Common Sense

Get off your stadium seat, and get down into the arena!

You are not winning anything, while part of the audience.

In fact, you CAN’T win anything, as part of the audience - unless someone else, down in the arena, wins it for you - and where is the glory in that?

And it’s just possible the few guys and gals down there, in the arena, could use some help.

Let’s look at our experience in the Appleseed program.

Let’s see, now that we have a track record, four years (nearly) of uninterrupted rapid growth, we can make some definitive statements:

First, let’s craft a non-profit, all-volunteer effort calculated to one thing supposedly near and dear to our hearts: Pass on a dying Tradition.

Second, let’s take a look at the response of all our people who want to see that happen.

Have they uniformly stepped forward to put their shoulder to the Appleseed wheel?

Of course they haven’t. After all, this is 21st-century America.

And why haven’t they? The answering mantra is “ignorance, apathy, and laziness” - but while a possible explanation, none of the three is an excuse.

As an observer in this process, it would be easy for me to speak an obvious truth and say, regardless of how fast this program has gone, it could have gone a LOT faster.

Sure, we met our goal, the first year, of 1000 participants - even if it turned out to be nearly twice as much work as originally planned (in other words, instead of a projected 10 Appleseeds to do the job, it took 18, IIRC).

Announce a 2A-saving program, and - the first YEAR - have only 1000 participants?

Man, the shame of it! We should have had 100,000 participants, minimum (no, we couldn’t have handled them, so maybe life is kind in allowing us to get off to a slow start). And I could argue, a million would not have been out-of-line…

Now, at the end of the first year, with an entire year of program exposure to people, two things should have been obvious, and a third partly so:

1. After a year on the Appleseed Trail, it should have been clear we were in this to stay - and it was time to “sign up” for this program.

2. There was nothing in this program to be afraid of - no, we are not militia, nor is Appleseed ‘militia-training’. Shameful you have to deal with issues of fear amongst such strong, two-fisted, freedom-loving Americans, but the fear was palpable - and still is, in the FOURTH year of the program, in more than a few faint-hearted quarters.

3. Not quite as clear, as it takes time for direct word to spread, but the hint should have been already apparent: This program has the power to do what it says is its mission - to wake up Americans to a much-needed acquaintanceship with their history and heritage. To get ‘em off the couch, and into being American, again. No longer just TV zombies…

Now, in the FOURTH year of the program, there should be no doubt remaining about that.

Yet, millions of our fellow Americans are still up there, seemingly glued to their stadium seats, watching the show (we hope they are at least rooting for us, but many seem more interested in hot dogs and twittering).

Leaving those struggling in the arena without the help they need.

Do you know why we ‘lost’ at Bunker Hill? Did you know we did not have to “lose” that fight? Did you know American reinforcements were on the scene, but held back from joining the fight because they had to cross a narrow neck of land swept by British cannon fire?

Now, take away the cannon fire - in 21st-century America, we do not have to “sweat” any fire from British cannons - and ask yourself, since you don’t have that excuse, why are YOU holding back?

To make it easy, simply nod at one or more of the following reasons:

1. Ignorance - I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do to help my country, I don’t know my country needs ’saving’, I don’t know what to do to save my country, I don’t know what I SHOULD be doing - in short, I don’t know - I am Ignorant. (Please, be kind to the writer - DON’T say that last with any pride in your voice.)

2. Laziness - Being in touch and well-connected with all my fat cells, I simply don’t want to put any of them in danger by bestirring my lazy self. It’s a lack of motivation thing, what they used to call, in the military, Lack of Moral Fiber (LMF) - and it was grounds for dismissal, primarily on the basis of being worthless. I am Worthless. (Please, be kind to me as an author - DON’T let me hear you say that last with any pride in your voice.)

3. Apathy - I simply don’t care. I don’t care who wins; I don’t care who loses. While part of the reason may be ignorance, and part may be laziness, I simply don’t care. “Whatever” is the mantra of my generation, and “whatever” is fine with me. Hand me another hot dog.

