SwiftVets.com

[ETSHD]

I have been reading this forum for awhile now, and truly appreciate all of the efforts of the Military that post. I read this and it brought back all of the memories of when I came back from Vietnam in March of 1968.
Friday, July 9, 2004

Veteran gets rude welcome on Bainbridge

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Think about the Seattle area -- Bainbridge Island to be exact -- and you think scenic views and liberal-minded tolerance.

At least the killer views are still there.

The bucolic island's deep reputation for civility got a gut check this week during the annual Grand Old Fourth of July celebration.

That's when Jason Gilson, a 23-year-old military veteran who served in Iraq, marched in the local event. He wore his medals with pride and carried a sign that said "Veterans for Bush."

Walking the parade route with his mom, younger siblings and politically conservative friends, Jason heard words from the crowd that felt like a thousand daggers to the heart.

"Baby killer!"

"Murderer!"

"Boooo!"

To understand why the reaction of strangers hurt so much, you must read what the young man had written in a letter from Iraq before he was disabled in an ambush:



"I really miss being in the states. Some of the American public have no idea how much freedom costs and who the people are that pay that awful price. I think sometimes people just see us as nameless and faceless and not really as humans. ... A good portion of us are actually scared that when we come home, for those of us who make it back, that there will be protesters waiting for us and that is scary."

On the Fourth, Jason faced his worst fear.

It was such a public humiliation -- home front insult after battlefield injury.

It really shouldn't have happened for two principal reasons.

Reason No. 1? History.

The past informs us that the men and women who fight our wars are not just following orders.

They are risking life and limb.

When they return from the battlefield they should be embraced regardless of the public popularity about the conflict, regardless of the politics.

Have we so quickly forgotten the painful lessons of Vietnam?

Frederick Scheffler, whose daughter and son-in-law marched with Jason on Sunday, hasn't.

Scheffler -- an Army veteran of two tours in Southeast Asia -- was shot in the leg during that long-ago conflict.

He came home with a cane, only to discover the American public was either indifferent to his sacrifice or downright hostile.

"I didn't think in this day and age combat veterans would be treated in this manner," Scheffler, 60, tells me, reflecting on Jason. "I saw it happen to veterans in Vietnam. I'm not going to let it happen today, not to these kids."

Reason No. 2? The rules.

The Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, which put on the community celebration, permits freedom of expression at the event but asks that parade announcers not act in a manner that is partisan or prejudicial.

Jason's mother, Tamar, says a female parade announcer locked eyes on her son who was walking behind a pro-Republican group called Women in Red, White and Blue. The group supports President Bush and the troops in the fight against terrorism.

According to Tamar, the female announcer sarcastically asked Jason: "And what exactly are you a veteran of?"

The perceived mocking, the mother adds, set off some people in the crowd, loosing a flood of negative comments, "like a wave... a mob-style degrading."

Kevin Dwyer, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, spoke with the announcer after the allegations reached him this week.

He says the woman denies using sarcasm; she just wanted to know which war Jason was a veteran of so that she could "honor him" in public.

"It wasn't her intention to incite anything -- that's what she told me," Dwyer said. "But if she acted out of school, that's not what we're about."

Dwyer added: "I believe (Jason's) mom when she said her son was called 'a murderer.' But I'm sure it wasn't so much directed at the kid as it was the president. A soldier with a sign represents that."

The female announcer told Dwyer that some in the Bush-Cheney contingent in the parade seemed "militant."

And so, battle lines are drawn.

From the outside looking in, the fuel for this conflict seems obvious.

The left-leaning island hosted a group of people who support Bush's controversial war. (On the same parade route, people bearing pro-Kerry signs were cheered and applauded for, among other things, tooling around in an environmentally responsible car.)

Against such a roiling backdrop, an unfortunate tone of voice or the wording on a sign can spark, well, something -- something unconscionable it appears.

But less obvious factors are undoubtedly at work here, too.

The female announcer at the parade had a father who fought for America in a previous U.S. conflict. He never made it back home.

Jason's mother -- unbeknownst to many observers along the parade route -- is a tireless activist behind the pro-troops movement in the Puget Sound region.

Such a combo on a day of red, white and blue can only lead to fireworks -- snap, crackle and popping off during what locals call the "best small-town parade in America."

This Left Wing Group have got to be stopped.

God Bless America and all of our Military[/quote]
_________________
USMC 1966-1970

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.

[Doc Jerry]

The Left treats military personnel and veterans like dirt for one reason only: We represent America and they hate America. All one has to do is watch how these yo-yos have embraced Michael Moore.

Everything they say and do is a bold face lie, because, like Moore, their heroes are Castro, Lenin, Stalin and others who based their entire philosophy on lies and bloodshed. More disturbing to these nut jobs, the United States is the premier guarantor and promoter of individual freedoms in the world. It's also one of the reasons why they promote the UN and international government intervention (even into our own affairs), because these institutions want to destroy state sovereignty.

In the liberal mind, our freedom is their oppression. They despise the military because it represents power, and they do not want any country to be more powerful than another, even if it means the most powerful country on earth--like the US---only uses the power for good.

Hang in there bro. Accept the fact that liberals hate us and always will.


Go Air Force!!! Medics rule!!!

[coldwarvet]

[navy-ex]

[quote="Doc Jerry"]The Left treats military personnel and veterans like dirt for one reason only: We represent America and they hate America. All one has to do is watch how these yo-yos have embraced Michael Moore.

Everything they say and do is a bold face lie, because, like Moore, their heroes are Castro, Lenin, Stalin and others who based their entire philosophy on lies and bloodshed. More disturbing to these nut jobs, the United States is the premier guarantor and promoter of individual freedoms in the world. It's also one of the reasons why they promote the UN and international government intervention (even into our own affairs), because these institutions want to destroy state sovereignty.

In the liberal mind, our freedom is their oppression. They despise the military because it represents power, and they do not want any country to be more powerful than another, even if it means the most powerful country on earth--like the US---only uses the power for good.

Hang in there bro. Accept the fact that liberals hate us and always will.


Go Air Force!!! Medics rule!!![/quote]



Please, lets not be too hard on the Left. This country is for all people. It is just that some people do not have the courage to go forward. Each day they dream of the comfort and security of their Mothers arms. They are afraid to get out of bed each morning.

So they look everywhere for something to replace their Mothers arms. Oh yes. With the "proper" government, they will not have to take any responsibility for any of their actions nor lack of their actions. The "proper" government will take care of all of that nasty personal responsibility thing.

Those that "serve" know where "Freedom" comes from.