[djmcmath]

The reason we hunt for bodies of POW/MIA people is a lot deeper than someone who's never served is liable to understand. It's the same reason the Navy Seals believe in never leaving a man behind. It's not entirely unlike the reason that those of us in the incomprehensible warrior classes of this society believe in military honors at funerals. It's closely related to those worthless pieces of cloth we wear on our chests, alongside shiny six-dollar bits of cast metal.

We do this thing not for the money, or for the fame, or the hordes of screaming women waiting eagerly at home for my return. The money's mediocre, the fame is as much negative (thanks, Wash.Post et al) as it is positive, and the women are nasty. It's about honor, courage, and committment. It's about having ideals, about standing up for each other in the interest of the common good. It's about sacrificing all that we have for people like you, who would just as soon see our memory forgotten and dishonored. It's about protecting your right to protest the work that we do, or to protest the funding that makes our work and therefore your protest possible, or to elect a president who pressed the effort to forget those who died in the service of their country.

(sigh) But like I said, if you're not a warrior, this is probably all lost on you. I can hardly wait to go back to sea, where I can pretend that the people who's freedom I'm defending appreciate the thing I'm doing, and will afford me some respect when I'm dead.

Dan