I joined the military right out of high school. I saw it as something that I had to do. I love my country and wanted to help not only defend it, but also defend the rights of people in other country that were no allotted the same freedoms that we were.

I took the oath that all service members do...to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Not a flag...not an anthem...not a President.

I took that oath and served my country as best I could, originally as a S.E.R.E. instructor and later as...well...as someone that saw a lot of different countries under the cover of darkness as well as The Capitol, the Pentagon and the White House.

In my time, I saw and committed many atrocities. I live with those every day and comfort myself with the idea that I did them FOR my country. I did. The evil I did, I did for good. I did bad things to make the lives of people all over the world better...but, I still deal with it.

So, to watch the events unfold over the last four years, culminating in the traitorous actions we saw today, hurts. How can people that took an oath similar to the one I took, do such damage to this country so carelessly?

How can people that took an oath to defend our Constitution, disgrace it without a second thought...and live with themselves? I have the comfort of knowing that I did what I did to protect my county...they don't have that.

They carried out their evil attack on our country for nothing more that popularity among their own hateful minority and to appease a failed president. A president that was, himself, a direct attack on the very foundations of our nation.

If we are to protect our country and preserve our democracy for future generations, we must not back down. We have got to fight to make sure that EVERYONE has the ability to freely exercise their Constitutional right to vote.

And we must encourage people not to vote for party, but to vote for policy. Put people in power that stand for what America was always meant to stand for. That all men (and women) are created equal.

Vote for people that will hold America to the vision that our founding fathers had for us. Make us a beacon of hope...or justice...and democracy to guide the entire world.