QandO

July 10, 2004

Dear Bainbridge Island WA ... Kiss my ass!
Posted by McQ

Well you just wondered when their true colors would show. Apparently Bainbridge Island, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, is the first to let the mask slip:

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!"

Sorry for the visceral reaction, but been there, heard this, not going to let it happen again.

To all you who would blame the soldier, sailor, Marine and airman for policies you disagree with, enjoy your freedom to do so. But remember something. Just as you have the absolute right to scream those horrific epithets at that young soldier, you enjoy that right because of him and the sacrifices he's made.

You assholes did this too a whole generation of soldiers once ... my generation. A generation who was told "don't wear your uniforms off post" because it might cause a problem. Who were told to down play the fact that they were soldiers. To only go to places soldiers frequent. To stay on base when at all possible.

Well you know what, not this time. If I'm EVER at an event where this sort of thing takes place I will, without hesitation, engage you verbally and I will shout you down. I doubt that I can make you ashamed, and it is certain you won't understand, but by God it'll make me feel better and it'll make the point that there are some of us out here who will NEVER let this happen again to our servicemembers like it did when I was a young soldier.

And you can take that to the bank!

ADDENDUM (Dale):

Something else that really irks me is that, to verbally attack our soldiers like that is both dishonest and cowardly.

If you really thought somebody was a murderer and a baby killer, would you actually accost them on the street? After all, if they really were that kind of psychopath, why wouldn't they attack or kill you? Baby killing murderers are, after all, reputed to be notoriously unstable.

No, the fact is that these scum know that the soldier they are accosting is neither. He's just a 23 year-old kid who is serving his country, and who has the discipline to refrain from physically--or probably even verbally--engaging his attackers. They know, with a fairly high degree of assurance, that attacking this kid is perfectly safe. That makes it even more contemptible.

Like McQ, if I ever see something like this, I will come down on the offender verbally like a ton of bricks. I will also hope, with every fiber of my my being, that the offender takes a swing at me.

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