Those melee's never stopped...and neither did the punches. The only difference is that most are now thrown "virtually;" that is to say, we do it via email, Facebook etc.
As I was clearing out some email folders I was reminded that, even though we have our differences, God forbid someone step in and threaten one of us. That's how America used to be. That's still how it SHOULD be.
It all started when my youngest brother sent an email to everyone in his contact list with a PowerPoint of an American Soldier in Iraq with some commentary about how he stood tall while the Iraqi's where scattering while all hell broke loose.
The boy knows who will not kill him & who will save him
Look at the soldier standing upright and alert while everyone else runs!
Adding to the chaos of the bombing which killed at least 21 people and injured at least 66 was a shooter, maybe targeting people in the crowd.
The first picture shows it all. The kid's face shows he is scared to death, and he's running to the safest spot he can find: this soldier who stands between him and danger. It would be difficult to stage a picture that provides a more potent metaphor for the role played by United States in this wretched world. That kid just did a virtual essay on "WHAT AMERICA MEANS TO ME". nSURE DIDN'T SEE THIS ON CNN, NBC, ABC, OR CBS...NOW DID YA?
My youngest brother, a veteran of the navy and born-again Christian, is zealous in all his beliefs...and more power to him. He sent the PowerPoint along with a note that said...get ready for it... "No Shit"
Another of my brothers apparently didn't like the email, and sent the following:
I always love it when people make suppositions and innuendo about things when the
don't REALLY have a frickin' clue...I certainly don't know WHY the soldier didn't
duck, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it MIGHT because he sees similar death
and destruction regularly and has been close to it nearly EVERY day of his tour,
unlike the citizens who probably DON'T see it every day???...but let's go ahead
and put words in a frightened boys mouth...."this is what America means to me...."
what a load of horseshit.
the pictures are the fact that we are over there in the first place for the wrong
reasons, our troops die every damn day, our government is squandering the lifestyle
and future of our children and their children to come, and that kids like the one
hiding behind the soldier have to live like that. But hey! Let's not acknowledge
the reality of the situation okay? Do intelligent, thoughtful, and honest people really buy the rhetoric and propaganda put forth in thetext of these slides??? URP....sorry, I threw up a bit in my mouth. Get real!
Well, apparently my youngest brother included friends of his in the email, because shortly after that a "Reply All" came from a guy named...yup...Bubba. Believe me I didn't make this up...this is all true.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one! You certainly have one my friend! However, let me point out one thing to you, either we fight over there, or we fight here in the USofA. Now where does that lead us? Oh yeah, tree-hugging unpatriot liberals like yourself will be our first line of defense when the US is attacked again (you do own a gun don't you?)! Makes me want to pull all our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan because there are people like you just waiting to take up arms in defense of our country! Yeah, right.
You probably think the bearded guy (veteran) in Reno who cut down Old Glory flying under the Mexican flag should go to jail. I believe, and most veterans and patriots believe, he needs to be put up on a pedestal and given a medal for being the true patriot that he is!
Also there isn't a draft and anybody currently serving in the Uniformed Services today are all VOLUNTEERS! Real volunteers, not "perhaps that's how that soldier VOLUNTEERED as well??" Why didn't you volunteer my friend? Scared or not a patriot? Either way, there are people over here (police, National Guard, FBI, CIA, DEA + many more) and over there that are defending your right to be a coward and or unpatriotic! They (brave young men and women patriots) are over there fighting for your right to spout such defecation from your suck hole. Why don't you go to Mexico or France and try spouting that unpatriotic crap over there and see about your rights are in those countries! Oh no, then you'd start whinning for the the US didn't come over and get your sorry ass fast enough! If you tried that in some 3rd world countries they would just put you in jail and depend on your family to feed you. Of course that ! would turn out to be the US State Department to your rescue.
And why does it have to be "the frickin' military"? These patriots are fighting for all your constitutional rights. The defenders of freedom are our military, not "the frickin' military". You need to have more respect for people defending your sorry ass my friend!
