A veteran's sign upsets the recruiters next door

New York Times ^ | Monica Davey

[Renderofveils]

As those thinking of becoming soldiers arrive on the slushy doorstep of the U.S. Army recruiting station here, they cannot miss the message posted in bold black letters on the storefront right next door.

"Remember the Fallen Heroes," the sign reads, and then it ticks off numbers: the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, the number wounded, the number of days gone by since the war began.

The sign, put up by Scott Cameron, a former soldier, has stirred intense debate, though always polite, in this city along the western edge of Lake Superior. In a way, many of the nation's vast and complicated arguments about war are playing out on a single block here, around a simple piece of wood.

Cameron, who was shot in Vietnam in 1969 and says he has since undergone 46 operations to repair the damage, said he felt compelled to post his message to remind people of the soldiers now lost. The sign stands alongside campaign posters in the window of Kelley's office on Superior Street, a main thoroughfare in central Duluth.

Cameron did not speak his mind about Vietnam decades ago because he feared he might harm support for the troops, he said, but he has since decided that he is not "going to be silent again."

Although Cameron, 55, acknowledged that he opposes the war in Iraq, he said his sign was not about that at all. Its intent, he said, is simple and apolitical: to remember the troops, to care for veterans, to recognize what is being lost each day.

[Renderofveils]

Bias? Surely not!

[brivette]

What drivel.

[clawrence3]

Hopefully Bush signed the spy order on this guy a long time ago.

[brownsfan]

No issue here. Kids who are signing up for the military should know, and remember, some of them can and will be killed.

What's the problem?

[SCHROLL]

The kids that walk in know what they are signing up for. Maybe they should do a companion story on just how much it pisses him off that they still sign up and pay him no mind at all.

[ncountylee]

The IHT is another propaganda arm of the NY times.

[2banana]

Does anyone remember the 3,000 that died (some jumping to their deaths to escape the flames and heat) at the WTC on 9/11?

[BoBToMatoE]

No issue here. Kids who are signing up for the military should know, and remember, some of them can and will be killed.

What's the problem?

----

I completely agree with this. People signing up for service should be completely aware of what they are signing up for. My brother was when he signed up for the marines.

I do believe we need to keep in our minds those who are wounded or killed in action. They have given the ultimate sacrafice or this nation and should be remembered as such.

[MineralMan]

Knowing that soldiers die is an important thing. If we pretend that they do not, we dishonor their service.

I find nothing wrong with reminding anyone how many have died serving their nation.

[OKIEDOC]

I see the very unbiased (sarcasms on) New York Slimes are out trying to win the hearts and minds of it's extremely in the middle of the political road readers (sarcasm on).

These scumbags use to be known AKA as the Gray Old Lady now they are known as the Haggard Old Prostitute for the immoral left.

[OKIEDOC]

The problem is that is really nothing more than a non story not worth reporting in such a huge rag as the Slimes.

[YOUGOTIT]

"Cameron did not speak his mind about Vietnam decades ago because he feared he might harm support for the troops, he said, but he has since decided that he is not "going to be silent again."

What do you mean he did not speak up about Vietnam? If he said that then I have NO respect for him. What was he going to speak up about, the left-wing Nazi protesters who were giving aid to the North Vietnamese who shot him or the democrats who gave the people of South Vietnam to the communist North? I really get mad when some idiot talks about how Vietnam was an unjust war (it is a LIE and I would like to give this bottle of spit I have been saving to the dumb ass Nazi Bi$%$ who spit on me when I returned. Some of my family and many of my friends did not return, and it is my firm belief that they were killed because of the support of the left-wing Nazi democrats in the United States and especially the US Senate.

[RKV]

There are real risks in being a member of our armed forces - and some real rewards too. For example, 749 Americans died in a training exercise at Slapton Sands in 1944, but the MSM wasn't then on the side of the enemy, and so they didn't call for us to withdraw from WW2. http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/slapton.html

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I've met a few rare vets who's ignorance of all things military is astounding. Some did four or more years. I've met some civilians who never served a day with more knowledge about the service than those fellow vets.

[airborne]

He served. It's America. I have no problem with him.

[reagan_fanatic]

Its intent, he said, is simple and apolitical: to remember the troops, to care for veterans, to recognize what is being lost each day.

[clawrence3]

How about "reminding" everyone 24/7 even though you know they don't care for anything other than us losing the war for their own twisted, political agenda?

[clawrence3]

The problem is that the NYT wants the U.S. to lose the war.

[Travis McGee]

"Cameron, who was shot in Vietnam in 1969 and says he has since undergone 46 operations to repair the damage..."

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. There have been too many leftist liars using fake war records to simply take him at his word.

[clawrence3]

I actually don't have a big problem with him, other than allowing himself (if he is indeed "apolitical") to be used by the MSM like this.