We will always love you

A disequilibriating factor emerged during that hellish time called the First World War - mud. In the summer of 1917, during the British offensive called the Third Battle of Ypres, near Passchendaele, spring rains and bombardments had churned up the earth to the depth of six feet. Many horses commandeered to serve their masters, sunk into the mud to succumb to ignominious deaths. Near this Valentine’s day, let’s remember with affection and gratitude those who have fallen in service to their countries during a time of war. John Keegan, a prominent military historian, said that, "Rare are the times in a great war when the fortunes of one side or the other are transformed by the sudden accretion of a disequilibritiating reinforcement." He was referencing the United States entry into WWI in the summer of 1917. Battle casualties and influenza eventually claimed 100,000 American lives. Following the armistice at Versailles, another disequilibriating factor, a civil war in Russia claimed 7 to 10 million lives. One never knows when a Black Swan, that unpredictable, earth-shaking, status quo shattering disequilibriating event might occur. One does know, however, that millions of men and men’s best, hoofed friends paid the ultimate price in great wars. Because war is Hell, mourners must remember the fallen. "We will always love you."