Strike the Match
Hey, retired military, what's the plan?
I was a military spouse for 20 years. My husband served for 26 years in the US Navy and officially retired just 2 months ago. My peer group for the entirety of my adult life has been people who signed up to die for this country. I’ve always been proud of my life and the sacrifices my military family has made. I consider everyone we’ve served alongside family and would do nearly anything for them. But I will not sacrifice any more, I will not sacrifice my children’s future for an ideal that no longer exists. My husband will say to me, “I still believe in the mission”, as if I’ve ever been read in on the mission statement of the US Navy. I believe he says that as a way to ease my nerves about the hole I’m watching our country sink into. It does nothing to alleviate any stress or dread.
In my conversations with other military spouse friends, I hear similar stories. They are freaking out, worried that all of our sacrifices were for nothing, and our children’s future is at risk. Many of us on the support side of active duty are so used to deferring to our military members. We live where the military tells us to live, and it feels particularly strange to think about deciding this on our own. We’ve also moved our children around the country and the world for their entire lives, and those of us who have retired from active duty and can finally put down roots are hesitant to uproot them yet again. There’s also aging parents to consider. Maybe we are finally close to extended family for the first time in 15-30 years, and the idea of leaving a parent in need is too difficult. While all of these reasons are logical arguments to stay in our current respective state or country, they might also be the most hollow.
My husband knows that he has spent 26 years defending the United States abroad. He signed up to fight and potentially die for this country. He is still willing to fight and die for this country, and yet, I’m not sure it would be worth it. That guts him. I understand how upsetting it is to hear that. Though it seems to be a common thread among our retired military peers. They’re so resistant to the idea of leaving the country they spent their lives fighting for, and yet, to my knowledge, at least my husband, doesn’t really know what’s going on. He does not know who’s in the Epstein files; he has not read/listened to them. I don’t know if he plans to. He doesn’t know that there is a literal cabal of elites who are currently running the white house and the Pentagon, who are raping, murdering, and eating children. I completely understand not wanting to know any of this. Why would anyone seek this information out, right? Well, because ignoring it is how it has continued, and why we have not seen any actual justice. Keeping our heads down and doing the work in front of us, and making sure our children are healthy and loved, was once a noble pursuit; now I believe it is contemptible. Up until barely a year ago, my husband refused even to acknowledge Project 2025's existence. He was certain it was a rumor intent on fueling division and confusion. How can we say we will stay and fight for our democracy and our children if people like my husband refuse to acknowledge what’s in the Epstein files and P25/26/Esther?
It hurts, I know it hurts them, our military retirees, to know this. It feels like a betrayal. It is a betrayal. My husband and his peers are wildly intelligent, competent, compassionate men and women. They are not pawns for the political elite. Therefore, I have to call on them to return to the fight for the humanity of our nation. We will not see justice from our current DOJ or DOD. These organizations tasked with protecting us are teeming with actual criminals of the highest degree. Their only mission is to protect the billionaire pedophiles, rapists, cannibals, war mongers, racists, and eugenicists. How do we exact justice? Who is left to defend our children and the soul of our nation? Where is the line that must be crossed that somehow activates us? Also, HOW IS THIS NOT THE FUCKING LINE?
How is it that I can love my husband but hate that I’m married to a man? Since the files have been released, I can barely look him in the eye because I know he doesn’t want to know any of it. How can he say that he still believes in defending this country when he doesn’t even know what the fuck we are fighting against? I’m told that so many of us are feeling this way about our husbands, military and civilian alike. I know I’m not the only one. And THIS is why this shit continues to fucking happen. Because ONCE AGAIN, men are like, “oohh, it gives me a tummy ache, I don’t wanna know about it.”
FUCK YOU DUDE!
What happens when the Pedophile Party gets its way? Because, again, who’s fucking stopping them?! Just tonight, I read and heard that DHS is going to track anti-ICE social media accounts, creators, influencers, and activists are going to start to disappear. The “SAVE Act” passed the House and is on its way to the Senate, which will disenfranchise millions of women whose current name doesn’t match the name on their birth certificate. Which is, in fact, their ultimate goal. They want to return to 1-vote households. Trump plans to federalize elections and station ICE agents at democratic leaning polling stations in 15 select states. Fucking Kristi Noem literally said ICE will be at polling stations to “make sure the right people vote.” So if the absolute horror of what is in the Epstein files is just too much for you to activate against this, how about run-of-the-mill disenfranchisement and destruction of the democratic process? Is that more palatable? What’s your plan to combat it? YOU are fucking trained for this! You took an oath to uphold the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Yeah, we never actually thought you’d have to defend our nation from domestic enemies, but here we are.
So if the PedoParty succeeds because you know “oh that would never happen here,” only goes so far, can we leave? Can we get the hell out of here and protect our daughters and sons? Will it be too late to leave? I would absolutely die for my children, but I will be damned if I won’t do everything in my power to make sure they have a life worth living. That is the oath I took the moment I became a woman, a mother, a creator of life. How about you, your oath, will you uphold yours?
As a Veteran I can understand both your POV and his. In the military it is ingrained into you to trust the government and the system. The downside is that over the past dozen or so years our government has changed and in the USN especially the global information disconnect is the strongest. The needle has been shifting in microns and the insulation in the military is strong.
I published an article last month about the history of The Heritage Foundation and how they had pushed shifts that the GOP embraced going back to Reagan v.1 into today. With the dawn of the information age all segments that were insulated were exposed to less than the masses. The military has traditionally leaned right but it has been moving to the left. Many who had strong views to the left have been leaving the military because they became disenfranchised with the systemic changes that were going stronger to the right.
My oath still stands today and it stands up for the Constitution not a political party or ideology the same as it always has. Unfortunately we started having to choose sides in November 2001 when Bush 43 said, "You're either with us or against us", something that was reiterated when they lied to the American people about the need to invade Iraq “to fight Al-Qaeda” when it was known that they were not in that country. Feeding off the national fire post-9/11 we started to fracture rapidly and your husband was in the military at that point. Many Vets who are willing to open their eyes and views are pivoting away from blind allegiance but many are driven by the convictions they believed in for many years and cannot be convinced otherwise.
You made a reference to daughters above and you are a woman so ask him this: “If Trump came up to me or them and grabbed a P because he said that he could, what would you do? If any of the pedos r@ped and/or trafficked me or a daughter or a sister, niece, etc., what would you do?” If he fails to honor your life then you unfortunately will know where you are in his view but you need to be prepared for any possible answers. Dialogue not arguments create cohesion and if you are not ready for the answer(s) then you cannot ask the question(s). You are in a conundrum where you have to be ready to stand by your convictions even if it means that you lose something you believe to be valuable today.
Jillian, you are right on target about the men in our lives.Its unbelievable how they are in denial. You're writing is amazingly powerful.