Guardian

At age 60 and scheduled for retirement next year, Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen is just beginning the transition to a "Guardian Ethos".

United States Coast Guard Guardian Ethos

I am America's Maritime Guardian.
I serve the citizens of the United States.
I will protect them.
I will defend them.
I will save them.
I am their shield.
For them I am Semper Paratus.
I live the Coast Guard Core Values.
I am a Guardian.
We are the United States Coast Guard.

Even a cursory reading of the 2nd Amendment and The Federalist Papers No. 29 should convince any thinking person that our understanding of military forces was conceived in confusion and has only been confounded by Congress, the Courts and the Executive branch (read the Dick Act of 1903 and the John Warner Defense Authorization Act which Ted Kennedy endorsed).

Thad Allen and the "Guardian Ethos" points to a way out of the morass towards a legitimate "Department of Defense", a way of making sense out of a half million people in uniform and hope for a real "peace dividend".