Saturday, August 20, 2011

Your right to be an ASSHAT

Moving to England has had it's ups and downs, and it's definitely been an eye opener for me. What I notice most is both the huge amount of support for American troops, and the insane amount of cruelty when it comes to those same troops. Let me explain...

My husband serves in the United States Air Force. I am a Navy veteran. So when it comes to military life, we're not noobs. We both made a choice, individually at first, then as a family to serve our country, and we do it without regret. We've received care packages from people that we only know through the internet, just because they want to show their support in some small way. Those care packages always make the days a little brighter. We get told thank you on occasion from other internet friends for our sacrifices. It's those little things that mean the world to us when times are tough. Those are the things that remind us of why we chose to defend our country.

Then there's the other side of things, the heart breaking side, which will probably be more focused on in this particular rant.

There are the asshats that bemoan the military, the war, and have even gone so far as to picket funerals of soldiers who have died in combat. WTF?

The thing that sucks, is that we can't really get mad. We are over here, away from all of our family, trying to learn to make new friends, in a new home, new country, new culture, serving our country so that people like this have the FREEDOM to be the dick heads that they are.

I cringe when someone says that war isn't necessary. Do you really think that we send our husbands, our children's fathers out to combat; hoping, praying, wishing that he will make it home, just to play games? Do you really think we sleep countless nights alone for something that could be resolved with a game of Tiddly Winks and some Oreos?

 I hate this war just as much as anyone else. I've pulled bodies out of the rubble on September 11, 2001. I still can't stand the smell of burnt hair or skin. It lingers in the back of my mind, and launches an assault on my thoughts and emotions when I do have to smell it. I remember the bodies being pulled out, I remember the screams, the cries for help, the raspy voices begging for someone to dig them out from under their concrete coffins. And I remember America crying out for justice, for retaliation, and yes, even for revenge. I remember kissing my kids goodbye and wondering if it would be the last time that I would ever see them, since we were told to have our affairs in order, we probably wouldn't make it back alive.

I spent 159 days on an aircraft carrier with 6000 other people with no port calls, no breaks, just war. I remember what it was like with a clarity that I wish would cease to exist. I went without sleep, without the luxuries of phones calls home, internet privileges, hell, I did it without the luxury of hot water most days. I didn't do it to be mean or to hurt people. I did it because our country was attacked, and someone needed to stand up for our citizens.

I kiss my husband goodnight every night, and watch him walk out the door, with no certainty that he's returning. He can leave at any moment to go out there and defend our country, to defend our freedoms. I'd love nothing more than to have his boots safely tucked under my bed at night. Hell, I'd give my right arm to have him IN my bed at night. Instead, he's out defending some jerks' right to talk crap about the military.

The absolute worse thing though, is seeing these soldiers funerals picketed. I don't care what religious affiliation you choose to have, or what ideals and beliefs you want to spout off at the mouth about. But leave the funerals alone. The dead soldier can't hear you. However, his family can. The family who has already sat there, looking out the window, watching the uniformed officers walking up to their homes. The family that knew what would be said before the first knock was even delivered. The family who sacrificed their time with loved ones so that you could have the freedoms that you so enjoy. THAT family is the one listening to you picket the funeral. That coffin holds someone's child. Possibly someone's husband, father, brother, sister, wife, and even mother. Those are human beings being laid to rest, and they can't even get that.

Have these picketers stopped to think that if they pulled that crap in another country, they would be fined, stoned, possibly even killed?  No. They haven't. They take their civil liberties for granted without ever stopping to think that the reason they have them is because a SOLDIER gave his life to defend their right to be free to speak their minds. They don't think about it, because that would mean that maybe war isn't all fun and games. Maybe, just maybe, people are fighting because our country needs us. If you hate the country so damned much, feel free to leave. Feel free to move somewhere else. Somewhere that doesn't let you get away with things that you take for granted in the States.

I can't stand this war. I can't stand sleeping alone at night. I hate the fact that almost all of my friends live in my computer, because I've moved around too much in my life to ever plant my roots anywhere. However, I will support my soldiers no matter the cost to myself. I will kiss my husband goodbye every night, and I will continue to tell him to stay safe. And if the time ever comes where I'm the one receiving the knock at my door, telling me that his boots will no longer be getting left in the living room for me to trip over, well, all I can say is that at that point, Fuck your right to Freedom of Speech. I'll be exercising my right to kick your ass.

5 comments:

  1. That is hard to read. Especially after what he told me today. But go him, your hubby, all the other people saving us. And im going to be an excellent military GF and make this 100% about him cause its his ass on the line and 0% about me. Unlike 90% of the selfish nasty cheating ass wifeys here.

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  2. You have earned a warm place in my heart. The loving southern cooking post on G+ helped as well! JK... OK, maybe not. I like your blog post. Emotional words without sounding crass, rude, or obnoxious. I feel the same way you do. I'm a vet and have been working in Law Enforcement since 1994. The same type of judgmental people who have their rights protected by soldiers have those same rights protected by Cops. But, at least they haven't resorted to picketing police funerals. On a scale of horrible things to do - picketing funerals is almost as low as a "sane" human being can go.

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  3. You amaze me daily.

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