Do you ever wonder if we wil ever learn.

Ninety four years ago at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent on the western front signaling the end of WWI - The War To End All Wars.

Since then, we have fought major wars in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwaiti, and now the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. American servicemen have also paid the ultimate sacrifice in: Somalia with Black Hawk down, the Iranian desert with the attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages, Cambodia rescuing the crew of the Marquez, Granada, Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Panama. Additionally hundreds of times we have asked our military to perform humanitarian missions all over the world.

Yet, the one constant, is the immediate draw down of the American Military at wars end. After WWI, the military was suppose to be reduced to 500,000 but because of budget concerns it quickly fell to 280,000 and then over the next few years to 110,000. A number that is only 10,000 more that the defeated German army was allowed by the Treaty of Versailles. It is as if we think that “this truly will be the last time” we will be required to send American servicemen into harm’s way. But history has proven the folly of that thought pattern and time and time again American servicemen have been forced to pay the price when we send them into combat under-equipped, under-trained and with two few numbers to accomplish the task asked of them without unnecessary loss of life.

At Corregidor, American military, poorly trained, under staffed with no plan for evacuation was no match for the superior Japanese Army. This situation led to the Bataan Death March. At the start of Korea, America sent troops into combat that had never fired their weapons and had never received any combat training. Many valiantly held to the last man in the defense of the Pusan perimeter, holding on to prevent the total defeat of the South Koreans while waiting for reinforcements that came too late.

And now, once again, we are talking about repeating the same mistake that history has shown us again and again doesn’t work. Budget talks in Washington have led us to the conclusion that slashing defense spending is the only way to reduce the federal deficit. Although in 1950’s we spent 60% of the federal budget on defense and today we barely spend 20%. The lowest levels since WWII and we are told by the Left that it is too much.

Today on Veterans Day, if we really want to honor our Veterans, we may want to ask our representatives in Washington to approve funding for the men and woman serving now at a level that they can perform the job we will inevitably ask them to in the future.

Ronald Reagan said – “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong”. The best way to deter tyrants is to make sure they understand that we have the resolve and the means to defeat them.

Our Servicemen have voluntarily agreed to lay their lives down in defense of our freedom, the least we can do is give them the proper tools to do the job and pick up the tab.