We can protect our safety — if only our representatives decide to do it. Before 9/11, you could walk up to your airport gate at the last minute. You didn’t even need to have a boarding pass. …

During armored convoys in Afghanistan, one of our vehicles would fly a red and gold Marine Corps flag to remind any observing enemy contemplating an ambush that they would get that good ol’ close-with-and-destroy treatment Marines are famous for. Being known as a spit-shined sociopath may scare away would-be attackers…