Everyone loves a good movie, especially when a wrong is made right, when the good guy wins. All ‘military movies’ have some lines that are powerful, making an indelible point you cannot forget. For instance, in the movie “A Few Good Men,” Col. Jessup delivers an objective truth about the absolute necessity regarding armed forces. He states, and anyone who has served in the military will attest, “you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. I provide the very freedom you breathe.”

My son, a three-tour Iraq war veteran, had the privilege of being present when Toby Keith visited Iraq on behalf of all soldiers. Before I share the lyrics of one of his songs, imagine you’re the parent, the wife, the husband of the soldier stationed over seas and every time you turn the news on, soldiers are being killed west of Bagdad and your son/daughter is stationed right there, west of Bagdad. Imagine you receive a phone call at 6 a.m. from Iraq and it’s a bad, scratchy connection and the only words you hear before the connection is lost completely is “I’m in a hospital.”

When this happened, it is impossible to understand how anyone could refuse to stand and face the flag for our national anthem; how anyone could think it is okay to burn the American flag; how any politician could use it to ‘wipe their hands’ (her words, not mine); how anyone could choose to have a Hitler symbol, a Swastika tattooed on his chest and then pursue an American political career; how anyone could choose socialism, the exact opposite of freedom, as a political agenda.

Toby Keith had it right. Now imagine the thousands of soldiers that attended that concert, all of them afraid they might never make it home, all of them carrying the scars of fighting for freedom, and he delivers this:

æAmerican girls and American guys, we’ll always stand up and salute. We’ll always recognize, when we see Old Glory ‘flyin.’ There’s a lot of men dead, so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.

“My daddy served in the Army, where he lost his right eye. But, he flew a flag in our yard until the day he died. He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me to grow up and live happy in the land of the free…the Statue of Liberty started ‘shakin’ her fist. The eagle will fly and it’s ‘gonna’ be hell when you hear Mother Freedom start ‘ringin’ her bell.

“It’ll feel like the whole wide world is ‘rainin’ down on you, brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue. Justice will be served, and the battle will rage, ’cause’ this big dog will fight when you rattle his cage.

“You’ll be sorry you messed with the U.S. of A, ’cause’ we’ll put a boot in your ***, it’s the American way!”

When Toby Keith finished his song, it is said the ground shook beneath the soldiers feet! No, freedom is not free!