I'm The Wrong Person To Talk To About Soldiers

Someone showed this picture to me the other day and told me how appalled they were.

(Picture by pinterest.com)
I asked them what was so appalling to them?

Here’s what they said:

  • I can’t believe they would let this man wear a uniform.
  • I can’t believe they would let this man serve our country.
  • I can’t believe that this is who they have protecting our country.
  • I can’t believe they made this man the Secretary of Defense for the United States.
  • I can’t believe they allow this guy to talk this way.
  • He must think he’s something special, when all he really is some old soldier.

Then once they were done ranting (and took a breath) they asked me what I thought about him.

I said do you really want to know?

My comments might be a little different then yours.

So do you really want to know?

They said sure. I mean you seem like a rational person and I’m a rational person how different can it be then what I said.

Here’s my answers to their statements about James Mattis

(And just so we are clear, I was an Army soldier so you know there is no love loss between the Army and the Marines.)

“I can’t believe they would let this man wear a uniform.”

  • If you’ve never wore a uniform and protected our county during war time, I can’t ever expect you to understand what the uniform means.

“I can’t believe they would let this man serve our country.”

  • Only the top 1% of Americans ever serve or protect our country in the military. So unless you served in a branch and have protected our country who are you to decided or even question what type of person serves and dies for your freedoms?

“I can’t believe they made this man the Secretary of Defense for the United States.”

  • Why can’t you believe it? We need someone who has actually served in the military and knows what the world is really like outside of this protected land you live in. I don’t know if James Mattis will be a good or bad Secretary of Defense but I can tell you that under his watch when it comes to fighting and war we will be ready.

“I can’t believe they allow this guy to talk this way.”

  • Why shouldn’t he be able to talk that way? If you have the freedom to express your opinions why can’t he express his?

“He must think he’s something special, when all he really is some old soldier.”

  • I doubt he thinks he’s special, but he’s not just some old soldier. Yes he is older, and Yes he is soldier, but he was a 4 Star General in the Marines. That is a very select group of people to ever achieve that rank. Also very few people ever serve as long (44yrs) as a soldier as he has. His life as a soldier has been about protecting and serving our country doing the things that 99% of people will never understand nor would they want to know about what it takes to be a soldier.

When I finished speaking they weren’t very happy with my comments.

Then turned and walked away mumbling under their breath what an awful person I am and how they couldn’t believe I would think let alone say those things to them.

In the end what I took this picture to mean was:

"That when you have a mission in life don’t let anyone or anything stand in your way of achieving your mission."

For some strange reason I don’t think that is necessarily a bad statement or mindset to have.

I guess I’m the wrong person to talk to about soldiers.


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