MORE WITH LESS

Life continues...
Politicians argue, rant and oppose... even opposing what they once stood for...
or standing for what they once opposed.
The doomsday prophets are forecasting the end of the earth...
the end of the United States of America...
Peace Keepers are dying often and the majority pays no attention...
unless a law enforcement officer kills a civilian... then often there is a great cry...
Laws are adjusted when they do not need to be tampered with...
Laws or plans for true needs are debated to death...
often when reasonable ideas could be enacted but no one wants to be for
more tax or fee costs to citizens or business so needs go unmet...
and we do more with less... often at greater cost in time...
Working programs are tampered with in order to save money...
usually it is the programs for transportation, the military, veterans, retired people and
often the elderly who cannot afford either cost increases or changes...
and something has to give... and needs go unmet...

Our Peace Keepers at home are assaulted over 150 times daily with one being killed
about every 2 1/2 days on the average...

Almost four years in Iraq has cost us 3129 lives of military Peace Keepers killed
and 23,530 wounded...

More than 750 contractors have been killed in Iraq, according to Department of Labor
statistics, and almost 8,000 injured. The figures include Americans, Iraqis and other
nationalities employed under U.S. government contracts. Nearly 125,000 contractors
are now at work in Iraq supporting roughly 135,000 troops, according to the most
recent military figures. For full story on contractors see...
http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-na-contractors12feb12,0,7886114.story?coll=ktla-news-1

In 2005 in U.S. cities of population in excess of 250,000 there was a total of 6640 homicides...
Examples... Baltimore      269
                    Houston          334
                    Detroit             354
                    Philadelphia   377
                    Chicago          448
                    Los Angeles   489
                    New York        539

In 2004 U.S. Traffic Crash Fatalities numbered 42,836... 16, 919 were alcohol related...

In 2001 (the latest figures that I found) Suicide took the lives of 30,622 people in these United States...
24,672 of those deaths were male...
Suicide is the 8th leading cause of death for all U.S. men...
Suicide rates are highest among white men... 2nd highest among American Indian and Native Alaskan men...
Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24...
3971 reported among this group in 2001...
In 2001, 5,393 Americans over the age of 65 committed suicide... 85% were men...

We live in a time of much destruction... BUT... that destruction would be a
lot worse were it not for the Peace Keepers at home in Law Enforcement and the
Peace Keepers in the Military who fight for right and freedom on foreign fields...
and all of those people in their support systems.

There would be no life as we know it in this nation today... nor in this world
today... if it were not for those whom I call Peace Keepers doing all that they
do day in day out... hour by hour... moment by moment.

If there were no law enforcement patrol the traffic crash fatalities would be
much higher as people did as they desired to do without fear of arrest by patrol
officers... Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants would be much more
frequent if there was no threat of apprehension... and they would cause much
more death and destruction...
This nation would never have prospered and become the power that it is if there
had not been Peace Keepers who rose up, stepped out from among the herd of humanity
and took a stand on that line between good and evil... fighting evil into submission...

If our military had not been always vigilant in all of the places where they
have served all around the earth there would be no freedom and liberty any place...
Zealots would rise up and crush all peaceful people if it were not for the Peace
Keepers who stand between those citizens desiring peace and those zealots who
want to do their own thing no matter who might be injured or killed... Their
thing would include using and abusing whomever they desired to use and abuse
just as Saddam Hussein did in Iraq and despots have been doing for all time
until the Warrior - Peace Keeper arose to put a stop to their treachery.

I hear great cries about and against the war in Iraq... and Afghanistan... But
I do not hear great cries against the carnage that is inflicted upon our population
in our cities... I do not hear great cries against the terrible toll taken
by Drunken Drivers... Not much is said about Suicide unless you seek for the
statistics... Not many are raising a cry against the deterioration of our veterans
medical care and how changes are bringing much higher costs upon those who cannot
afford it... Many years ago when our current veterans enlisted they were
promised full medical care when they served long enough to retire. I am
hearing horror stories about different benefits being changed or removed periodically.

The death and injury toll of our troops in Iraq is terrible when all costs are
tallied... I agree with that.

