1st Lt Prifogle’s Blog

There is a sign as you walk outside one of the chow-halls on base, “complacency kills.”  It is engrained in our minds during training, “complacency kills.”  During staff meetings, “complacency kills.”  It is the signature of emails, “complacency kills.”  Everywhere you go you are reminded, “complacency kills.”  It is a fight.  Complacency sets in after awhile and you don’t even realize it.  You get used to doing the same thing every day and what was once dangerous is now just a routine.  I fight complacency, just like I fight boredom, just like I fight the urge to go to bed instead of getting up to workout or train.  Complacency kills.  Bullets kill.  IEDs kill.  VBIEDs kill.  RPGs kill.  Kill. Kill. Kill.  We take an oath, “to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic…”  We don’t sign up to die for our country; we sign up to serve our country willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.  Complacency kills.

The media talks about how America had become complacent before 9/11.  That day woke up a sleeping beast.  That was over six years ago.  The war on terrorism is no longer a headline.  The price of gas is more important in elections then national affairs.  Has America become complacent again?  Complacency kills.

I am part of the Millennial Generation; a generation of computer hackers and myspace stalkers and facebook fanatics.  A generation that doesn’t vote or get involved in the greater cause.  A generation of complacency and apathy because we have never been challenged, we have never been called to serve a greater cause.  A generation that cares more about the lives of celebrities then the lives of the servicemen and women who willingly sacrifice everything for this country.  A generation that has forgotten what patriotism means.  Complacency kills.  This is what I thought of my generation, but recently I was proven wrong.  This is an email I received from my friend Jill.  Jill, a 26 year old attorney who works 12 hrs a day, but takes time to write me everyday. 

I’m going to go to some Memorial Day ceremony this weekend.
Back home, there’s a parade and a ceremony in the cemetery.  We’d always go because, as a veteran, my grandfather thought it was important and ingrained it in our heads.  I hated getting up that early, but it is important.  There’s a ceremony on the Midway on Saturday and there’s a ceremony in Point Loma on Monday.  Not sure which I’m going to go to, but I’m going to go and honor those who have died for my country.  I seem to have inherited his patriotism.  Is there anyone that you would like me to remember?