[December 15, 2020] Yes … I’m a flag-waving American Patriot. My 40 years in the U.S. Army did not make me a patriot. Growing up in a patriotic family did not make me a patriot. I’m a patriot because I lived half my life overseas in 20 foreign countries, on four continents, which made me a patriot. With my own eyes, I saw what it is like to live in nations that do not respect the individual; America is the only place that does.
It’s not only the U.S. government that treats me as an individual; American people themselves liberally treat me as an individual. Moreover, I am free to reject being pigeonholed into a racial, ethnic, or gender group for whatever purpose. Americans think like me … that the individual is what determines one’s life outcome; working hard, being honest and truthful, and taking responsibility for what we do or do not do.
Being an American Patriot also means that I can worship my God without interference from the government. And when the government does interfere, as many state and local bureaucrats have done recently in the name of “pandemic safety,” I can ignore their petty, aspirant despotic declarations with a clear conscience and a smile on my face. If they arrest me or fine for it, so be it. I do not fear them.
Watching “war movies” did not make me a patriot. Owning a shotgun and going hunting and fishing did not make me a patriot. As a child, listening to the stories of combat Veterans from WWI, WWII and Korea helped make me a patriot. They told me of the great sacrifices made by so many of their friends, their hardships in battle, the loneliness they endured, and the thought of never seeing their family again. And they were proud they were there.
Being an American Patriot means I can speak my mind, write what I want, and know that the police will not come and arrest me for “offending” some privileged group or the government. But I do owe a debt to the United States. There exists an unwritten, long-established rule that we all give back to our nation when called. I did that, and more.
3.5″ x 2″ Reversed Tactical Infrared Reflective U.S. Flag worn on military uniforms while in a combat zone.
Voluntary organizations I belong to do not make me an American Patriot. And, a lifetime of wearing the U.S. flag on my right shoulder did not make me a patriot. Being in the proximity of so many dedicated people with the love of our nation does make it darn tough not to be a patriot. When push comes to shove, these are the people I would want to have in my foxhole, those I can trust and depend upon. It is hard to ignore the dedication they have to our nation and democratic values. If you call, they will come.
I sincerely believe that it is my job to help where and when I can to make America a better place. I do that, in part by supporting our military Veterans. If someone calls me that needs my assistance, I’m there. If a Veteran needs help to find medical treatment, I’m there. I may not know the answer, but I sure can find it or find someone who can. I’m there.
Being an American Patriot is not dependent upon your social status, who you know, your job, where you come from, your party affiliation, or the color of your skin, or being a part of any politically-correct victim groups so many folks want to be part of today.
Patriotism is an idea. And that idea cannot be destroyed by any law or by edict. Believing in American values works – liberty, individualism, democracy, family, responsibility, and faith.1,2
American Patriotism is the love of the United States of America. Period. Nuff said.
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Gen. Satterfield, thank you for your American Patriotism and being so open about it. Today we are seeing a wave of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism (promoted by US Pres Joe Biden and his handlers). It is sad where America is today. TRUMP 2024. The election of Joe Biden as president proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that America would elect an old, worn out shoe if it promised them money. Nothing like a little bribe here and there. Sir, love your website and please please please, keep them articles coming our way. ❤
Sir, I imagine you are greatest patriot of America.
Incredible essay. I’m so grateful I came across this blog today. Thank you.
Yes, yes, yes. Great article, Great Patriot.
Me too, General. I’m a great American patriot too. You da man! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
It is good to see a real man stand up and say he is an American Patriot. Too many sissy men hide behind their titles and their jobs to stand up and be counted for something truly important. Thank you Gen. Satterfield for being an American Patriot.
I just read this for the second time and it still rings true….loud and clear!
This is a GREAT article.
Yep, loving every day I get to read this blog.
Gen. Satterfield, I just wanted to let you know that your senior leadership website is the best. I make my daily pilgrimage here to learn and to be entertained. Keep up this wonderful blog of yours.
Gen. Satterfield, I stand with you!
It is not often that you run across a truly great piece of writing in such a small space as this. Gen. Satterfield is telling us where he stands and doing so without pussy-footing around. He stands tall when needed. He says what he thinks. He writes well and entertains but is serious and down to earth. He doesn’t write in the academic clouds but basic enough for all of us to understand. We can also question him in this comments forum. Thank God for Gen. Satterfield.
Well said, Janna. This is why I keep on reading these articles. And, I’m a better person for it as well.
Best article I’ve read in a long long time.
