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Posted on 02/17/2005 4:53:37 AM PST by tsmith130
Edited on 02/17/2005 5:18:32 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Mod note: One for the troops! Bumped to BN for more exposure.
(AgapePress) - Rick from Winona, Mississippi, called my state-wide talk radio program this week. Sometimes, you get a phone call that ought to be read in the broader market.
On the program that day we were discussing the report that some Europeans were disgusted with the Super Bowl commercial of American soldiers getting applause in an airport. The critics thought it too extreme in its patriotism and a possible incitement to further war.
At any rate, Rick (he asked us not to use his full name) called to talk about his experience coming back recently from the fields of war. His words (and they are worth your time reading, only lightly edited):
"I heard you talking about the Super Bowl commercial. I'm a Marine, a re-con Marine. I just got back from overseas, the second week of December, actually. I was injured overseas, so that's why I'm home now.
"But the whole time I was [there, in recovery] we watched the news to see what's going on. And we saw the protests, and we saw what the media was saying about what's going on, and we were worried about what we were actually going to face when we came home. We didn't know what to expect, to be honest with you. From the news media we were seeing, the whole country was basically telling us we're a bunch of jerks.
"I thank God that the troops that are there don't see the news coverage. I thank God every day, because there'd be ten times the number getting killed, just because it would so un-motivate [sic] them.
"Back to the story: there were seven other soldiers that came home with me that day. We flew into JFK, and we were talking on the way back: What's going to happen? What will we be facing? Is it going to be like the Vietnam era, are there going to be people spitting at us?
"We didn't know. We had that much trepidation about it.
"We get into JFK, we step out of the breezeway into the main terminal, and directly in front of us was an elderly gentleman carrying a bag. And he immediately stopped, set his bag down, and the first thing we all thought was, 'Oh, Lord, here we go already.' He just stopped and looked at us for a second, and then tears came to his eyes and he saluted us.
"And -- I'm breaking up now [editor's note: with tears] -- every one of us just started crying like babies. Everybody in the terminal -- I kid you not, at least two to three hundred people -- just started clapping, spontaneously. To me, it was so much worth what we were doing, to realize that people over here actually get what we were doing. We weren't over there because it's fun. We're over there doing a job.
"When I saw the Super Bowl commercial, I just started bawling like a baby again because that was something totally unexpected. We had no idea that people actually appreciated what we're doing, from what we see on the news. We thought we were going to come back and get eggs thrown at us. It was so refreshing to know that what we were seeing on the news is just a bunch of garbage that's being concocted by the media, that 99.9 percent of the country doesn't believe that way.
"I have a couple of more months of recovery. I got hit with a concussion and have some internal damage, but I'm feeling up, doing well, and hopefully I can get back over there with my boys."
It caused some tears in this talk show host's eyes to know there were tears in his. Appreciation, smiles, handclaps -- they can go a long way when a nation is at war, regardless of what the media and some Europeans might think.
Matt Friedeman (mfriedeman@wbs.edu) is a professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary. Respond to this column at his blog at "In the Fight."
We're going to be doing just that tonight. I invited a buddy of mine to speak to my Cub Scouts about his time in Afghanistan. I spoke with one of the mom's last night cause her son tends to freak out easily about stuff and I wanted to assure her that he wasn't going to regale us with any gruesome war stories.
I told her that her son will have an opportunity to meet a true American hero and he's going to bring along a couple of medals that few of us will ever have the honor to see, including a shiny bronze one.
I'm looking forward to this more than the Scouts are.
A few months ago when I was in the Atlanta Airport I heard quite a bit of applause. When we got close enough to see what was happenening, we saw that the applause was for an arriving platoon of troops.
I never believed for a second that the leftist, socialist, Kerry/Demwit supporting blue staters supported our troops. I never believed them for a second that they would get all indignant about anyone "questioning THEIR" patriotism.
The statements would always be a little too loud and boisterous, like the ones they were trying to convince most of all are themselves. And they are seriously disturbed that we can see through them so easily. That we are not buying it at all.
Back around early summer I was checking out the posts on the DUmmy sight and ran across more than one thread about the magnetic yellow support our troops ribbons on cars. Before I ever saw the DUmmie reaction to them I automatically thought that even though the car doesn't have a GWB sticker, you know that most of these people support him (GWB) because Democrats don't for the most part support our troops. That goes back to the BJ Klintoon years, where it was obvious that both klintoons despised the military and the military despised both klintoons right back.
And the DUmmies didn't disappoint. They HATED those yellow ribbons on cars. The only ones that I read about that put them on their cars stated plain as day that they displayed them right next to a Kerry sticker to make other people think that more cars with ribbons only were Kerry supporters.
Sick, sick, sick, people these POS Democraps.
Don’t forget that our opposition’s still strong:
http://www.nbc4i.com/news/3746350/detail.html
Decorated Soldier Reportedly Attacked At Concert
Barton Cannot Return To Iraq Due To Injuries
POSTED: 5:54 pm EDT September 20, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A local soldier back from the war in Iraq said he was beaten at an area concert because of what was printed on his T-shirt, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported.
Foster Barton, 19, of Grove City, received a Purple Heart for his military service in Iraq. He almost lost his leg last month after a Humvee he was riding in ran over a landmine.
Barton said he was injured again Friday night in a crowded parking lot as he was leaving the Toby Keith concert at Germain Amphitheatre. The solider was injured so badly that he can't go back to Iraq as scheduled.
"I don't remember getting hit at all, really," said Barton, a member of the 1st Calvary Division. "He hit me in the back of the head. I fell and hit the ground. I was knocked unconscious and he continued to punch and kick me on the ground."
Barton and his family said he was beat up because he was wearing an Iraqi freedom T-shirt.
"It's not our fault," Barton said. "I'm just doing a job."
According to a Columbus police report, six witnesses who didn't know Barton said the person who beat him up was screaming profanities and making crude remarks about U.S. soldiers, Burton reported.
One witness, a friend of the alleged attacker, said Barton hit first. Police said they do not think that witness is credible since the six other witnesses said Barton was hit from behind.
Barton's mother said she has a message for her son's alleged attacker, who police said ran into the crowd after the incident and was not arrested.
"He needs our prayers, just like the insurgents, because he's a coward," Cindy Barton said.
After a two-week leave, Barton was supposed to return to Iraq Tuesday. But his broken nose will delay his return.
Barton is waiting for doctors to tell him when he can return to active duty. He said wants to go back as soon as possible because his unit was just attacked. Eleven soldiers were wounded and two were killed, he said.
bttt
AMEN!
I'm glad they found out we love them.
"re-con"
For peepool who kan't spell re-cono-sence? LOL
Wow that's great.
It's also the not so veiled hope of many Democrat leaders that Iraq turns out exactly as Vietnam did. MSM toes the line for them. The sight of people cheering returning soldiers, rather than jeering them, irks them to no end.
Same here sir, thank you.
A link to the commercial with a bigger picture:
http://www.herosalute.com/cavatx/big_game_ad.html
To view earlier threads on THE COMMERCIAL, click here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=thecommercial
Thanks!
BUMP
top to the bump!!!
(dam, misspelt iht...wat uh hugh, series miss steak)
I had quite the "Welcome Home" experience from Desert Storm. Hundreds of folks packed in a hangar, with Lee Greenwood blaring over the speakers. In Massachusetts, of all places! It was quite heartwarming back then, and we didn't face nearly the hostility these poor uniformed folks have been facing from the media and the liberals (redundant, I know).
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