I don't usually make personal attacks online but I'll make an exception for you my friend! When you said "URP....sorry, I threw up a bit in my mouth" in your email, I can only say too damn bad you aren't in a location that I frequent, because I would surely hold your mouth shut so that you either swallowed your own puke or die trying not to swallow the puke and defecation springing forth from your suck hole. You Get Real!
And finally you said, "Clearly you didn't READ my email...that is why I used phrases like MIGHT And I didn't "spend any time defending our country". So I went back and read your defecation again. It made me get angry all over again. You just seem to be an unpatriotic cus who can't write or say what he really wants to say! What's up with that? You scared to say what you mean? You my friend, need to get down on you knees every damn day and pray for total mission accomplishment in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the only way you will live to a ripe old age and still be able to spout all that liberal and unpatriotic shit that flows so freely from your suck hole!
Furthermore, we patriotics "didn't ASK for your frickin' spam in the first place" either so why don't you just keep those thoughts to your damn self?
By the way, I feel pretty qualified to speak up for these brave young men fighting YOUR war because I'm a 30 year veteran of the United States Army (3 years in the 1st Ranger Bn and 27 years in Special Forces). If by some chance you take offense to anything I've said, then you can find my phone number and address below and please look me up so that we can talk some more, face to face, man to man. I retired from the Army in 2004 and I'm a little out of shape compared to when I was active duty. So you probably stand a fighting chance, unless you've got another problem we haven't already thought of! Most panty waste don't like getting their hands dirty!
Oh yeah, I hope you don't mind. I've taken the liberty of forwarding your email to a bunch of guys who "GIVES A SHIT!" You'll probably get a bunch of email from soldiers, sailors (to include the USCG), airmen and marines. They are patriots and they all GIVE A SHIT!
Well, the shit is definitely flying. Testosterone and Patriotism do blend a particularly explosive vitriol don't they?
Understand that I didn't agree with my brother's comments about the PowerPoint either...but this guy went over the top...and in my opinion contradicted himself with his entire diatribe. My "Reply All" follows:
Bubba;
I'm sure my brother has already lit it up, but if he didn't have the courage to write back I will.
I didn't agree with his email. It's one thing to have an opinion, it is another to blast it to the world like he did.
I just finished another memorial dedication (we installed a flag pole, flag and bronze memorial plaque at our local football field) to my step son, PFC Jonathan Rossi, who died in Iraq on July 1st of this year. We have one more, at the Buccaneers game against Arizona on November 4th. So the timing of this tirade hit home hard. Following was my dedication speech, and it was not easy to say. Jon played football for me, and was the most fearless, courageous player I have ever coached. His brother Jordan plays for me this year and is just like his older brother.
We are here today to dedicate this flag pole and monument to a fallen soldier.
Private First Class Jonathan Rossi was a graduate of Countryside High School, class of 2005. He enlisted in the army shortly after graduation with the dream of becoming an Army Ranger. An injury forced him out of the Ranger program, but he continued on in the infantry, and he was proud of his ability to serve his country any way he could.
On July 1st -- while on patrol -- his unit, (optional-2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas) came under small arms fire. Rossi was the only casualty, dying of a head wound suffered during the attack.
PFC Rossi believed in his mission. He knew the risks and embraced them, just as he embraced his country, his family and his friends. He willingly made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy our freedoms. Jonathan will never sire children. His father will never bounce those grandchildren on his knee. The woman he loved will not share the life they had planned ahead. He knew these things were possible, yet he put himself in front of us, a shield to those who would do harm to our families, our country and our way of life.
We are here today, watching our boys play football and our girls cheer them on because men and women like PFC Rossi put their lives on the line for us. So as we sit here today enjoying the games that our children are playing, let us not ever forget those who are on the front lines
I think most of our missions are legit. I don't believe in what we are doing in Iraq, mainly because it feels a lot more like Vietnam. We are an occupying force trying to bring sense to an area that has had these tribal feuds for thousands of years. But I would never dishonor Jon's memory by spouting the garbage that came out of my brothers mouth.
Maybe his response pissed you off. Ok, not maybe. So you sent his email to your buddies so they could snipe at him?
I never thought that was the American way. Those are bully tactics and uncalled for.
