The war goes on …

It’s not a military war with guns, ships, planes and rockets. It’s a global war that has killed millions and wounded tens of millions. This war is biological but feels military. The enemy attacks not only humans but animals as well. It disguises itself with many variants. We know it as COVID-19.

Like it or not, all of us were drafted into this war. We were given no choice by this enemy’s nature. To survive, like combat soldiers, we have to defend ourselves with the equivalent of helmets and flak jackets. Medical science designed this personal protection for us in the form of vaccines and masks.

Just like military armor, this biological armor does not always protect us completely in biological firefights, but it really improves our chances of surviving attacks. When we wear this protection, we also protect others as we achieve our immunity. We then think like U.S. Marines.

Marines adopt a fundamental, immovable concept from basic training on for the rest of their careers. This unshakable mandate is that you always work for your unit, you always protect your unit, you never abandon your unit. You always fight for your own and your unit’s survival.

In the face of a merciless enemy like COVID-19, we then must think like Marines and consider all of humanity as our own unit. Inside family, workplace, stores, stadium, bus, train, airplane, everyone anywhere are our unit.

World War II required resolve and determination until America and its allies won that fight. In this biological war, we must never abandon each other, we must never give up, we must never surrender.

James F. Andrus

Cortez