Close Air Support

I am not a foot soldier for any worthy cause. For one thing, I don't take orders particularly well, especially when my interest in the outcome is personal rather than pecuniary. I've read far too many histories about strategic and operational idiocy to have much faith in the leadership of large organizations, and in my short life I've already experienced too many illustrations of the "cult of personality" to have much faith in the leadership of small organizations. Obviously it's impossible for me to avoid all organizational memberships and affiliations, but I can take steps to ensure that I'm not in the trenches when the full extent of those leadership failures becomes apparent.

But I do admire and sympathize with those people who volunteer to serve on the front lines of society in service to causes over which they have no control. I want to see those people succeed, to ensure that their faith and loyalty will not be wasted. So my goal is to provide air support. Not from 40,000 feet, commuting to the battlefield at twice the speed of sound and delivering my payload from a safe distance. No, I want to be close air support, loitering just above the field for hours at a time, responding on call to where those I support are outnumbered and outgunned. I want to be the force multiplier and the equalizer - not substituting for others' courage and strength but enhancing it and enabling them to seize their most important objectives. I want to launch myself into the fight at the critical moment and be the one to change the momentum of the battle; barring that, I will gladly screen the retreat from a defeat or aid the pursuit after a victory. At the end of the day, I want to be known for this: that I only stopped providing cover when I had spent every bullet, dropped every bomb, and consumed every ounce of fuel in my tanks.

Agnello's Handiwork

Think of these words as a set of pilings being driven into a shallow sea. Perhaps I will only find timber for a few and they will be quickly washed away. Or maybe I will persevere and create thousands, enough to lay the foundation for something greater - my very own republic of serenity. Only time will tell.