....or: "My Unhappy Duty As An American Patriot"
Because I am a patriotic American, however discouraged, people make fun of me. Because I really am shocked by things that a lot of you have started taking for granted.
Here’s an example:
There’s this guy calling himself "marinebryant" over on the Powerline blog. I went over there to have a little fun and spread a little truth and animosity. It’s like verbal Tae Kwon Do. I find it relaxing. You people I find unnerving because I know you’re nice and if you say mean things about me, I feel bad. Them - it macht nicht.
This "bryant" guy spouts the usual violent, anti-everybody nonsense but he adds an angle: he’s a veteran and he puts a Marine battalion patch into one of his posts. I wouldn't have bothered to look, but the mutual congratulation over there is just so irritating. When one of them is stupid, the others praise him. It’s like group therapy for violent, pig-ignorant fundamentalists. So I look up what unit the patch is for – or, rather, I try. This patch:
Seems to represent the 1st battalion, 26th Marines, seemingly of the 3rd Division. The 1st of the 26th Marines is a storied unit who engaged in some of the toughest fights of the Vietnam war – including the legendary siege at Khe Sahn. But the image above is NOT the emblem of the First of the Twenty-Sixth, so far as I can tell. Certainly it is not of a patch contemporary to the Vietnam war. THAT image, so far as I can tell, is an image from Ebay.
Folks, I don’t want this. I don’t like this. But I found out that unfortunately many more people have claimed to have been at Khe Sahn than there were Marines in the entire regiment – maybe the entire division. The Marines who endured Khe Sahn also have to endure a great many instances of "Stolen Valor".
When I started to ask this "marinebryant" a few questions, he became extremely hostile and answered none of them, except to post this:
And then I was REALLY suspicious. That is a cut-and-paste, obviously, from a site where people go to buy or look up medals. The story just didn’t hang together. And suddenly this violent bombast, rather than being proud of his service, just spouted lame evasions. Okay, again, I DO NOT LIKE TO BE IN THIS POSITION.
That patch doesn't check out. His talk and his medals don't make sense. This guy has made HIMSELF out to be another damned fraud. What is it with these people?
And this "marinebryant" isn’t alone. I’m trying to be fair here. But among the clique of constant jabberers over at Powerline is a guy called "Roy Rogers" whose descriptions of HIS time in the Marines (much more recent) are,...perhaps,...more emotional than complete. And they’ve both got a "buddy" called "RocketMan" who’s vague on his time with the 87th regiment of our Army’s 10th Mountain Division.
Come On! Could THREE of these guys be trying this nonsense? What the HELL is going on? And if one is a fraud and the other two aren't, why don't they call him on it? Show some standards!
I expect people to subject their political opponents to the toughest tests of argument and rhetoric, drawing in all the emotion they can, making wild assertions, and spinning the facts as they please. Because within our system this is allowed – even encouraged – and for good reason. Politics are a substitute for war. Americans are a violent and quarrelsome people. We need a wide arena to settle our disputes. You check your weapons at the door. You proceed to the pitch. You take up your megaphone. You fight. Your fellow citizens give the thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
It’s an ugly process, but the very openness of it makes it cleansing. Since almost anything is allowed to be said, it becomes the great forum for distinguishing between lies and insults which hurt a few (and are therefore inevitable) and lies and insults that hurt us all. When we give a young man or woman a gun, put them in danger of losing their lives and tell them it’s okay to kill people, we send them to a place we cannot judge. All we have is their honor.
Three people have now forced me to question TRANSPARENT misrepresentations concerning military service. Two more have done everything in their power to make me suspicious. I DO NOT WANT THIS. Stop it.
But don't think for one second I am going to leave alone if I see it.
You’d think that the military blogging community would be upset by the behavior that’s upset even me. Instead, this ridiculous "Uncle Jimbo" of Blacfive.net, today emails me "Game on."
Game? A 2-Star General with bodyguards gets himself a hero’s medal and that’s a game? A young Lieutenant purports to be a banker when he is not, purports to be a military expert when he is not, mixes partisan politics with soldiering, disrespecting military and civilian leaders and claims to be a representative of the troops while associating with racist and extremist groups, and that’s a game? Is it also a game to claim you were at Khe Sahn when you weren’t?
But what can you expect from people who fill the web with perverted, homosexual blood-lust, virtually laud American troop for alleged illegal killings and defend the jackals of Blackwater?
Honor?
Not likely.