Doings on The Fourth

You may have heard the U.S. military had a large re-enlistment ceremony, followed by an equally large naturalization ceremony, at Camp Victory in Baghdad Wednesday. Fox News had a brief segment on the affair yesterday. Here’s an excerpt from the CENTCOM press release:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of troops gathered at Al Faw Palace for the Multi-National Force-Iraq Reenlistment, Naturalization and Independence Day Ceremony July 4 at Camp Victory.

During the ceremony, 588 troops reenlisted and 161 were naturalized as American citizens. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general, MNF-I, gave opening remarks before administering the Oath of Enlistment.

[…]

"This morning we pay tribute to the American ideals we all hold so dear in several significant ways,” he said. “First, by conducting what surely is the largest reenlistment event ever held in Iraq and perhaps in our Armed Forces’ history, then by celebrating the granting of American citizenship to a group of troopers who have already pledged their loyalty to our nation by putting their lives on the line for it, and finally by observing the 231st birthday of our great country.”

Petraeus said the troops who reenlisted on Independence Day, most while serving on a second or third deployment to a combat zone, have made a decision based on far more than any bonus they may receive.

“No bonus, no matter the size, can adequately compensate you for the contribution each of you has made and continues to make as a custodian of our nation’s defenses,” he said. “Nor can any amount of money compensate you adequately for the sacrifices you make serving here in Iraq or the burdens your loved ones face at home in your absence. And we certainly cannot put a price on the freedoms you defend or those we are trying to help the Iraqis establish and safeguard here in the land of the two rivers.”

Petraeus then dedicated the Independence Day ceremony in honor of two Soldiers who died fighting for America before they could be sworn in as citizens.

“Sgt. Kimel Watt and Spc. Farid Elazzouzi, who would have been in your ranks here this morning, were lost in recent combat action, giving the last full measure of devotion for a country that would have become fully theirs today,” Petraeus said. “Words can not express the admiration I feel for these two men or the sadness I feel for our nation’s loss and their families’ sacrifice.”

Petraeus said the deaths are reminders that freedom comes at a very high cost, which must never be forgotten. Like these two Soldiers, who fought and died with the American flag on their shoulders, he said the troops being naturalized as U.S. citizens were most deserving.

That’s a lot of troops re-upping in a single place, and, as General Petraeus indicates, it may well be a record for a mass re-enlistment. I’m also awed by the fact that 161 troops completed the requirements for citizenship and are now naturalized citizens. Those men and women have earned their right to be called Americans.

Congratulations to all, but especially to the newly-minted United States citizens.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco… The Fourth of July celebrations took an entirely different tack. You can’t make this stuff up. Much, much more at ZombieTime’s place, from whence I took this illustration.

The mind boggles, it does. I mean, on the one hand 588 troops re-enlist in our armed forces, in Iraq. And on the other? Some "artist" creates krep like this, not to mention the other , more spectacularly offensive abominations on public display? And there's actually an audience for stuff like this?

Words fail me, they really do.