The strike force is developed after 9/11 and doesn’t declare war on whole countries It is only sent in as a surgical strike to a particular target proven to be culpable.
The men are well-trained, fit, handsome, self-disciplined and extremely dedicated.
The men all have beautiful families whom they love unconditionally, and who understand perfectly when the men must embark on a dangerous mission without providing details about destination or longevity.
The mission is clearly defined, with an attainable objective and strong possibility of successful extraction.
The men are able to be relaxed enough to engage in awkward repartee with one another, but nothing too ribald, and certainly no damaging or humiliating pranks.
The men are tough and capable of personal violence, but are not coarse and do not curse, even under the most extreme circumstances.
Noncombatants near the target area are instantly recognized as innocent civilians and never accidentally injured as “collateral damage.”
The bad guys are proven drug lords, plotting to bomb innocent civilians, providing weapons to criminals, or all three, and their hapless henchmen are easily disposed of in a firefight.
Secret operations are carried out with constant and excellent communication among the members of the strike team.
If any soldier is wounded, it is usually non-fatal, and the fallen are never left behind.
Any fatalities are contracted either by actively saving others in the strike force (like falling on a grenade), or pursuant to slaying the leader of the bad guys in his last bastion of defense.
Any fallen comrades are treated as heroes and given a solemn and dignified burial by a grieving family and a grateful military entourage, with no hecklers or dissenters present.
Weapons always function, sharpshooting is exceptional by every member of the strike team, there is never a shortage of ammunition, and the strike team never encounters any difficulties with supply or communication in hostile territory.
Any cooperative ventures with indigenous military are done with efficiency, mutual respect, clear lines of demarcation of responsibility and successful outcomes.
The rescue operation involving a hijacked CIA agent posing as a physician results in her being physically beaten, but neither sexually assaulted nor degraded, nor did she cave in to her interrogators and blow her cover.
The men who are such incredibly successful warriors, and so effective in combat, then easily “turn off” to the violence when they return home, and suffer no symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome afterwards.
Well, we who unabashedly support our military wish that all this were so. Would that it could be.
Ronald P. Salfen is interim pastor of St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Irving, Texas.