4. Fear - Yes, this is a new addition to the lexicon, but covers many more people than any of us would like to believe. Fear, of consequences, of getting hurt, of getting on some List, of getting dirty, of getting sweaty, of losing (if you don’t fight, you don’t lose, right?), fear of this, fear of that. Even a fear of working hard! What a betrayal of trust this one represents! I doubt not there was plenty of fear to go ’round on April 19, 1775 - but enough of our forefathers failed to let that stop them to run the Brits back to Boston. And they had, unlike you, to pass over ground which had musket balls whizzing over it. Any fear they had was real fear, not a fear of commitment, a fear of being asked to step up and take a stand…

What does fear get you? Fear keeps you locked in your seat. Fear ensures the risk of failure of something you’d like to see win, except you are so fearful you won’t get out of that safe seat in the stadium.

5. Ego - now maybe we come to the Big One. ‘Fear’ after all, is simply one way of saying “I’m the one who has to be protected. Not the Cause - whatever that is.”

Yes, sir, be sure to put yourself and your personal safety above all else. In the old days, the result used to be called “cowardice” and you, when you did it, were called a “coward”.

Now, being a coward is not that rare in 21st-century America.

In fact, so far as eyewitness testimony allows, it’s pretty much the “law of the land”. Don’t make waves. Keep yourself safe. Don’t this. Don’t that.

Not a pretty sight, my friends.

Not something the founders would have looked forward to - and they were forward-lookers, being much concerned for future generations, and the challenge of keeping liberty.

No sir, the battle for liberty was not supposed to be a one-time thing. It was recognized back then, but not today, that liberty was something each generation was responsible for preserving - for itself, and for generations to come.

Yet the image of 300 million modern Americans mesmerized by TV and so dumbed-down they can hardly think should be the alarm bell that wakens you to action.

As in, if YOU don’t do something, nothing will get done. You don’t see anyone doing anything, do you? Only those pathetic few already down in the arena - and no way THEY can save the nation - not by themselves…

So, get out of the stadium seat - you weren’t born in it after all - and some of us would even go so far as to say you - as a proud American - weren’t born FOR it, but for something greater, something more glorious…

Get out of that stadium seat, and take sides…

Hope I don’t have to tell you, which side to take, in the battle for Liberty…

Appleseed is about winning in that arena. About waking up our fellow Americans by holding up to them a proud history and heritage, and letting it soak into their minds: they are destined for a better future than the one lurking in front of us.

We can have that better future, but we’ll have to fight for it, not “sit on our bottoms” for it.

Stadium seats: If there were some way to rip them right out, the guy who figures out how to do it will be savior of liberty in this country…

Having you ever been dissed by your friends?

Sure, you expect your enemies to be dismissive, but a dis from people you expect to be on your side has to be even more painful.

Likewise when you discover an instance of the US Army dissing its own heritage.

Dissing it thru ignorance, apathy, and laziness.

Ignorance, because no one could be bothered to take the effort to ascertain the facts (which is laziness) - and no one really cared, anyway (which is apathy).

Thus, you might - or might not - be surprised the military has dissed the boys at Lexington and Concord - in fact, all along Battle Road that April 19th.

It’s right there in the official “American Military History, 1607-1958″ - as you can tell, a history of some vintage, issued in July 1959, possibly at the early stages of the sinking ship we talk so much about. You can even argue the attitude of being willing to gratuitously diss the “boys of ‘75″ may have been a precursor to our current problems.

You never heard of this infamy, because no one cares, when the US Army disses its heritage. (And nowadays, might even approve!)

Here’s what Uncle Sam, in the form of the Department of the Army, had to say in 1959 about those founders - the men who started the ball rolling on creating a free nation:

“The fact that the [British] force was not wiped out was testimony to the poor marksmanship of farmers armed with muskets.” [33]

Now, coming from an Army fresh from the Korean War and WW2, where statistics showed it took 200,000 rounds to produce ONE enemy casualty, that’s a big one to swallow.

But it shows you how a historical fact can be viewed many ways: as an example of competence, and as the direct polar opposite - an example of incompetence.

The sloppy writer (and thinker - and American) author of “American Military History” could have taken time to fully acquaint himself with some military facts which, if he’d been there, on Battle Road, he would no doubt have taken into account readily - and willingly - as they are and were life-threatening.

Like the fact that in 1775 effective musket range and effective bayonet range were pretty much one and the same.

In the 15 seconds it takes to reload a shot fired at 65 yards - considered max effective range of a musket on an individual target - redcoats could be all over you with 16″ steel bayonets - not something you’d be likely to walk away from.

So you do the smart thing - not only take shelter from musket fire behind trees and stone walls - but hang out beyond max effective range, and rely (in what is to become the future policy of the Army) on volume of fire.

Not unaimed fire. Not wasted fire.

