A Battlefield Tourist

An American Story

Jun 24 at 8:08am by David Tate

There’s a lot of negative talk regarding the US these days.  I hear a lot about money, hypocrisy and… well, the white man.  The oppressive white man.  Fact is, there’s a lot of ammunition out there for folks that believe these thoughts that are, like any generalization, stereotypes.

I’ve had the great fortune of meeting many, many service people from all branches as well as from a variety of countries.  While I have to admit I’ve seen my fair share of gung ho, trigger happy Americans, I have seen far more US soldiers and Marines like the one I’m about to introduce.

Meet Lt. Col. (now Colonel) Lapthe Flora.  In 2006, when I did this story, Flora was a battalion commander in the 29th Infantry Division with the job of leading Task Force Red Dragon as part of the KFOR mission to Kosovo.

What makes Flora so intriguing is his background.  He’s a top level man at ITT in Roanoke (which makes the nightvision goggles for US troops) and very established in the region.  His upbringing was much different though.  Among other things, Flora escaped the communists in Vietnam by living in the mountain jungles for years.  He became a boat person and a refugee.  He was eventually adopted by an American couple who saw him graduate high school in near-record time and then shipped him off to VMI for his education.

Now, after all of that, Lapthe Flora is able to give back some of the blessings he was fortunate enough to find.  This is an American citizen soldier that is a great example of what true Americans are like.