At every Lycoming County Commissioners Meeting, Commissioner President Scott Metzger opens the meeting with a prayer. In the past few years, I have noted that, without fail, Metzger will always highlight in his prayers an anniversary of a military institution. At the Thursday, June 13th meeting, he highlighted the 249th birthday of the United States Army, founded on June 14, 1775, our first national militia. Four months later, on October 13th, the United States Navy was founded, and a month after that, on November 10th, 1775, the United States Marine was founded. It was not a coincidence that the leaders of this new emerging country incorporated three military branches just one year before it claimed independence in 1776.

Any country of any significance has some sort of military to protect it. The world has always been a hostile place. In the past fifty years, there have been as many as 200 wars or conflicts. Israel is a classic example. Since the first day of their independence in 1948, they have been attacked by their neighboring countries. There would not be an independent country of Israel today were it not for the fact that the Israeli military ranks 18th among 145 considered nations on a list of the world’s mightiest armed forces according to the 2023 GlobalFirepower (GFP) index, which assesses over 60 factors such as active military personnel & equipment, artillery, tanks, etc. This does not come cheap, and it does not come easy. But in Israel’s case, it is necessary when attacked by a savage enemy such as Hamas that uses subterfuge to rape and kill innocent people.

Ironically, the USA ranks number one in the GFP index, even though there is not another country in the entire world that is more safe from other countries as the United States of America. Our country has an extremely unique geography with two large oceans on our east and west coasts and friendly countries on our northern and southern borders. As a result, our country has been very blessed with just three actual attacks of our country in the past two centuries: the British in the War of 1812, the Japanese bombing in 1941 on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (a United States territory at the time), and the hijacked airlines that crashed in New York City, Washington DC, and Shanksville, PA on September 11, 2001.

So why are so many military personnel needed for our country’s defense? Why have so many Americans in uniform died or been wounded from wars with Spain, Germany, Italy, Japan, North Korea, North Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc? Very simply, it was because these brave men and women who have taken up arms are the reason why our borders are safe. They are the reason we sleep soundly in our beds at night and do not hear sirens screaming at us to get out of our homes and find safe shelter. They are the reason that our economy can grow (if our government experts don’t screw it up, that is) because we can plan for the future without fear of threats from other nations.

And it is the unity of protection that has also kept this vast country that goes from sea to shining sea from becoming a hodgepodge of dozens of nations like Europe. An argument could be made that our military forces kept us together as much as our Constitution. Even the Civil War, which tore our country apart, showed us that zeal and passion can start a revolution, but in the end, the strongest army is what has the last word.

However, all that is in the past. All the branches of service are struggling with meeting their enlistment quotas for the past few years, even with very, very nice incentives being offered. Ironically, the toughest branch – the United States Marines – is meeting their recruiting numbers. When Marine Corps Recruiting Command Maj. Gen. William J. Bowers was asked by a senate committee why this had happened; he replied, “Your Marine Corps exists to fight and win our nation’s battles. Our performance in recruiting speaks for us. Our combat heritage is embedded within Marine Corps Recruiting Command’s DNA; we share the same fierce competitive spirit to win, no matter the challenge.”

Would that our entire country would have that same spirit. We need young men and women willing to keep our country as the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is a great heritage to belong to, which I share with my father, my stepfather, my two brothers, my two sons, and my adopted daughter. For each of us, it started with raising our right hand and declaring, “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

And may God help us to see many more hands raised for our nation’s sake.