Where We Stand Today

Day 1,320, 16:24 • Published in USA USA • by Bradley Reala
Life is about new experiences. Savor each, whether good or bad, as a lesson learned or a truth reaffirmed.

Yesterday the entire eUSA had a new experience. We were wiped. Completely and utterly wiped out by our enemies. Yesterday we dealt with what no other eUSA has ever been through, and yet, out of it all, we may still be called the greater for it.

I lost sight of that yesterday. After our defeat in Hawaii, when we were officially wiped, I submitted my resignation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In my own eyes I had failed in one of my key duties, to defend the eUSA. I had been the chief coordinator for our strategy in the days leading up, and I felt that even though I had been dealt a rough hand, that there was no excuse for this loss. Despite my best efforts, and our greatest attempts, we had lost. That loss weighed heavily on me, and I was ready to leave the game then and there. The JCS reminded me of a very important fact, and that is that no victory is ever won alone, nor defeat tasted in solitude. They rejected my resignation unanimously.

Having had time to think about it, I looked back on events that had occurred before. Two years ago we were in a similar position. Our enemies hawked around us, and our allies lay in ruins. The armies of the Global Community were poised to strike a defeat on us, much like the one we tasted today. In those days, though, we considered surrender. In fact, we actually submitted a treaty to the Global Community to surrender to them. Some of our leaders believed it was better to count our losses and start over, rather than face the imminent defeat. Perhaps out of greed or perhaps a desire for destruction (and more than likely a little of both), PEACE GC rejected the proposal, and it is for that reason that we nearly fell the first time to an invading army. As history shows, we won that war, not because we had superior firepower (we did not), nor superior gold reserves (we were nearly broke for much of the war). We won because we stuck with it, in the darkest of days, we rallied and fought back.

Yesterday marks our darkest hour. Yesterday we suffered a defeat more painful than any before it. We lost. Fair and square, we lost. We were completely trounced, despite our best efforts. Going into this term it was understood that there was quite a chance that we would deal with such an outcome, that we would not win this war. There was only one time that I ever heard anyone suggest surrender. One time, and it was summarily rejected by the entire group of coordinators I worked with. It is, for that reason, that I believe that today we should hold our heads higher than any day before this. The eUSA did not capitulate. We did not give up. We fought to the bitter end, and though we knew we had little chance of winning, we did everything in our power to stop our enemies. The eUSA should be proud, not ashamed, of what happened yesterday. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think of giving up and letting ONE win without any opposition. Yes, we lost, but yesterday’s loss is more sweet than the victory two years ago.

July 1st, 2011 should be remembered as the eUSA’s independence day, just three days earlier than our real life counter-part’s birthday. July 1st was the day that we suffered a crushing blow, that we felt a fatal stab, and yet we STILL lunged forward and fought with all our might.

I often quote Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly to my own troops, “We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty,” but I believe that this quote is even more relevant for the entire eUSA. From now on we should look back on our defeat and know that we saw the impossible, and we met the challenge head on. That makes us mightier than anything else.