As a Christian I’ve had to hunker down to "forgive" a lot of folks in my lifetime, but honestly, I’ve had to be ‘forgiven’ a lot more than I’d like to admit. Albeit, something I’ll never forget is the nasty receptions my brothers and sisters and I received coming home from Vietnam. Having served 30 months ‘in-country’ I endured two homecomings. They both stank.

Yes, I was called a "baby-killer," but no, my uniform was never spat upon. Had someone done so, they or I would have been planted on the wrong side of the grass. But for the most part, we Vietnam veterans withstood the humiliation, forgave the haters and tried to forget the war. We had the tenacity to move on with our lives. Now, for those of us who have lived long enough, we can actually hear the word "Hero" mentioned in the same sentence as our names.

Faith in my country, based on our Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States, still grips my deepest respect, dedication, and if need be, my life, to defend our way of life. But something has gone horribly wrong, not with my country, but what has been done to my country by the federal government.

Be you Democrat or Republican, or feasibly an independent, if the path we’re on is your kind of government, then I truly don’t understand why untold thousands of Americans have given their lives to ensure the very freedom that’s being destroyed. Debate and haggle over your favorite political topic as you wish, but the country is in acute danger of losing all that we’ve ever fought for.

And who has done all that fighting? The men and women of the United States military did the fighting, in all branches, in all wars, in all shades of color and character. Visit a national cemetery to learn the true cost of freedom.

We lost five soldiers in Afghanistan this week; three white warriors, an Afro-American Marine, and a young Hispanic female officer. As in all wars, the color of the skin didn’t matter because we all bleed the same color blood.

While these American soldiers were en route home to grieving families, politically motivated government lawyers identified "loopholes" in the bill passed to exempt grief-stricken military families from the financial shenanigans of our government shutdown. Therefore, these families were DENIED authorized Death Benefits needed to help with expenses and were told to furnish their own transportation to Dover AFB where their deceased loved ones would arrive home.

I have questions. First and foremost, why were the lawyers looking for such a sadistic ‘loophole’ to begin with? And, if required or ordered to do so, why did someone want to discover this ‘loophole?’

I’m also concerned that when the ‘loophole’ was found, someone or some ‘thing’ decided the right course of action was to crush grieving families with additional burdens. I dare say the decision makers never lost a family member in combat. So, go ahead if you’re a hardcore Democrat and blame those dastardly Republicans, or if you’re addicted to the GOP go ahead and blame the wild socialist-minded Democrats. But if you’re an independent, well, you can play the blame game with anyone.

Your political leanings don’t count on this issue. There is one and only one person to blame for this dishonorable situation: Commander in Chief Barrack Hussein Obama. He is the commander of our armed forces.

Five of his intrepid soldiers lost their lives in combat. Forget damnable politics. It is past time for the commander in chief to man up, get fed up, pick up the phone and raise hell with whoever decided to use our deceased heroes as political pawns. And, may God forbid, if Barrack Obama was the one that initiated this disgusting trick, then he has no right to call himself a commander in chief.

There is no excuse, period, for any commander in chief, be it Obama or Bush, with all the pull and power at his fingertips, to sit idle while our fallen warriors are denied an honorable return. "Unforgiveable," comes to mind.

It was just announced on national news that the Pentagon will agree to let Fisher House’s charitable resources be distributed to the grieving families. So, our fallen warriors now have to rely on charity? My God, will someone, anyone, in Washington, D.C., please man the hell up?

May the Good Lord be with the grieving families.