A Grandson’s stance on Soldiers and Veterans

In the past, the American public has misunderstood and mistreated their soldiers, and now those soldiers misunderstand many Americans in return. We should be fighting alongside each other, not against one another. Please read this, Veterans and civilians, Bush supporters and Bush haters. It is one humble man’s feelings on those who fight for America:

I want you to understand how I feel about our troops, so you can see the misunderstanding between many pro-Bush vets and anti-Bush civilians. When U.S. Soldiers came back from Vietnam, they were treated as no humans deserve to be treated, much less ones that had just staked their lives fighting for both their country and the lives of those who mistreated them. Upon returning home from the war, vets were cursed at, called foul things, bullied, and were assailed by spit, rotten fruit, and human feces. I don’t pretend to know exactly what they felt, but I would have been scared, hurt, and damned confused.

Why were these soldiers treated this way? Why were they not commended for bravely fighting for the rights of those now tormenting them? They were the whipping boy for the anger that should have been directed at the government. Those that struck out at the soldiers were completely and utterly opposed to what their government was doing, enraged by what was being carried out in their country’s name. They were angry at the Government, but the Government wasn’t marching down the street, or riding home on a bus. U.S. soldiers were, and it was they who were wrongly and horribly treated.

Yes, some soldiers killed civilians in the war, or did things that would mortify most non-soldiers, but it was not their decision. They were not doing it for fun or for the hell of it. It was the decision of their leaders, and it is they who should have been held accountable. Not the hand that carries out the command, but the brain who issues it.

Fighting for one’s country and freedoms is an honorable thing to do, but an administration starting a war for one’s own personal gain is not, which brings me to my main point:

Bush supporting vets have the wrong idea about anti-Bush activists, and I can see why. After being treated the way they were, they see people now protesting the war to be personally attacking them and what they fought for. This, however, is not the America it was when they returned home from Vietnam. American’s feelings toward soldiers have been changing ever since the Gulf War, and today’s protestors are not angry at their troops, they are angry at the ones sending their beloved troops, their mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters, to die for a war not worthy of those soldier’s devotion and lives.

Next to nearly every Bush ’04 sticker you see on a car these days, you see a “Support Our Troops” magnetic ribbon decal. Why doesn’t everyone have one of these stickers? It is because people’s views have been slanted by those seeking to denounce anyone anti-bush as an anti-American troop hater. To them you are either “pro-Bush, troop supporting” or you are “anti-bush, troop hating”. This is not the truth! There are just as many ribbons on the vehicles of those who don’t support Bush, and many more who don’t see their vehicle as an effective means to show their support, but rather support our troops by trying to get them home.

I love our troops. I support them and what they give up and face every day for our country. I love them, but I do not believe in the war they are sent to fight, and I just want them brought home now, brought home alive, and unharmed. I despise our President and what he stands for, I despise his motives for this war, and I despise his use of our devoted soldiers as a meaningless means to his own end.

If you are a veteran, and you cannot comprehend why someone could love their troops but choose Kerry over Bush in 2004, I will clear it up for you. Kerry was the lesser of two evils. Yes, we had to support a man who slandered and hurt hundreds of thousands of veterans, but we did so to try to stop Bush from killing more soldiers. Our loved one’s lives were more important to us than getting revenge on a man for his gross mistakes.

Think about the men that came home to a world that seemed alien; the veterans who have felt forever changed by war. The men who were poisoned by their own government’s chemical weapons, were put in wheelchairs, maimed, and paralyzed. Think about the fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons… the men who died. Is this something you would wish on anyone? It is the fate wished upon any US soldier who proudly fights this war, by his Government. These soldiers are great men and women, but those who would send them to die for illegitimate reasons are despicable.

Upon reading this, the family-members of many of those in Iraq will hate me, will be outraged, livid even. They will think I am telling them their loved ones are dying for no reason, that their deaths/time served is meaningless. I assure you they are mistaken. I believe any soldier in Iraq is honorably trying to defend freedom and America, and any solder that dies does so for a belief that is just and right. The point I am trying to get across is that they should not have been sent there, that they should still be alive, and to those who have already lost a loved one, that is hard to hear. That makes them angry, and they will lash out at me in lieu of their government, just as protesters wrongly lashed out at our veterans so many years ago.

My Grandfather and late Great-grandfather are veterans. They both fought wars for their country, and they likely see my protest of our President as an attack on them and what they fought for. I may seem an ungrateful snot who couldn’t comprehend what they’ve done for me and the rest of America. I write this in hopes that they might know how grateful I am for what they did, and that I am proud to be their descendant. I hope they can understand that I support our troops and veterans, and that, for me, supporting our troops and supporting our government are two very different things.

Thank you,
Thomas S.E. Gagnon

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