Yet not fire with 100% hit probability, but fire with possibly a 10% hit probability.

Because it’s better to fire ten shots to get one hit, and survive, than to fire one shot and get a hit, only to be bayonetted to death.

In the first case, you could wind up firing 30 rounds, and getting three hits; in the second, after that first hit, there are no more.

Failing to understand, to even care about understanding, to not even care about getting the story “right” must rank right up there with monumental incredible doofishness (can the Department of the Army be “doofish”? - I guess, in this case, maybe they can…).

Certainly you can say: Here is ignorance at work.

Here is laziness at work.

Here is apathy at work.

Worse, here is lack of respect for brave men at work.

Here is lack of respect for the heritage at work. Here is a willingness to think the worse, without the caring to make sure, at least, that you’re right.

Careless dismissal of guys whose shoes you are not fit to shine.

We’re told after careful historical research by other historians that about 4000 of our guys got close enough to the British to fire at least one shot that day.

I don’t know of any research which would tally up the round count of the number of shots we fired, but you can say a ballpark figure might be 20,000 (on the lower side) to 40,000 (on the higher side).

Yes, in absolute terms, firing 20-40,000 shots to get 273 British casualties would not be that impressive.

Yet for most of the day, it’s likely the redcoat column outnumbered the actual patriots who were attacking them.

And the proof of the value of that ‘hang back’ strategy would be the casualties of our side - less than one-third of the Brits.

Inflicting three times the casualties, when attacking a superior force? Pretty good performance, if you ask me. Pretty good performance, then. Pretty good performance, today.

Particularly since if we got out a time machine, and sent the US Army of today back to 1775, they’d expend 500-plus million rounds to accomplish the same - if current standard rates of ammo expenditure hold on the trip back. It would take a pretty big time machine to carry all that ammo back to 1775 - and how many men would it take to fire all that ammo to get those 273 British casualties?

Well, if you figure each man firing 1,000 rounds that day (a preposterous figure, way too high - but sure makes doing the math easier… ), then you’d have to send 500,000 men back to do the job that approximately 4000 of our founders did.

The fact is that our side could have “wiped out” the British force that day.

But it was not marksmanship which prevented it.

It was a failure to quickly understand the key to defeating the British column was to stop it, to halt it, to keep it from getting back to the safety of Boston.

To pin it down, then to hack it to death with well-aimed musket fire.

So, we do not read of any roadblocks, barriers, obstacles put in the British way (altho the planks were pulled up from the bridge along the direct route to Boston - but Percy avoided the issue with his surprise decision to head for Charleston - a decision made in anticipation of the bridge being disabled, and in the knowledge that to let his column be stopped was to see his column defeated).

Failure to stop the column meant we didn’t have the time to wear them down, and force them to surrender (altho the possibility of surrender was on Lord Percy’s mind - if they didn’t make it back to Boston before sunset, surrender was, in his mind, a distinct prospect).

However, I’d cut our guys just a bit of historical slack.

First, it was the first day of a sudden, unexpected war - the Pearl Harbor of its day.

For being suddenly thrust from peace to war, our guys (you can argue) did a better job that day than on any other day we’ve found ourselves in an unexpected war.

Second, our Gen Heath was working on limited data, with limited control - he was limited to horseback messengers, meaning fast decisions would have been hard to implement.

Third, while our guys had been training in companies, I’m not aware of any training in groupings above companies - I’m not aware of any training at regimental level.

In other words, actions taken in the fall of 1774 to ramp up defensive measures against the Crown had resulted in some very well-trained people (1700 Brits do NOT run back to Boston, without a very good reason!), in some well-trained companies - but any action taken at regimental level would have been ‘making it up on the run’ on April 19th. Not surprising things were not done ‘perfect’ that day.

Yet one wonders why road blocks were not considered.

I suggest the reason may have been our guys, as aggressive as they were, were still in a defensive peacetime mode of thinking. They wanted to throw the Brits out, to chase them back to Boston. They were not thinking of a grander strategy of capturing the entire British column.

Of course, none of those speculations affect the thrust of my complaint here.

Dissing the past is shameful.

Dissing people who can’t defend themselves, and their reputations, is shameful.

Dissing people unjustly is shameful.

It should not be done. Not without a careful examination of the facts carried out with energy (not laziness) and caring to get them straight (not apathy). The result would have been knowledge (not ignorance) - and with knowledge, comes understanding - which should be the prime rationale for studying the past - to understand, so you can repeat the good, and not repeat the mistakes.

