As the mother of a fallen Navy SEAL killed in action on August 6, 2011, I spend a lot of time talking to men and women who have served this nation since the Towers fell on that fateful morning of September 11, 2001. Young adults who launched themselves into action with reckless abandon, believing in their hearts that their sacrifice—their commitment to the cause—would make an impact on American security.

Why won’t the Obama administration identify the dangerous ideology that is responsible for many of the world’s terrorist groups and threats? Islamic extremism is a clear and present danger to both the U.S. and the international community, and to deny the fact that religion is at the core of Islamic extremism is to deny the nature of the enemy.

The Bergdahl swap will no doubt go down in history as one of America’s darkest hours. We traded so much more than men. We traded our integrity as a nation. A poignant image surfaced last year that depicted his exchange and homecoming with complete precision. In it a soldier’s boots are seen crossing the Atlantic, using American flag-draped coffins for footing. Caption: Bergdahl makes his way home.

Tuesday’s State of the Union speech was yet another glaring reminder of just how out of touch our president seems to be with reality and the true threat of radical Islam on the West. Our son Aaron was a US Navy SEAL. He’d seen the enemy our president refuses to acknowledge face-to-face. His heart had been seared by the blackness of those who exist solely to discharge the terror of Jihad not only on America, but the entire globe.

After finally choosing to view the barbaric, on-camera beheading of freelance war correspondent James Foley, I’ve been left with a level of rage known only to those of us who have sacrificed unspeakable offerings on the altar of world peace. My offering was my only son—Aaron Carson Vaughn. Aaron was a member of SEAL Team VI. He was killed in action when a CH47D Chinook, carrying thirty Americans and eight Afghans was shot down in the Tangi River Valley of Afghanistan on August 6, 2011.

US soldiers in Afghanistan are now forced to fight a two-fronted war. Before each deployment, these soldiers understand fully that day after day they will do battle against relentless terrorists with shifting loyalties and unspeakable hatred. But what none of them could have foreseen was the killing field that would open from their rear…the continental United States.

We are all familiar with the US Marine Corps slogan “Looking for a Few Good Men.” Truth is, America’s military has always had plenty of “good men.” What it seems to lack in spades is good leaders.