Smart military leaders support public health - #wearamask

An opinion echo letter published in The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper. 

A deployed aircraft carrier had to abort its mission in the Western Pacific because hundreds of her crew were sickened with COVID-19, disabling the ship as surely as a saboteur's mischief. Aborting the mission compromised U.S. strategic posture.

An enemy of the U.S. would do well to discourage social distancing and face masks among citizens so as to spread the disease quickly and thoroughly. ]

In so doing the goal would be to overwhelm the nation's medical, social and political systems so that the country was weakened and its institutions degraded or destroyed.

The practices advised by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are to keep the country healthy and thus strong, a responsibility of all Americans. Those who say that they have a "right" not to wear a mask or practice social distancing put themselves in the same category with those who have a right not to stand for the national anthem or not to say the Pledge of Allegiance or to trash the flag.

Keep 6 feet apart. Wear a mask. Those who do not risk being accused of hating America.  Be a patriot.

CMDR. EARL HIGGINS  U.S. Navy (Ret.) River Ridge Louisiana