I’m too an American Patriot because I know what freedom is when we have it and what it looks like when we don’t have it. Live in another country like China or Russia for starters. Or live in Cuba or Venezuela for a real introduction to communism and the lack of freedom.
Wow, lots of patriots here. Must be helluva website. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I thought long and hard about this article and waited a bit before I posted. I wanted to get it right. Gen. Satterfield is an American Patriot. I expected nothing less. But I too am an American Patriot – willing to put my life, career, and family on the line for my nation. Not for others but for the good old USA. Yeah, we have faults but when you look around the world, we have fewer problems than others and we have something more precious..freedom. This means freedom of religion and of speech and of assembly. No where else do you get this. Don’t think so, move anywhere else. I am willing to put cash up for any famous Hollywood liberal who wants to move away permanently. Go for it. They won’t take me up on it.
Eric, you are spot-on correct with your comment. Fear keeps many ‘famous’ folks scared away from being a Patriot. Why? They are threatened. But I’m not willing to put up with threats. I too stand with you both.
Wow, great to hear from you Edward. Thanks.
You are one of my favorite guest writers on this blog by Gen. Satterfield. Please give us another one soon, or at least give us an update on what you are up to these days, Mr. EMKIII.
Gen. Satterfield, I am also an American Patriot. It makes me happy that there are so many like us. 🇺🇸
I goes a long way for me whenever I read an article like this to put together in my mind what it’s like to be a good leader. Good leadership also means telling things like they are … without sugar-coating them. Gen. Satterfield is an American Patriot. I would not have expected anything else.
Yes, Jonnie be good, and welcome aboard Gen. Satterfield’s leadership blog.
Superior article and well laid out for even dummies like me to understand and appreciate. Thank you, Gen. Satterfield for standing up when so many are running away.
Too many politicians, social scientists, college students, teachers, and ordinary citizens have become cowards. They do this because they have corrupted themselves by learning to lie to themselves and to others. That is why our Judeo-Christian values are so important. We are taught correctly that telling the truth is important – altho not why. The why is that lying to ourselves is the first step toward our own destruction. I see it in my liberal friends every day. Sad how they can no longer see the truth when it confronts them. They have to run and look up how liberal pundits are covering the issue and they immediately adopt that view.
ZB22, well said. Thanks.
ZB, well written and thanks. Cowardice is like a pandemic; when one starts to run away, they all want to run away.
There is nothing new under the sun. Even America, the greatest and most free nation in the history of the world, has never been composed entirely of liberty lovers. Our story, like any other nation, has included an ongoing battle between those of the socialist mindset versus those who believed in individual liberty.
Gen. Satterfield, I learned something today about the IR Flag you have copied here. I didn’t know. actually didn’t pay attention to it earlier. Note that the flag is ‘reversed.’ The reason I looked up. You wrote that it was on your right arm. That means the flag waves to the rear, as it should be. Thanks for your service to our nation and your service that continues today.
Hey Wilson. You can buy them on-line. Here is one site that carries them.
It’s a symbol of our combat service members.
https://www.uspatriottactical.com/ir-tools-subdued-infrared-reversed-us-flag-patch/CID-FLAG-000P1.html
Go USA. 👍
I stand with Gen. Satterfield.
I stand with all American Patriots.
I stand tall when my country is attacked by outside forces or internal enemies.
I stand tall when it threatens me, my family, church or God.
I will not kneel, suck up to anybody, and I will not put God or Country behind any time.
Army Vet. soooo glad to see you on today. Thank you for your patriotism. You’ve proven it over and over. And, you don’t even have to. We see it in your articles and what you continue to do for your country.
One of the best articles ever. Thank you Gen. Satterfield for standing tall.
Standing tall is what REAL LEADERS do.
A lot of people who frequent Internet websites such as this one like to think of themselves as patriots. Are you? Unless you are NOW ready to do the things the REAL patriots did you are not, in fact, a REAL patriot.
Gen. Satterfield, great article.
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
USA USA USA USA USA USA USA
Couldn’t have said it better.
Great comment Dennis…… 👍👍👍👍
Those who would call themselves American patriots need to stand ready to do the same things today that our forefathers did in 1775, and we’d better be ready to be called conspirators, traitors, seditionists and (today’s buzzword) terrorists by the government loyalists we oppose. We must not allow them to get away with branding us with those labels. Labels are the instruments tyrannical governments all use to thwart opposition. Any government born out of a revolution, as was ours, can be replaced by the same means. And it doesn’t take a majority to do it, just as it didn’t in 1775. When you see or hear patriots branded by the establishment using such terms, remember this. The present American government and its establishment press using such labels here are no different from the government of Communist China branding its dissidents as “counter-revolutionaries”.
