The Troops Respond to John Kerry

[CharlestonChad]

Dude, that was the dumbest comeback Ive ever heard. What the heck is an Ivory deer stand? What the heck is a deer stand? and how on earth can you accuse anyone of having a holier than thou attitude?

I guess it was over everyone's head.

I'm not a fan of religion, so it's kinda hard to have that attitude.

 

[Annie]

Austin Bay is looking for reactions to Kerry's remarks, especially from the military.

http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=1507

11/2/2006
An appeal for troop comments on Kerry’s slander
Filed under:

* General

— site admin @ 8:43 am

I was on Hugh Hewitt’s program last night and asked any Iraq and Afghan vets (or servicemen and women currently serving) to send their comments on John Kerry’s slander to pajamasmedia.com. I’m also soliciting them here on this site. No cursing, please. I’m particularly interested in any thoughts on (1) responsibility and (2) honor. But tell me what you think.

UPDATE: Thanks for the comments. Please keep them coming. If you wish to add your name and rank that’s fine, too. We have to respect our civilian leaders– even Kerry. He is an elected US Senator. The thing is, our service men and women deserve the respect of our leaders. I think Kerry’s “botched joke” slander is a window revealing his deep-seated antipathy to the military, just like Senator Trent Lott’s “botched compliment” of Strom Thurmond was an indication of Lott’s social roots and deeper inclinations. Lott had to resign a Senate leadership position. I think it perfectly appropriate to ask that John Kerry lose his seniority on every single Senate committee on which he now serves. He should never be allowed to serve on any committee related to defense.

I liked this one in particular, but there are other good ones, some actually giving Kerry the benefit of the doubt:

#21

Nice comment Scott, I respectfully disagree. The Republicans aren’t perfect but they definately have not ‘destroyed’ the military.

Austin Bay,

I currently serve in the Army National Guard, since 2002, and am a student, taking classes at the University level. I graduate this next Spring, ‘07. I served in Louisiana in the Fall of 2005 but have not served in the Middle-East. My wife is currently serving as a U.S. Army Active Duty Soldier, in Iraq.

Honor and Responsibility are words that I just wouldn’t use in relation to Kerry, at least not usually in a positive and constructive manner. I have had military acquaintances unfairly ‘get-out’ of the Army using the ‘Don’t Ask - Don’t Tell’ policy and have watched dozens of others flounder and fail as soldiers, not wanting, not able, to do their duty. By mentioning the ‘Don’t Ask - Don’t Tell’ policy, I am not talking about the Gay Rights, or lack of them, in the Army, I am talking about joining the U.S. Military and living up to the promises you have made. Honor, Duty and Responsibility are words most people do not even take seriously anymore, in or out of the Military. It reminds me of the traps of Secularism in general, the losing of your faith in something greater, something that is actually worth while, worth fighting for!

Speaking of Honor, Duty and Responsibilty, can you image a soldier today, reluctantly taking a commission and mission in Iraq or Afghanistan, only to get out after a few months, under questionable cicumstances, using questionable means and then testifying before Congress about what he knows soldiers were illegally, viley, inhumanely doing? Stating, for the record, that soldiers and officers were performing and condoning these acts in Iraq or Afghanistan, at all levels. How could a soldier or officer even know these things absolutely? Then, to add insult to injury, going to Pakistan and talking with Osama bin Laden, or just to Al-Qaeda, to understand them, to negotiate and to try to settle our national, religious and philosophical differences? For a soldier or officer of the United States Military, actions like these are definately are not honorable or responsible, whether they are treasonous or not is another question. This is exactly what I see Kerry as having done.

Kerry volunteered when pressured, he went to Vietnam but I have never been convinced of his sense of duty, honor or responsibility. I will not get into his purple hearts, exit from Vietnam and discharge from the Navy. You know this information already, I am sure. What I will get into is what I see as Kerry’s obvious lack of desire to understand why we fight and what we fight for, rather than how we fight and how we should not fight.

I do not see Freedom as some people seem to view it, as being like American fast food or an exportable commodity. Freedom is simply something almost every war has been fought for, something we all rightly deserve! Lately, I have been listening to “The Looming Tower” by Lawrence Wright, on audiobook with my iPOD, while I work and I have been struck with the realization of the seriously deep rooted the fear of freedom is in the Islamic Fundementalists. It is not jealousy, it is fear! Freedom risks everything… and that is exactly the point. Islam, in its’ most Fundemental form, does not seem to be able to co-exist with the ideals of freedom and a secular society. Without a change, the current confrontation was inevitable, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, EUROPE, wherever.

