Army Bob: If you love the Internet, thank the American Military

by Robert M. Traxler

The Internet is an under appreciated marvel of the 20th/21st century. We have had the Internet for more than a generation now and it is hard to imagine life without instant knowledge on a scale unimaginable to my grandparents. If we wish to learn more about growing exotic flowers, Google it, if we want to know how to prepare pomegranates, Google it, need to fix almost anything Google it.

I had a flu shot a few months ago and had a fever, chills and sweats that night; pre-Internet I would have called or gone in to the doctor’s office. With the internet I went on the Center for Disease Control website and found this type of reaction is not uncommon and of little concern unless it persists for more than a day or your temperature is above 101 degrees.

Please do not misunderstand — everyone should get the flu shot and one uncomfortable night is a small price to pay for not being flat on your back for two weeks with a nasty and potentially fatal case of influenza. The point is, the instant availability of information and the value of instant access to knowledge.

The naysayers and champions of the negative will say the Internet has a dark side; terrorists can be radicalized using the net, criminals and con artists are using it to victimize people, and they are correct. Life is a balancing act between the good and the bad of almost everything we do, but the net is overall an outstanding asset with the good far out weighing the bad.

As we look at the Internet, we (especially our negative friends on the left side of the political argument) forget that the nasty mean villains who have never done anything good and are only a force for evil, the American military, developed the Internet. Former Vice President Al Gore, the champion of the left, a gentleman who has gotten extremely rich selling dispensation (carbon offsets) to those who pollute the environment, indeed did not invent the Internet.

Researching the history of the development of the internet you will find a real attempt by the media and academic communities to erase the truth and replace it with their politically correct “truth.” In some timelines outlining the development of the net, the military’s involvement is almost nonexistent. One site I reviewed had one reference to the DOD on the entire site. Those of us who served our nation in the 1970s and ’80s used the Internet (called the Arpanet) before it became the Internet. The revolutionary tool called the Internet was developed by the American military to communicate in a classified environment in case of the breakdown of normal communications channels.

The Internet is a transformational occurrence in world history right alongside antibiotics, the internal combustion engine and beer in a can. President Obama has used the internet as an example of “government contributing to the common good.” The Department of Defense is indeed part of the government; however, our President’s selective memory is a classic example of the rewriting of history to politically correct history.

The American military (Col. Dr. Walter Reed) has been credited with the elimination of yellow fever, a disease that killed tens of thousands every year in the United States and hundreds of thousands worldwide. Vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and typhoid fever are also accomplishments of the military. The Global Positioning Satellite system and all the wonderful things it has given us is also a development of our military. The Interstate Highway System was an Army Corps of Engineers project. Our friends on the left forget the United States Public Health Service is a military service in the same way the Coast Guard is a military service, and the USPHS is commanded by the Surgeon General.

Treatment of trauma cases, disease prevention, and a large number of medical advancements are credited to the military. I dread to think of the number of shooting deaths resulting from gang/drug violence we would have in Chicago, President Obama’s hometown, if not for trauma treatments developed by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq. The horrible carnage and the body count of 400 plus in Chicago last year would be much larger.

So the next time a “hate all things American” left-winger degrades our military, gently inform them the world would be a very bad place without the advancements made by the American Department of Defense. The left will never believe it and will deny it, but perhaps you will make them look into it. On second thought, no; it is easier for them to close their minds and continue to hate. A belief system is a powerful thing as are the politically correct hate and prejudice we find in the American liberal/progressive movement against the United States Military.