Here - a mom of two Marines speaks her mind to an insensitive lout. You go, mom - I would have been far less kind!
"I'm sorry." "What?" he said. I repeated "I'm sorry". He looked at me with a puzzled expression. I shook my head as I said, "I'm sorry you feel the way you do about Marines. I have two Marine sons." His expression began to turn into...what, I'm still not sure, but it looked too closely like the start of a contemptuous sneer for my liking. My voice started to shake. "It doesn't even occur to you does it, that our Marines have done nothing wrong - they just do their job. You think they're guilty of murder just because they're MARINES." His mouth started to move, but I put up my hand and stopped him before he could talk. "I don't know why you said what you just said, or why you feel the way you do - but I know one thing. My sons and every Marine I personally know has more intelligence, honor, courage and decency than you'll develop over your whole miserable, unimportant life." By this time I am ashamed to say, I've totally lost my bearing. Tears are pouring down my face. I said thickly, "There's more worth inside the sorriest Marine than there is in the man standing in front of me right now." He started to say something, but again I interrupted. "Your level of sheer ignorance about the Marine Corps make me sad. The fact that better men than you could ever be, have died so you could stand here and talk about them is even sadder. But the saddest thing about you is...you're not even smart enough to know just how right I am. I'm so, so sorry for you."
And here - the Rocky Mountain News does it again, and portrays the honor of our military and the pain they go through. You may remember their story about a Marine CACO, back in November, 2005... Well, Jim Sheeler, the writer of both articles has done it again... (I wonder if they've got him on his own page...?) He's fantastically talented!
For the past three weeks, Rick Anderson had been the quiet rock, steadying his family, comforting them, looking out for everyone, the way he had taught his son to do, the way his son was doing.He spoke at his son's funeral in Longmont and said he cried long and hard during his private, personal conversations with God.
On the outside, with his friendly face and salt-and-pepper moustache, he looked more like the real estate salesman that he is, rather than a former member of one of the most elite special warfare units in the country.
But after all of the quiet, all of the stoicism, Rick Anderson stood at the empty gravesite, took a deep breath and let out a Navy SEAL war cry that carried over the headstones.
"HOOYAH, KID!" he shouted at his son's casket, his voice breaking.
"YOU DID GOOD."
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