Looking into the eyes of Marcus Luttrell, one can see both emptiness and fire, the emptiness of a team player who lost his team, and the fire of a Navy Seal who relishes what all Navy Seals do, the chance to fight. Luttrell’s book “Lone Survivor” tells the story of his part in “Operation Red Wings”, and of those who died fighting with him on Sawtalo Sar mountain, west of Kunar’s provincial capital of Asadabad, Afghanistan. The story was widely reported in the media for its gruesome details, but never truly “vetted” until Luttrell’s book. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do. I plan to see “Lone Survivor” this coming week, though I know it will be difficult to watch. Nevertheless, I think all Americans should know this story of brotherhood and the American spirit. “Never Quit!”

I won’t spoil the book or the movie for you, though I do want to make one point. Both make a strong case for what separates us from our Islamic terrorist enemy. You see, while war is, was, and always will be at its core, about killing people and breaking things, the American Soldier fights with peace as the end-game and freedom as a banner. Team 10’s decision not to kill who they perceived as civilian, may actually have cost them their lives. But in the end, it validated their mission and the mission of the U.S. military and our country.

There will always be revisionist fools who seek to portray American ideals as something they are not and have never been. Mistakes will be made and policies will fail. That said, our military and our people, possess an inherent and fundamental respect for human life that our enemy does not. And I believe it is that difference that will ultimately be insurmountable to al-Qaeda, and any associated murdering criminal enterprise, masquerading as a religious faith.

God please bless all our Navy Seals, and every American Soldier who goes in harm’s way to defend liberty.