We first started dating when he was a ROTC cadet in Florida. I can remember the harassment he received from the educators and students in 1977 for wearing his uniform on campus. Never did it bother my young paratrooper that the University of South Florida allocated thousands to the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) and Gay organizations on campus, and then voted one dollar to the ROTC program for a bus ticket to get the hell off of campus. He soldiered on because it was their right under the constitution to express their opinions. As a member of the "Green machine," it was his duty and his oath to this nation to protect these rights.

When he first was commissioned in 1979, the military was recovering from Viet Nam and had little public support. His senior officers were Viet Nam veterans who enforced mission accomplishment and soldiers first. They instilled to their junior leaders that the military always takes care of its own. Many times, the officers and senior NCO's spent money out of their pockets to make sure the soldiers had things they needed. While they trained hard and were always deployed ready to defend America, recruitment and lack of qualified soldiers severely limited our capabilities to defend our nation. Many of his soldiers could not speak English and had families that were living below the poverty standard, but he was always there for them. The Army was green and always took care of its own. When racial riots broke out, or drugs were rampant in the barracks, he was always the first one working with the soldiers or locking the criminals up. I asked him why he was always the one to take care of the problems; he would say proudly - soldiers trust me, they are all "green" to me. As the years progressed, pride in the military soared and quality young people came in by droves. Life was good; the military had adequate funding for training and it was the "Year of the Family." Our leadership was true to their word and were finally taking care of the soldiers with pay raises and quality of life improvements for their families. The "Green Machine" was ready to do anything and did. Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm and Haiti; our military performed as true patriots and the finest soldiers in the world. During Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo, the military continued to perform, but something was happening; the "Green Machine" was fracturing. Our spouses were always deployed, not fighting our nation's wars, but taking care of our government's failed diplomacy.

I always knew I was married to a warrior, but these "peacekeeping missions" were killing the units he served in. Many officers and soldiers were leaving when their time was up, and the divorce rate in some units rocketed to over 70%. When asked why they were leaving, numerous comments arose, from health care for their families, to pay, to stress from multiple deployments, but the largest common denominator was the lack of trust and disgust with the leadership in Washington. While these soldiers were serving another holiday season away from home, they would watch their Constitution slowly be destroyed from within the halls of the White House. My soldier continued to serve because his soldiers and the "Green Machine" needed him.

I've been a warrior's wife for 23 years and a commander's wife for nine of those years. I've always supported him and shipped him out to different combat zones and numerous other hell holes, even though my heart was breaking. I've always been there when he returned and nursed him back to health or helped him heal whenever he was broken; always knowing he would be one of the first called to support the "Green Machine" on the next mission. While for today, he continues to soldier and serve this great nation, the color of green has taken on another meaning; that of disgust.

It's not about Monica, or the selling of America to the Chinese, it's not about election fraud, campaign finance violations, the selling of theWhite House to the highest bidder, or placing personnel in positions as Under Secretary of State only because their claim to fame was getting rid of Monica. It's not about appointing non-US citizens to Ambassador positions because they contributed to the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign. It's not about human right violations and torture conducted by our supposed allies in the Middle East; that is most often ignored by the administration and the media.

It's about the US President ordering the lowering of the American Flag on a US Naval Warship at the request of the Vietnamese during a presidential visit in violation of US Military protocols and tradition.

It's about Al Gore providing instructions to his cronies not to allow deployed service members votes to count when possible. It's about political corruption and the complete disregard of our constitution, laws and citizens. It's about being a native citizen of Florida and watching northern union officials and democratic lackeys from Boston enter his state and attempt to change the state laws and results of the national election.

It's about taking care of soldiers. Why during this critical event is the senior military leadership silent about service men and women's absentee ballots?

While my husband can't openly protest or publicly support a candidate while in uniform, I can. It's now my turn to fight for this country and its Constitution, and the rights of our soldiers. It is time to take our country back and this can only be done by its citizens. This letter is for those who serve in uniform, but mostly for those who paid the ultimate price for freedom.

Dr. Janet N. Ward

Wife of an American Service member

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