Midwest Memo
Ruck up
by Alan Shultz

Over the years I've changed my mind about a lot of things. You name the topic area. It could very well be political, social, personal or religious. I've moved around in all of these categories a bit. The problem is that when you write a weekly column you kind of go on record with your opinions. So it's easy to want to eat your words on many occasions.

I do better when I observe others and comment on what I see. A little girl ran into the grocery in Delphi the other day. She didn't have any shoes on. Now the law says that's not permitted, you've got to have your shoes on. But you should have seen her face, the utter joy she emitted. Shoes seemed so unimportant. It was a lovely moment, a writer's moment. There was a truth somewhere there between her little bare toes and the cool linoleum of the grocery floor.

That's the territory I'm most comfortable in. I'm better observing than offering opinion, however, sometimes I stray.

But my editor paid me an unintended compliment the other day. I wrote something about veteran's benefits being due more priority.

"You've sure been consistent on that point," she penned.

And it pleased me to know that my opinion was clear on the debt I think we carry every day to the people in uniform who serve and have served in our military.

Ruck up.

I'd never heard the expression until Monday. That was when General David Petraeus testified before the Armed Services Committee in D.C. concerning the war in Iraq and the troop surge. In one of his comments he used the term "ruck up" in discussing the attitude of soldiers in Iraq doing their daily duties.

I inferred that the term had to do with enduring something - more on the stiff upper lip kind of demeanor. I was wrong.

Ruck up is a military term that means: grab your gear and go. A ruck sack is another name for a back pack according to the on-line Urban Dictionary I consulted.

And during this word exercise it occurred to me again how much we ask of the folks in our military. At a moment's notice we ask these men and women to grab their gear and go. Ruck up is part of the job description.

These days it's fashionable for all politicians to preface remarks about our military with the statement that they "support our troops." Then, after that pledge of support, said politician will go on a rant about the war, the cost of the war, money better spent, etc., etc.

But what is this "support our

troops" talk from both sides of the political divide?

What does support mean?

Every report I hear tells me our military is stretched beyond capacity. We are extending tours of duty. We are redeploying units. There's real concern that the National Guard is overtaxed and not sufficiently available here at home to cover much of its intended mission.

We do not have enough folks in uniform to carry out the military missions that Congress and the Bush Administration want accomplished.

If we are truly to support our troops, I'm certain that means we need to offer sufficient pay, incentives and conditions to recruit and employ enough men and women in uniform to get the job done.

Why is this not a national priority?

It seems to me our military does one incredible and necessary job. And it seems to me that our first duty to our citizenry is to those who serve and have served.

We expect them to ruck up. What can they expect of us?