“I will tell you why patriotism matters, and why I chose to serve my country in uniform. Then, you can decide for yourself,” writes Ken Harbaugh in an open letter to his daughter on why he wants her to one day join the military.
“America is a force for good,” continues Harbaugh, who is a former Navy pilot and co-founder of The Mission Continues.
“I say this as someone who has seen our country stumble badly. I lost friends because of those blunders. But I know we can learn from our mistakes, and I still believe that America is an indispensable force for good. The world believes it too. This very moment, America is standing up to a bully in Eastern Europe. We are guaranteeing freedom of the seas across the Pacific. We are preparing for the next natural disaster, for our military to provide aid to those in need with no regard for race or religion or the things that often divide others. Wherever I go in the world, wherever I see suffering, people ask, ‘Where is America?’ That is a call we must always be able to answer.”