Somebody Get a Bag With Some Rocks
January 7th, 2008 by rsm
Luckily I was not with a buddy of mine today. He went to Subway and showed such restraint, though he claims the reason is that he was in so much shock he had no idea how to react.
He was in uniform, at the drink machine, his right hand holding his cup under the steady beverage flow. A man came up just beside him and said, “You just remember that when you’re shooting those people over there, they are still real human beings.”
No thank you for your service, nothing like that.
Why is it even more of a shock to me? Because my friend is one I and others have written about before.
He lost his left arm in an attack in Iraq a little over two years ago. Yes, he is still in uniform. Yes, he is still in the service. I don’t know how I would have handled it had I been there, probably not as well. I, of course, asked if he took his artificial arm and hooked the guy in the back of the neck.
He didn’t. He has more class than me.
I’ve noticed in the cities all those who used to be so patriotic have removed their flags from their cars. I’ve noticed that when I’ve been in uniform, in small towns I am treated well. In cities, it’s a definite mixed bag with some people staring at me harshly as if I am scum they don’t want to get too close to in case some got on their shoes. A few people do come up to say “thank you for serving.”
It even happened last night in the middle of nowhere.* I stopped off on my way back from Florida at my favorite sushi restaurant. Sah-rin, my friend, was working behind the counter, stern faced, almost glum. I’ve been wearing my own war-face for days now, dealing with the worry over my mom. A fine metro couple was seated at the bar. Sah-rin looked up and right away his face broke into a moment of a smile as he called out my name. After me giving him my name one time over 6 months ago, he remembered exactly who I was.
He talked animatedly, asking about what I was doing, where I was headed next. The couple kept staring at me. I felt the eyes of distrust… perhaps more disdain. Sah-rin asked me to sit down for a minute. When I did, the couple sighed and moved their chairs and food farther down away from me, even though there was already a chair and table setting separating us. Sah-rin’s war face came right back as he shot them a look.
When I left, he called out to me, “God bless you and keep you safe. Please come see me as soon as you get back, okay? We talk more.”
I’m not looking for a thank you, but please don’t single me out as if I were pox-ridden just because I wear digital camo.
HOWEVER, if I find the beatnik who chose to make a little political statement to my amputee-friend…
I know. I have to act with class.
* I was in uniform because I was supposed to stop off at a base along the way to pick up some supplies for OCS and meet with someone, but it was cancelled.
No! You guys should not get your hands soiled with the likes of the scum he ran across. Please… let us civilians handle that kind of scum ourselves. What they are trying to do is provoke you all into reacting, thereby making themselves out like victims and you guys like brutes in front of the world.
Let me have a go at that scum, both verbally and physically. I could use some outlet to my PMS-induced rage right now and a piss puny man like that would serve me just fine!
BTW, hope you kick ass, take names and leave a few eating your dust at OCS!
I can’t f*cking believe that.
I may be a left-leaning-hippie-pig but my GOD, that p*sses me off.
Note to idiot (who lives in a cave) who grunted out his *ss:
You just remember that when our own young men and women are being shot at… when they are saving the lives of not ONLY our own but anyone who needs assistance… when you don’t have to come face to face with what THEY are dealing with over there (FOR YOU), that they are still real human beings.
I’m mad ass hell, RSM… and I’m so sorry your friend, you or any of our own have to deal with that kind of sh*t.
Grrrrrrrrrrr.
It reminds me of the scene from “The Best Years of Our Lives,” when Dana Andrews hopped the soda jerk counter and beat the crap out of the radical goon who took to preaching to Harold Russell [a double amputee, mind you] that the “Japs” and the Nazis weren’t the real enemies…they were human beings, too.
The stinky juice that bursts out of a cat’s anal glands smell better than those human turds, and the man near the beverage machine, and the couple at Sah-rin, aren’t worthy of the freedom Americans overseas give their lives to protect, and preserve.
Save the bag of rocks for tossing in a river. Peeps like that do their own selves in.
A speedy and complete recovery for your mom.
Ye gods. I wouldn’t have had any restraint either. People can be so freakin’ rude and/or stupid. And deserve every knock upside the head they get from Journey. In fact, I’ll help her! We can take turns!
I always find reaction in “civilian world” interesting when someone is in uniform…
I note people are either friendly, and sweet…or AVOID eye contact completely.
It is strange….
People that treated your friend (and *you*) like that deserve a “special” penance. Not mine to prescribe, sadly…
God help their miserly souls.
(And that last sentence reflects a kinder gentler judgment than I have right now. A$$holes.)
I ran into a guy who said some pretty stupid things about our military. My husband had to literally grab me by the collar and drag me to the car. I wanted to fight. When I asked my husband if it made him want to fight, he said, “Yes, but that guy is not worth it.” I still would like to have punched the guy.
That sucks. It always sucks. And what sucks worse is that those people are the people we are sworn to serve and protect. It’s still worth it though. You know what you’re doing.
That story makes me really sad. What self absorbed cretins they are. I’m sorry to learn that people like that exist in comfort while good people die in pain. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m sorry you and your friend went through that.