Were the author of the passage around today, a good riding of the rails preceded by some tar and a few feathers might have a wonderful impact on driving that lesson home.

But this being an official “Headquarters, Department of the Army” publication, no author is mentioned, so he becomes a part of the annonymous past, and simply another American foolish enough to dis the past. His own past; his own heritage.

The preface to the history - again, annoymous - begins “the United States Army is an honored institution.” Yes, it is, but one sentence in this history of the US Army dishonors the past and besmirches the institution.

I wish it weren’t there. Maybe even you wish it weren’t there.

But it is there, and it will remain there.

A testimony to what is wrong with this country, rolled up in one sentence of casual dismissal of a proud heritage second to none.

Someone - the person who wrote that sentence - thought he was smarter than history - and superior to his ancestors - when neither is true.

We say at Appleseeds - those weekend heritage and rifle marksmanship events put on by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association - that our instructors have “a time monkey on their back.”

By that we mean there’s a lot to get accomplished in two short days, both marksmanship-wise and heritage- and history-wise.

“Too much to do, too little time” is another way to look at it.

So you quickly understand your biggest hurdle is time management.

There’s no room for “wasted” time or “slack” time.

And it falls on the shoulders of the SB (the “Shoot Boss”, the guy in charge of the Appleseed) to keep the pressure on, to keep things moving, to provide the kind of drive it will take to get all accomplished.

“Drive” is a fairly rare commodity, these days.

It’s not easy, not an easy task for modern Americans.

But definitely a critical task: the success of the Appleseed depends on it.

Which is why we say the “Shoot Boss” has a “monkey” - a “time monkey” - on his shoulders - or on his back.

In a larger sense, the entire Appleseed program has a “time monkey” on its back.

Time is not unlimited. Especially if you believe the future of the country is at risk. And there’s a need to ’save’ it.

To stop the train from going off the rails (or, as some of us would say - “too late for that - better focus on how we get it back on the rails…”).

Or, in another popular analogy, to save the sinking ship.

Life has a quality which endows things which go on longer with a tendency to continue going on longer. Call it “inertia”, call it the weight of the past, call it what you want - the longer things continue on a course or path, the harder it is to change that course, and the harder it is to recover lost ground.

Hence, the longer the ship continues to sink, the more difficult the task of first slowing, then stopping, the sinking - followed by the laborious process of pumping it out, fixing the damage, and then - finally - setting sail again.

Add to the mix the uncertainty of being able to do it, and you have a recipe for feeling “time’s a-wastin’!”

Because that uncertainty can only increase with time.

Early on, with only a few thousand gallons of water, not only is the task easier, but the certainty of being able to bail out the water before the ship sinks is almost a given.

Once the water has been inflowing for years, and becomes measured not in mere gallons, but in thousands of tons, not only is the task much harder, but the certainty much less.

If the ship is the only ship you have, that’s gotta be worrisome.

And motivational: Let’s get this ship fixed sooner, rather than later.

Why stand by idly, while the future darkens - even as we stand by?

Would that more Americans feel concerned about the future of the ship they’re on.

Would that more Americans feel compelled to get out of the deck chairs, and start to bail - to have the optimism, and the energy, and the grit, and the backbone, and the spirit, and the determination - to save the ship.

To not ask “Can it be done?”, with the odor that if it can’t, there’s no point in trying.

To ask for guarantees is the wrong road to travel.

Life doesn’t give you guarantees. Expect guarantees, and you’ll never do anything, or do anything much, or of worth.

Yet many Americans succumb to the notion of “it’s too late, too late to save the ship” - whether they really believe it - or whether it’s used as a convenient excuse to do nothing (I suspect more of the latter than the former).

“Many”? Too many!

Not understanding, or having forgotten, what being an American is all about.

It’s not about passively accepting something unpleasant (and treading water is definitely gonna be unpleasant). It’s not about tamely submitting - April 19th, 1775 showed us that.

It’s not about “requiring guarantees” - what a namby-pamby attitude that reflects (sorry for the harsh language, hope no kids are reading this!).

Being American is about NOT submitting.

About fighting on - like they did for 8 years during the Rev War - sometimes without hope. Certainly without guarantees.

What is it about the modern American that he requires guarantees before he’ll get off the couch?

