Join the fight against a common enemy

I spent two relaxing and healthy weeks in Hawaii. One in Maui and the other at the Hale Koa, a military hotel in Honolulu. Hawaii is definitely open for business and business was booming. Reservations for evening meals were hard to come by because of the large number of tourists.

Yet each and every restaurant require proof of vaccination, including a booster shot. Masks were mandatory and if you entered a store without one you were asked, kindly, to please put one on, followed by the ubiquitous “Mahalo.”

The tourists were a nice mixture of young families, newlyweds and the dying off of us baby boomers—but we were holding our own. The beaches were full, but not crowded. Masks were encouraged outside but not required or mandated and we had no problems with our space being invaded.

There didn’t appear to be any real resistance to mask wearing, which probably was reflected in the requirements of being fully vaccinated before boarding a plane to Hawaii. Of course, masks were required on the plane and again, no one seemed to be the least bit bothered by such.

Since anti vaccinators and anti mask folks aren’t allowed to travel to Hawaii, one could tell that our over all experience was not going to be interrupted by the less informed, but more vocal, amongst us.

As a military retiree, I found the mask and vaccination requirements not in the least vexing. In fact, such requirements were even more pronounced at the Hale Koa as well as all military installations that we visited.

It seemed that everyone in Hawaii, natives and tourists alike, were happy to comply. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of us gave up any of our freedoms, with possibly the freedom to get Covid and die.

Those of us who served in the military adhere to the proposition that to live free, it periodically requires adhering to a code of compliance. When I enlisted in the Navy over half a century ago, we were required to know and adhere to the military code of conduct.

There are six articles of the code which emphasize how one is to conduct themselves if we should becomes a prisoner of the enemy. I have reproduced Articles One and Six as follows:

Article I: I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Covid is a national enemy and we are all prisoners of such. It has already killed as many Americans as we lost in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, 9/11 combined. It may eclipse all deaths from all wars since our establishment as a nation over 250 years ago. As such, I find the Code of Conduct comforting in the conflict against such an unrelenting enemy.

I am more than willing to give my life against this enemy if it would spare my my 4-year-old granddaughter, who is battling leukemia. The possibility of her contacting Covid could be a death sentence. Thus I am more than willing to acknowledge the requirement to wear a mask and being vaccinated.

When one joins the military, one knows certain sacrifices are needed and certain dangers will be encountered. As such, one endures an endless process of being vaccinated against a myriad number of diseases in order to remain healthy in defense of our country.

We need to reflect what it takes to fight and vanquish the common enemy of Covid for all our sakes and especially for the more vulnerable amongst us, such as older veterans and my granddaughter.

Instead of thanking me for my service, how about joining in and becoming a warrior against the common enemy of Covid that is killing so many.

Tom Muri is a retired military lawyer/JAG Officer who writes from Whitefish, Arizona and Hawaii.