

I think that maybe the members of Congress and our President need to begin to use the same tool to do their jobs as well.  Yesterday President Obama went on a national morning show and said that maybe he needed to “kick some ass” referring to BP and the oil spill down in Louisiana.  The spill from the explosion on the oil rig Deep Water Horizon has been going on for 50 days, and yes it is and should be a national concern.  It is something that the President of the United States of America should be briefed on.  But is BP the greatest threat to the United States?  Do they really need to have their “Asses Kicked” more than the Taliban or al qaeda?  I think not.

If I were the guy in charge of enumerating threats to America I would do it a little bit differently then what is being done now.

While the President, and his Administration, along with Congress are setting up the Rules of Engagement (ROE’s), or as I call them Rules of Disengagement, to benefit the guys that we are fighting and put our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines at the greatest threat possible while in harms way we are imprisoning brave men in uniform for killing bad guys.  Above and beyond that as men like Sgt Larry Hutchins sits in the brig at Camp Pendleton awaiting a new trial after his conviction was overturned or Lt Michael Behenna sits incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth for killing a known member of al qaeda in self defense our brightest military and political minds are releasing members of the Taliban and al qaeda with the only requirement being that big wigs in the Afghan community vouch for them and the militant signs a document promising not to go back to fighting alongside the enemies of the United States.

President Obama seems to be of the opinion that if he just gives the world one big group hug everything will become all rainbows and unicorns.  The problem with this world view is that the United States of America is not the problem, well outside many of the people sucking up oxygen in the nations capital, in fact America is one of the most charitable nations on the face of the globe.  When disaster strikes; regardless of whether it is a Christian, Jewish, Buddist, Hindu, or muslim country; it is the American military and government that sets up shop first and pours the most money and sweat into the affected area to set things right.  How many times do you see Afghanistan or Iran running to the aid of a Christian country?

We are fighting an enemy that wants nothing more than to see the nation of America and the people that call her home go down in flames.  Our enemy is a religious zealotry that is taught and ingrained from an early age.  Our enemy does not reside in one country; it is not a nation; it is not a recognized State in the United Nations; it is an ideology that is taught in mosques the world over.  We are fighting an enemy that screams that America is not doing enough when it suits their purposes or when America does act in a way that does not fit their agenda.

Down in Louisiana there is a definite problem with the millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico from the ocean floor.  The biggest difference is that BP is actively working to correct the problem and make things right, while our enemies are still scheming to do more damage to the United States of America and would love nothing more than to succeed in another September 11^th style attack that puts America further back on her heels.

Mr. President you keep trying to make nice and appease our sworn enemies around the world while threatening to “kick ass” when it comes to productive members of the American economy.  I think a class on Target ID would be very appropriate as you don’t seem to know whose “ASS” really needs to be KICKED!