Sacrifice Yourself To Do The Job Required

SUBJECT: Sacrificing Yourself To Do The Job Required

The Heritage Foundation sent this on March 20th, 2006.
In the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., stands the James W. Robinson Secondary School. The school is named for a man from Hinsdale, Illinois. Like other men in their early 20’s , he had yet to find his calling in life. But his country needed him to fight in Vietnam, and so he went.
James Robinson rose to the rank of sergeant, and on April 11, 1966 he found himself leading Company C, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st. Infantry Division.
The unit was pinned down by a battalion of Viet Cong soldiers. Snipers picked them off from trees. Grenades exploded all around. A 50-mm gun emplacement dealt death from one end of the jungle battlefield. Robinson knew he had to stop the snipers and do something to stop the 50mm gun. He used a grenade launcher to eliminate the sniper inflicting the most damage. He saw that one of his medics had been wounded attempting to rescue a comrade. He ran through a hail of withering fire to pull them back. He was wounded in the shoulder and leg. Even so, he moved among and directed his men, collecting weapons from the wounded and distributing them to the able-bodied. But casualties mounted. He knew that to save even those few men, he had to eliminate that 50mm gun. Out of ammunition, he seized two hand grenades. As he charged at the gun emplacement, he was hit in the leg by a tracer bullet, which set his pants on fire. He ripped off the burning clothes and continued to stagger toward the gun emplacement--at this point, its fire trained solely on him. He took two more bullets to the chest, but he kept coming until he got in range to throw his grenades and end the threat from the big gun. Then, with his men rallying, he fell. To this day, the fewer than 20 men who survived out of the 130, can barely believe his bravery or their good fortune. But this was his job. This is what he did. And this is how he will be remembered.
You, Levin, Stabenow and Upton, how will you be remembered? You are elected to uphold the Constitution and act in the best interests of the United States. You are not in Congress to advance the agenda of your political parties or your career. You, your position and your contribution to the United States are less important than the life of Sgt. Robinson. All of you are in position, especially Levin and Stabenow, to do the right thing, even at the sacrifice of your re-election and your jobs. I am disgusted with the lawyer culture that exists in both the Senate and House. The adversarial culture of lawyers in Congress and the bureaucracy is damaging the very existence of the United States. In D.C., there is a lawyer for every 14 people!!