The death and injury toll upon our homeland law enforcement is also terrible
when all the costs are tallied... But when adding those two together for any
one year, the total is pale in comparison to the cost of lives lost in the civilian
population here at home. Something is wrong when over 50,000 civilians
are lost to us in one year by the destruction of homicide, suicide and driving
while under the influence of intoxicants.

I am aware that Peace Keepers cannot do much about the suicide toll... That
is a social and spiritual problem...
I am aware that Peace Keepers cannot do a lot more about the DUI toll unless
we hire many more law enforcement personnel to patrol our roads...
and work on our system of justice to better handle the ones who are caught and proven guilty...
I am aware that current Peace Keepers may not be able to do a lot more about the
homicide rate until some new plans and new strategies are implemented...

Are more law enforcement personnel an answer?... most definitely... but strength
of forces is always much lower than needed everywhere. When more are requested and
justified the usual response is fewer than needed or no increase at all... and
pay is miserable... always has been... so it probably will continue to be...

Is an increase in troop strength and numbers in Iraq an answer to that conflict?...
most definitely... but policy and utilization of those
troops and Iraqi participation must be
altered and adjusted or more troops will not bring a resolution...
I hear good reports about some Iraqi soldiers...
and I hear some not so good reports about some Iraqi
soldiers... They must take a greater portion of activity
and responsibility or the country will always be at war no
matter how many troops we send unless we do something
differently than is currently being done.

All of law enforcement that I have been involved with does have some answers
and some plans that they wish to implement that will cut down the homicide
rate... such as plans to deal with gang activity and gang
strength... and the illegal drug distribution business...

Grants are obtained to pay overtime to law enforcement to implement DUI enforcement
programs utilizing current forces and these programs work
very well... Contemplate how it would be if they were not there during those high activity hours working the
overtime in order to apprehend as many offenders as possible.

Think about how many more military troops would be needed in Iraq and Afghanistan
if there were no civilian, police and security contractors there to support
them with specialized jobs that the contractors are handling.

All of these subjects and all of these peace keeping personnel are continually
on my mind and in my heart as I contemplate their missions... and pray for their
welfare. With all that I have seen and experienced I sometimes agonize
over the plight of the Peace Keeper. All are overworked and underpaid.
We often hear that we must do more with less. We have been doing more
with less for all of my almost 45 years of activity with and for Peace Keepers.

When I was one of 750 Virginia State Troopers we often heard do more with less.
Do all it takes to do the job that you can do. No overtime... not enough
of the right equipment...
poor courts... but do more with less. Now they have somewhere over 2200
Troopers and the work overload still persists... do more with less...

Our department is authorized approximately 800 sworn personnel... but we have
far fewer than we actually need... Sometimes on busy nights at the resort strip
I may not see another uniform for a very long time unless it is another chaplain...
because the beat officers are busy with cases or arrests in other locations
and I am watching a potential hot spot so that I may call for assistance when
the need arises.

When I think of all of you I know the frustration and agitation with which you
must deal at times... for I have to deal with it too. One morning recently
we had three calls, at exactly the same time, where we needed chaplains to respond.
There was only one available, me, so only one call received the attention of
a chaplain. One day this week I was attending meetings and handling administrative
necessities and there was a need for a chaplain... I had to have another chaplain
called out because I have not learned how to be in more than one place at a
time. I thank God that today I taught the last class of our current Chaplain
Academy and before long we will have four more chaplains that will be available
to help handle the calls as soon as they graduate and finish field training.

I understand your stress overload for I experience those overload times also...
including today. You know long hours and high demands. I identify
with that condition also. You do more with less and I have been doing
that for all of my career.

I love you for who you are and for what you do. You are my brothers and
sisters in the great family of Peace Keepers. My Commander-in-Chief also
loves you and appreciates you. We are eternally thankful for you being
who you are and for you being there to do what you do.

This week I officiated at a memorial service for a retired Peace Keeper.
One of the family members present was a Navy Corpsman who had been in Iraq with
the Marines three times and was set to go again... I am most thankful for Peace
Keepers like him who are always doing more with less...

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be alert, watchful suspicious, and wary.
Do the very best that you can to take care of you while you are trying to take
care of and for others. Be especially attentive to your spiritual welfare...
It needs to be strong and healthy for you to survive and be successful.

As it has always been... So it still is...

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