There has been a situation that I have been monitoring for the last two weeks that I was hoping was not true. But today, I saw a report that looked quite official and it now has made Micheal Yon's Website. I know Micheal from my first tour of duty in Iraq in 2004-2005 and I have the utmost respect for him. So now I am quite concerned and disgusted to be honest. Please see below for a quote from Micheal's blog, the link to the entire article is at the end of this post."Recently, there have been local incidents in which military personnel have been verbally assaulted while commuting on the Metro. Uniformed members have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government, shouting anti-war sentiments, and using racial slurs against minorities.
In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit."
In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit."
For myself, I have yet to see anything of this nature. I have seen nothing but an unbelievable outpouring of support from the American People. I have had people come up to me in the airports just to say thank you. I even have had a young man approach me in the Atlanta Airport on my mid tour leave just to say thank you, I may not agree with why we are there, but thank you for what your doing. That is fine by me. As you can probably tell from my other posts I firmly believe that friendly discourse and different opinions are what makes our country strong. I respect that man also for being able to differentiate the soldier from his opinion on whether we should be in Iraq or not. But this situation in Washington sounds to be completely another story.
I remember my father and my uncle telling me about their experiences coming home from Vietnam. What was done to them and their fellow soldiers was atrocious, being spit upon in airports and having items thrown at you. That is just down-right wrong and immoral. I thought as a nation that we had moved beyond that. But seeing things like this makes me wonder if that is coming? Are the opinions on the war changing so much that when I return from my 3rd tour of duty that I am going to have to worry about that?
I don't think so. I honestly believe that as a people we have been able to differentiate our support for the Soldiers, Airmen, Seamen, and Marines and that of our personal opinions on politics and strategy. I hope I am not proven wrong.
God Bless America
Bryan
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5 comments:
Wow, I live in the DC area and this is the first I've heard of this happening on the Metro. Its obviously a specific group and they've targetted a specific line and stops that are most frequented by the military. I'm surprised they don't try that on the Pentagon metro platform.
There are just wackos and the unfortunate thing is they have the right to free speech because of what you men and women in uniform do.
I think these incidents are isolated. My friend's husband was confronted in Hawaii. Someone noticed his memorial tatoo to his fallen men, he was in civilian clothing. This person had the gall to come up and call him a baby killer. My friend was so angry - - good thing she wasn't with her husband at the time.
I really think that if these people really "knew" the military men and women they were confronting. Knew the things they have seen, including the brutality of the insurgents, they'd not say the things they say. But who knows, there are ignorant people and eventually, what comes around goes around.
BTW, Happy Memorial Day.
There are some crazy people in this world, but fortunately they are few and far between.
Rangersgirl, and Bag Blog,
I couldnt agree more. I do believe this is probably just isolated incidents. I dont think it is something that is forbearing of things to come, but deffinitely something all need to think about and remember especially this weekend. Thank You so much for your comments, and it was great to hear that you hadnt seen any of this Rangersgirl. Happy Memorial Day to both of you also. :)
Bryan
You're right on Bryan and RGirl!
Maybe we could get RGirl to re-direct the wackos in D.C. toward "The Hill" where the real problem is... As we all know it's not our fault we're fighting in Iraq.... we didn't dream this one up.... someone else did... and they don't wear a uniform, if ya know what I mean!
Have a great weekend!
The real problem is not that these people are ‘wackos’, but basically ignorant. I do not mean that in the sense of being non-educated, but more non-informed. As noted in previous blogs of Maj C., where he comments on his personal survey on news coverage or use your own experiences of watching the news, much of what goes on in Iraq or Afghanistan is limited to either bad news or no news. The liberal news media will only tell you the bad news, as they have this core belief that bad news is what people want to hear. So you cannot blame the folks for being ignorant of all the good things being accomplished in Iraq or Afghanistan. But you can blame them for not using their God given common sense to use a variety of news sources before making their decision, that ‘All ‘ people in military uniforms are bad people. There is a pattern in the fashion world, where styles come and go. We as humans have unlimited access to our history, but it seems we are always repeating ourselves, repeating our mistakes and sometimes our success, just like the fashion world. We as a people can and must do better for ourselves and especially for our men and women in the military and their families.
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