Say what you will about Osama bin Laden and his willingness to ‘live and let live’ if America will just get out of the Middle-East but this is more important than Oil and Bases in Saudi-Arabia. Say what you will about Islamic Fundementalists, I may not like a lot of what is happening in Iraq and question the long-range logic of it and how it is being conducted, if you will, but that does not stop me from asking more important questions. Can the Western, Secular or Christian, Civilization live side-by-side with Islamic Fundementalists? This question and part of its’ answer came rudely to America’s conscious attention in the form of the attack on 9/11. Knock Iraq, but don’t knock the important question.

I have thought about this and will continue to think about this as I serve my country, my state, my unit and more importantly, myself ~ as a soldier, as a husband of a soldier, as a student and a citizen of this beautiful and free country, America. I am not trying to be cheesy, but you know what I mean, what I am getting at. Freedom requires a deeper sense of honor, of duty and responsibility; without these things, freedom is lost and becomes meaningless. Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Agnostic or a ‘Freethinker’, as some athiests call themselves, freedom is the only way to rightly pursue your life. Otherwise, without freedom, your religion is forced, unchallenged, inflexible and ultimately failed.

Soldiers have seen the aftermath of Katrina and Rita first hand, we saw the local and federal responses, we were there. We have seen what Political Correctness and over reactions to Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and ‘torture’ have cost our human intelligence collectors, not to forget the grunts on the ground, the Infantry and other Combat Arms. We are students of this war, of these lands and these peoples. Whether we are ’smart’ or not does not change what we have experienced. I will add though, that what we have experienced, our commitment to staying alert, thinking critically, has made us ’smarter’.

Back to Kerry ~ Like Murtha and several other outspoken critics of the war, to include the Iraq Vetrans Against the War (IVAW), Kerry has a knack for considering only the worst possible scenarios and remembering only the saddest, most disgraceful moments of our conduct and our war(s). These same critics have a nasty habit of considering the makings of each destructive story, as the makings of each and every story, and then ascribing it to the character and conduct of each and every soldier. We are better than that, Kerry and Murtha and the vets against the war are better than that. We are soldiers and we serve, as best we can, as rightly, honestly, diligently as we can. Doing that is honorable, it is the responsible thing to do.

Kerry’s recent words caught me off guard because even though I am a soldier, I am also a student. I have struggled with finishing my degree, which happens to be a ‘liberal’ education, Fine Arts, drawing and painting. My focus is not beer guzzling and chasing skirts with fellow soldiers or fraternity brothers. Staying in school, working hard and keeping myself a critical, edgy thinker has been my aim. Staying ’smart’ and gaining an education has obviously been an important part of my life, or I wouldn’t even bother with the University. Joining the U.S. Military was actually a compliment to, rather than a distraction from, my efforts to become a better, smarter, more involved student.

Whether Kerry meant to bash Bush or the soldiers, which I do not think he would consciously do knowing the probable outrage that would ensue, the insult is the same for me. Perhaps it was unconsciously, accidentally, habitually aimed at the soldiers but as a student, the distinction makes little difference. Many of my fellow Guardsmen are students as well as soldiers. My educated decisions have all led me to still serving as I do, as well as I can. My education has led to me living up to my promises and critically thinking about my own duty and responsibility to America, as well as to the Army. As a soldier, I would be doing myself, my fellow soldiers, my country, my President and my fellow soldiers a real diservice if I did not critically and ’smartly’ consider what I do with each moment of every day.

I believe Kerry did not consider that a ’smart’ person could, or would, disagree with his position on the war, any war. To those who defend him, please do not continue to suggest that he has earned the right to be given such latitudes, the excuse to say such things, as a former serviceman. Kerry disgraced his fellow soldiers then as he does now, and his thoughtless words, on education, as education relates to being a smart soldier, or President, or policy maker, are irresponsible at their face value. Duty, Honor and Responsibility are principles Kerry never did seem to understand very well and continues to confuse.

Comment by REN — 11/2/2006 @ 1:46 pm

 

[Avatar4321]

I guess it was over everyone's head.

I'm not a fan of religion, so it's kinda hard to have that attitude.

You dont have to be a fan of religion to have a "Im better than all you pieces of garbage" type attitude.

 

[Gunny]

Dude, that was the dumbest comeback Ive ever heard. What the heck is an Ivory deer stand? What the heck is a deer stand? and how on earth can you accuse anyone of having a holier than thou attitude?

