This is going to upset a lot of people here, but there's a trend in the media that is a cause for concern for me. It's approaching the level of intolerance on Fox News, I believe.

But first, be aware, as I've said elsewhere, that when i was little, my big dream in life was for a career in the military, with a goal of making sergeant and seeing combat in a faraway land. I grew up, but my affinity for the military never went away.

We have an all-volunteer military. People who serve today choose to do so, unlike, say, draftees in Viet Nam. And, we have not yet had a Great Patriotic War (as the Russians called WWII) since WWII. Our military has done many necessary, and very dangerous jobs, but none where failure to win meant the end of the nation and slavery for our people, as was happening to Europe and Asia in WWII, and would have undoubtedly happen to us had we failed.

There is such a real threat to the nation, between the Islamic Jihad and world collectivism. But, the collectivist war can't be fought on the battlefield; it must be fought in the halls of academia, and in the arena of politics, and in the voting booth. The war with Islam is being fought, at least partially, on the battlefield, but our politicians are not fighting it to win. This is a subject that's driving me crazy, when I see our boys coming home crippled or in a box nearly a decade after we should have already won.

However, Megyn Kelly was just talking about a 10-deployment veteran addressed in the SOTU last night. I don't know what all was said,because I paid no attention to SOTU; it's none of my business. SOTU is *supposed* to be an address by the President to Congress, not television cameras. And since we don't have a President anyway....

But, Kelly kept going on about the "sacrifice" of this 10 combat-deployment veteran. I'm sorry, but when you take 10 deployments for combat when you don't *have* to... that's not sacrifice, that's a career choice. Becoming a Navy Seal, a noble profession, is not a "sacrifice"; you have to work very hard to *become* a Seal. It's something you have to want to be, not something you're thrust into by the necessities of war.

But, so many keep referring to all military service as 'sacrifice', and since becoming more acquainted with Rand and AS, my radar pops up when I encounter this seeming contradiction.

It's a noble profession, very dangerous at times, very nasty at times, but a profession many *choose*. They choose it rationally, for the rewards versus the risk and price they must pay. Somehow, to me, it seems insulting to constantly refer to every type of military service as 'sacrifice'.

I would say the defenders in Benghazi were "sacrificed", but it shouldn't be used as a laurel for their service, so much as a scarlet letter of shame for the administration who sacrificed them. I'm confident the Benghazi defenders weren't laying up there on the roof, waiting to be killed on behalf of God and country. They were fighting like hell to live, and to win. Therein, for me, lies their nobility.

It just seems to me that the word "sacrifice" is warping the meaning of military service.