Why is it he can’t wake up and see what the future is rapidly shaping up to be?

Why does the modern American prefer the “ostrich head in the sand” approach to life?

Whatever the answer, it’s not an answer which would cover anyone with glory.

Nor add an iota of respect to your opinion of him - in fact, way to the contrary…

The irony is that opinions held by British officers before and during the Rev War - that “Americans are useless, militarily, fit only to be beasts of burden” - were right - only it took two hundred years for it to become ‘right’.

Certainly, the Americans who ran the British out in 8 years of bloody war were not “useless, militarily”.

Yet modern Americans subscribe to notions Neville Chamberlain - once so thoroughly discredited that even I heard about it, in grammer school - would be perfectly comfortable with - even cheered by.

Can we use the word “shameful”?

A word which means not much to modern Americans.

Unfortunately.

Because shame is a great motivator.

As well as a searing description of failure.

Let’s listen in as John Adams expresses his feelings in April, 1777 at the failure of volunteer troops from his home state to show as expected:

I am wearied out, with Expectations that the Massachusetts Troops would have arrived, e’er now, at Head Quarters. — Do our People intend to leave the Continent in the Lurch? Do they mean to submit? or what Fatality attends them? With the noblest Prize in View, that ever Mortals contended for, and with the fairest Prospect of obtaining it upon easy Terms, The People of the Massachusetts Bay, are dead.
Does our State intend to send only half, or a third of their Quota? Do they wish to see another, crippled, disastrous and disgracefull Campaign for Want of an Army? — I am more sick and more ashamed of my own Countrymen, than ever I was before.

Not a pretty picture, for sure.

“With the noblest Prize in View, that ever Mortals contended for, and with the fairest Prospect of obtaining it upon easy Terms, The People of the Massachusetts Bay, are dead.”

Heck, what part of this sentence, if you delete the reference to Massachusetts, would not apply, today? To every American, to all of America.

“The noblest Prize in View” - isn’t that liberty? Freedom? Sovereignty of the citizen (another concept I learned in grammer school, but destined never to heard about in 21st-century America, seemingly).

“…with the fairest Prospect of obtaining it upon easy Terms…” Isn’t that something you could say about today’s America - that notion of “many hands make for light work” - but we don’t have too many hands that aren’t on the couch, sleeping.

“…The People of [of America], are dead.” Now, that’s got to be something sad to say, about your own people.

Are we to take heart, that we’ve been thru this before? And prevailed?

I think not.

Any time you are able to nod your head in agreement with statements like that, you have to recognize that things ‘are in the balance’ - and far from being comfortable about it, you have to understand, almost instinctively, the future is dark.

Why else the distress of John Adams?

Why else should we who are awake and alert not be distressed?

There was a Time Monkey back then, just as there is today. Let things drift, and the opportunity for losing everything increases.

Wish I had a dime for every time I heard an Appleseeder (someone who volunteers to help with the Appleseed program) send his regrets about volunteering for a specific Appleseed because he has “family to visit”, a “wedding to go to”, or his “better half demands he stay home” that weekend.

Can you imagine, if all these people were magically transported back to 4/19/’75 - what scathing remarks would greet those excuses?

Yes, we have to have some moderation - we can’t be fanatics about saving the ship, now, can we?

But sometimes I think there’s an excess of moderation, a little bit too much of “business as usual”.

Because there’s a Time Monkey on my back, urging me on, pestering me with the notion that things are not right, and they are not getting any righter.

Telling me “time is late”, and “time is not on our side”, and - “time’s a-wastin!”

“Drive” is what will save us.

If enough of us see the future, understand the need, and make the determination “it will not be allowed to happen on our watch”, think what would happen.

We just might be able to save the ship.

That “drive” is energy, and time. Energy and time we need to put into saving this country.

“Have to go” to a wedding, instead of an Appleseed? Simply decline, and tell them to invite you to the divorce (after all, aren’t the chances better than 50-50 the precious wedding will end in divorce - so why should you risk the future of the country for such a likely hollow and, ultimately, superficial event?)…

What’s more important: A weekend with the wife? Or saving a nation?

Or, put it another way: Is your wife more important than your country? (Yes, I can hear your laughing, joking remarks - laugh all you want. When you get done, you’re still living on a ship which is sinking.)

The Time Monkey waits for no man.

Ignore him at your peril.

You’re the only one who can save the ship.

Look around. See anyone else doing it?

Except at Appleseed…