Okay, so I didn’t know that there was a “National Vigilence Park” near Fort Meade, VA (and, thus, NSA Headquarters):
Active-duty and former military service members have sought to honor the sacrifices of aerial reconnaissance crews for some time. With changes in world politics and national security concerns, it became possible to declassify the existence of the program. This declassification provided the opportunity to recognize publicly the sacrifices made by servicemen performing aerial reconnaissance missions.
Dedicated on 2 September 1997, National Vigilance Park and its Aerial Reconnaissance Memorial stands to honor those “silent warriors” who risked, and often lost, their lives performing airborne signals intelligence missions during the Cold War. The backdrop for the park is a semi-circle of trees, each representing the various types of aircraft downed during U.S. Aerial reconnaissance missions.
BoingBoing finds the “I am Military Intelligence” memorial plaque at the park to be “creepy,” though, for reasons I can’t quite figure out:
I am Military Intelligence and my roots stretch back to the beginning of time. Whenever and wherever man has had to defend himself against his neighbor, I was there. Survival and victory depend on Me, for I mean Knowledge and Security.
I was with Moses as he sent Caleb into the Promised Land ahead of his people, meeting the enemy where the danger was greatest; then as now, “Always out Front.”
I’ve been there since the beginning, in cold wars as well as hot. In Boston, My light shined from the steeple of the Old North Church; “One if by land, two if by sea,” I said, and then I rode hard through the cool April night to Lexington and Concord with the message that set fire to men’s souls, stirring them to fight for their freedom and for a nation that was but a dream. I alone made soldiers of farms on that night.
Another war, and I pushed West, scouting ahead of long columns, ensuring their safety, then as now, probing the frontier, Always out Front.
From Bull Run to the Argonne, I was there and the battles were won. I went by many names, now most forgotten, but I was Always out Front.
At Pearl Harbor, unheeded, I wept at the waste. But out of the flames, I rose stronger than ever. When the Third Reich talked, I listened. When the Rising Sun moved, I watched. Nothing escaped Me. When my countrymen stormed the beaches, I was waiting. At Saint Lo, My finger pointed the way, and then it was I who led the march to the Elbe. I am Military Intelligence; throughout the struggle, then as now, I was Always out Front.
Pusan, Inchon, Mekong and Quang Tri are all familiar names to Me. Always out Front, I was the first to bleed in Vietnam. Through the world in war or peace, I remain alert to the dangers … ever watchful … always listening … I feel the rumblings that threaten the peace while others but sleep. To beat the Enemy, one must know the Enemy, and I am that Knowledge. Whenever my countrymen must fight wherever they must fight, there I am, showing them where and how and when.
I am Military Intelligence, and I am Always out Front … Always.
Okay, one can debate the quality of military intelligence in the engagements described, and others, and one can also debate the literary merit of the plaque, but … creepy?
Anyway, Extra Bonus Points to the BoingBoing post for making a snarky comment of the how the plaque has a “biblical reference for extra-specialness.”