We all have a right to our opinions, and to express those opinions. That IS after all what serving our country means, isn't it? Fighting, and sometimes dying, to preserve our freedom? I know for a fact that my brother isn't a liberal, but you seem to think because he disagrees with what we are doing there that makes him a liberal. It doesn't, and your response is typical of many who want to lump others of a different mind set into that commie-pinko-liberal group.
You also have a right to your opinion, and to express that opinion. However, sending his response to your buddies so they can make his life miserable is cheap, cowardly and uncalled for. That is NOT how I would expect an honorable soldier to act. He isn't a terrorist, and he isn't trying to undermine our country with subversive behavior. Though I disagree with what he said, and have told him privately and unequivocally that he is wrong. That is the proper avenue to communicate to him.
I am grateful for your service to our country. Many of the men in my family have served, including two of my brothers, my father, and both of my uncles. My son Matthew is graduating boot this Friday at Fort Leonard Wood and will be going to the Defense Language Institute to learn Farsi and Arabic before being posted overseas. His step brother, Jason, goes into boot in late November as well, and I will drive where ever he is stationed to attend that graduation as well.
I work with Operation From the Heart to send cigars, toiletries, candy, magazines, snacks etc to our troops overseas. I also work with the schools to adopt soldiers as pen pals to write to them and let them now how important their efforts are. Yet through all this I don't agree with the reasons we are in Iraq. We were lied to and manipulated into that conflict, and we waste hundreds of billions of dollars in an unwinnable scenario. I believe that money could be put to much better use. Provide our people with better weapons, body armor, vehicles etc. Fund more strategic operations like the ones in Afghanistan were we are actively wiping out terrorist cells. Spend more on intelligence for our front line people. Pay them better, and take care of the ones who are away and their families financially stressed, not to mention the ones who come back wounded both mentally and physically.
Does that make me a panty-waist liberal?
That's your call, because you've fought for the right to express your opinion, and mine. Don't lessen the impact and meaning of your sacrifice and those of my step son by using bully tactics like blasting it out to your friends.
And of course, brothers being who they are...my oldest brother finished closing ranks with his own comments. Of this I was particularly proud.
Ditto to what Ben said. He’s a lot nicer about this shit than I am tho. I AM a veteran, I love my country, respect my brothers and sisters who fight for it, but loath blind-ass brainwashed paramilitary jokers who can’t see past their big glocks and small cocks to see the oil and money politics that are the real reason we’re in Iraq. You’re as bad as those “tree hugging liberals” if you’re actually biting off and chewing the line of crap that Bush and his wack-job administration dangle in front of the American people about our “mission” in the mid-east. You think our mission is all about Al Queda and terrorism, National Security? You think the middle east is the epicenter for this crap? Then why don’t we just make the place a parking lot and call it Miller time? That sounds like your speed Bubba. We’re not there for the reasons we’re being told and I suspect you might have a clue about that. You served 30 plus with a big chunk in SF? If America’s safety is the mission, why aren’t we armed and in force in the FSU and back in SEA? What, did we eradicate terrorism from those regions? And Europe? Dude, it’s money politics, plain and simple.
I wasn’t thrilled with what my bro had to say but I respect his right to say it. I respect your right to spout your bullshit from your suck hole too, even if you’re the no-mind jackass you sound like. And Bubba, you really sound like one. But don’t go threatening my family, slick. Period.
As is typical with jerks like you who go off on a tear with only PART of the story, Jake’s feud was with his flesh & blood brother; many of his comments had little to do with the picture in the slideset. That he did it in the open was just stupid, and he acknowledged that. I wonder if your brain and your testicles can achieve some parity in dominance over your mouth, and allow you to generate some intelligent, independent, reflective thought as well.
Hot DAMN!!! Now that was some fun stuff wasn't it peeps? Seriously...
And here is my point in all this, and really the purpose of this blog. We may not agree on all things, and on many we are often going to be diametrically opposed. But one thing should be constant. You fuck with my country and every one of my brothers and sisters should be lined up with whoopin' sticks to smash your head in, instead of taking pot shots at each other.