Max, wow, spot-on comment once again. Thanks. And folks like slow-Joe “China” Biden are divisive and ultimately highly destructive to our nation. He was just given approval with the Electoral College today. We will soon see what the terrible policies he will bring us
Be like the American Patriots of old. Be like them. Be known that you will not back down for the idea of freedom of religion, of thought, of speech, of the right to assemble. Otherwise you are a weannie like so many liberal politicians today. Weannie (not sure how to spell it but you get the idea). 👍
We all love it. Thanks BIll and Maureen. Max, well written comment and well received. Only crazies would deny what you wrote. I suggest they are scared of talk like that.
Gen. Satterfield, you surely have proven – once again – your leadership. I’m proud to be part of your “team” here on your website.
See my salute to you in this Youtube video; waving American Flag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pghu0lVm6uE
Thank you, Jerome and others who have made such wonderful comments.
Thank you all for your devotion and courage to stand up against the enemies of freedom. For those who don’t know what that means, look up the United States’ Bill of Rights. Read them. You will learn a lot.
Thank you Gen. Satterfield for responding to my respect of you.
Go get ’em, Gen. S. You da man!!
Just using words of Gen.S. Thank you, and I really mean it.
Linus, yes, it is good to see Gen. Satterfield standing out from the crowd and willing to put himself in the line of fire (figuratively speaking, of course) of hyper partisans and radical leftist nutjobs that have taken a foothold in America and across the world. Their Marxist ideology has proven itself overwhelmingly destructive in all manners. Look at the 20th century for proof.
“Nuff said.” Well said, Gen. Satterfield. Thank you!
Nicely written and to the point. Those who are not patriots, do not understand what it means to be one and the destruction their lack of will, lack of courage, and lack of intellectual freedom means to America, or, for that matter to any nation.
I’m a flag waving AMERICAN patriot as well. Wonderful to read both the article and the many comments in support.
Thank you Army Capt for what you do also for our nation and our communities. Keep it up. We are happy to have soldiers like you on board fighting for our freedoms. This is so despite the despots in our state and local govts.
I liked this entire article from “the General.” Well written. I’m sure you could have gone on and on, Gen. Satterfield because there is so much to write about. Too many in the USA are not proud of what they have. I suggest, not kidding, for them to move to any other country in the world. ANY. That includes Canada. You think the USA is “so terrible,” you will discover that is not true and that you are an idiot of epic proportions. Let’s have the college snowflakes leave first. We will be better off without them whining and crying over their hurt feelings.
Kenny, well said. I will add that, IMHO, that the Hollywood actors should leave first and not come back. We all will be in good stead in the world without them here.
Loved today’s article probably more than any other. That is what i like to see from a real leader.
REAL LEADERSHIP in action. That’s what I call it. This is where – this website – you can get the latest leadership information and also where you can SEE for yourself which values make for the best leaders in our country. Ignore what is written here at your peril. Gen> Satterfield is a top-notch leader. Read his article, post it on your refrig, send it to colleagues, and share it with friends and family. Help spread the word. There is a new awakening of patriotism in America.
You got that right, Lynn. Great article. I’ll take it to church this coming Sunday to share with my friends there.
Lynn, spot on comment. Thanks. You wrote what we are thinking. Well done.
A real leader … that is an understatement. He stands for something. And, he doesn’t compromise his values. For that, I have to give Gen. Satterfield a lot of respect.
Butt kicking, head stomping, non-PC article that I just loved to read. Hey, Gen. Satterfield, I’m glad that I am on your team. Send a few more of those radical progressives down my way so I can kick some butt too. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
👍
Old Warrior, you make me laugh each time I read your comments. Yes, BUTT KICKING….. yaaaahhhh heeee.
Great and funny comment but to the point.
Pow Pow Pow…. Gen. Satterfield puts a shot across the bow of all the snowflakes and wannabe dictators in Democrat controlled states and cities. He lives in New Jersey and it’s one of the worst to offend our rights. Good for him.
Wow, great article, Gen. Satterfield. I would expect nothing less from you. 👍
You got that bomber on target, Randy. I’m with you and Gen. Satterfield. Ignore the petty despots. Be a free American. Be an American Patriot.
You got that right.
Super article, YES !!!!!!!!
❤❤❤❤❤
Loving it all the way.