Deer hunters use stands to hide from deer. It could be anythign from a simple platform to a one-room shack with long legs. I beleive they use them a lot in the south and not so much in the North. The Northerners I knew who hunted actually tracked the deer. Around here, they lure them in.

So, he's calling Darrin a deerstand hunting redneck.

 

[Hobbit]

Deer hunters use stands to hide from deer. It could be anythign from a simple platform to a one-room shack with long legs. I beleive they use them a lot in the south and not so much in the North. The Northerners I knew who hunted actually tracked the deer. Around here, they lure them in.

So, he's calling Darrin a deerstand hunting redneck.

Depends on where you are and when in the season it is. Early in the season, you get the guys who just want the deer on their walls, and since it's so popular to have those in the south, it's far more common. These guys want an easy kill, so they go for deer stands with some sort of bait around them. It's basically fishing with a gun. It's the hunting equivalent of noodling (and if you know what that is, you're either the filthiest kind of redneck, you know one, or you saw that episode of "Dirty Jobs").

The ones who truly love the hunt come out later in the season, when all the trigger happy dolts have gone home with their trophies. These guys actually hunt, tracking and all. I, personally, have never been hunting, but I've done a lot of tracking as part of teaching wildlife to Boy Scouts. It's harder than it looks.

 

[okalokee]

That first image isn't a PhotoShop. This one, however, is and I like it a lot.

I get mad as hell whenever I turn on the TV and I see people working up a stink over some stupid thing like a stupid politician (who isnt' even running for office!) making a stupid comment -- and NOT talking about the life-and-death things that really matter to our troops.

How many people in this country don't know about the 14,000 weapons they lost over there, because that story was buried by all this Kerry nonsense. How many people are talking about THAT, and not about what's happening on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Makes me sick. Kerry, Bush, Dems, Reps, CNN, Fox News, they all make me sick...

 

[Redhots]

 

[fuzzykitten99]

Depends on where you are and when in the season it is. Early in the season, you get the guys who just want the deer on their walls, and since it's so popular to have those in the south, it's far more common. These guys want an easy kill, so they go for deer stands with some sort of bait around them. It's basically fishing with a gun. It's the hunting equivalent of noodling (and if you know what that is, you're either the filthiest kind of redneck, you know one, or you saw that episode of "Dirty Jobs").

The ones who truly love the hunt come out later in the season, when all the trigger happy dolts have gone home with their trophies. These guys actually hunt, tracking and all. I, personally, have never been hunting, but I've done a lot of tracking as part of teaching wildlife to Boy Scouts. It's harder than it looks.

We actually do use deerstands here in the North... and yes, many do use salt licks or corn, but then place it under their stands. The guys in my family call that cheating and you're not a real hunter that way, and most of the hunters in my family bow hunt. Their philosophy is any idiot can aim and shoot something, but it takes skill and brains to use a bow and arrow.

 

[insein]

That first image isn't a PhotoShop. This one, however, is and I like it a lot.

I get mad as hell whenever I turn on the TV and I see people working up a stink over some stupid thing like a stupid politician (who isnt' even running for office!) making a stupid comment -- and NOT talking about the life-and-death things that really matter to our troops.

How many people in this country don't know about the 14,000 weapons they lost over there, because that story was buried by all this Kerry nonsense. How many people are talking about THAT, and not about what's happening on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Makes me sick. Kerry, Bush, Dems, Reps, CNN, Fox News, they all make me sick...

Yea cause it was the kerry non sense that buried that? Get over it. This is life. People get worked up over stupid shit especially during election time. Just look at the Michael J Fox thing. Thats still on TV 11 days later.

As for your picture, check your North Korea and Iran facts again. They didnt begin in the last 6 years i can guarantee you that.

 

[Hobbit]

A Nuclear Korea became a problem as soon as Madeline Albright showed up in Pyong Yang with an autographed basketball.

Then, there's the fact that you're using a logical fallacy. Talk about how a head mouthpiece for a major political party said something reprehensible does not automatically disqualify talk about other issues.

And if you want to talk about botched wars, this isn't the one to talk about. Despite the mistakes made, this has been one of the best executed wars in American history. Think about WWII. We botched Bastonne so bad we had airborne troops trying to hold a line so thin that German soldiers randomly wandered through it looking for a latrine. We let Patton run out of gas. And talk about civilian death...

Then there was the War of 1812, when the White House was burned and we couldn't take Quebec.

Or how about the Revolution, when we had to get help from, of all people, the French?

The idea that this is somehow 'botched,' or even more idiotic, meaningless, is ridiculous.