Rant Alert

Between the recent uproar over the Joel Stein piece, and an interview of Cindy Sheehan that I read over at Four Right Wing Wackos, (disclaimer: this Raging Mom is NOT the mother of Raging Dave, but I would gladly claim him) I have had an internal rant going on that has just about reached the boiling point.

Regarding Joel Stein. There are way too many people put there, that understand nothing about the military, spouting bilous bullshit. If you don't know anything about your subject matter, it might be a good idea to either study up on it or keep your damn mouth shut. Saying that young men and women were misled by enlisting after 9/11 is complete crap. THREE of my sons enlisted after that, and I can assure everyone, we knew and they knew the odds of them ending up in Afghanistan or Iraq were very high. They did it anyway.

St. Sheehan of the Perpetually Bleeding Liberal Heart. Dear Lord, I wish I could feel some pity for this woman. Where to start...
I have been to many memorials since 2003. The first one was for Brandon Rowe. During his service, there was a huge screen behind his coffin running a slide show of him as a child and young man. Then, the slide show stopped, and the family played a video of Brandon a few days before he deployed. He's telling his family that if anything happens to him, to remember that this is a cause he believes in.
The family of Scott Tyrrell had arranged for a benefit for him, which I was honored to help with. Unfortunately, Scott died, and it became a memorial. I can still see his mom's face when she was presented with a Gold Star banner, the fixed smile, the tears, the utter look of grief behind it all, trying to keep her composure. Susan has said the what the Army did for Scott was wonderful, and that she has no anger. Her son Joe enlisted shortly after Scott's death. Susan is proud of them both.
When my best friend's stepsister came back, we went to their Homecoming. I noticed that all the soldiers there had on black bracelets, much like my POW bracelet. They wore them for Jessica Housby. When my son Joe came back with a similar bracelet, I didn't even have to ask, I knew it was for Adam Harting.

What gripes my ass the most is that people like Joel Stein will never, by choice, know the measure of these soldiers. And I don't believe Cindy Sheehan really ever knew her son. It's too easy to marginalize the military as poor, uneducated, having no better options, no moral compass. If you have no idea what you're talking about. The real truth is- they are funny, smart, smart-assed, serious, poor, middle-class, uneducated, college educated...hey! Sounds like they're just like the rest of us!

With one big exception. They are doing the job that we either can't, or won't. And I'm not talking about scrubbing toilets.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.