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I distinctly remember the following interaction during my deployment which has been my mantra for today. We were waiting to get shipped out in Camp Lejeune when a bunch of my junior Marines and I were watching CNN. They were covering people protesting the war and the junior Marines began to get agitated.
They didn't understand the outcry and some perceived it as a lack of support. I listened to them vent for a moment, and the TV went to commercial. I waited for a pause in the venting and started talking and asking questions.
"So that got ya upset? People talking out about the war. Why?"
I listened to the reasons some of which were very valid, others of which were knee jerk emotional. Then I simply stated, "What we are willing to go and do is precisely so that they can do that. It is what the military (ok I probably just said the Marines) have done forever. Give Americans the right to free speech."
The Marines fell silent and smiled.
I never heard another complaint about protesters again.
They didn't understand the outcry and some perceived it as a lack of support. I listened to them vent for a moment, and the TV went to commercial. I waited for a pause in the venting and started talking and asking questions.
"So that got ya upset? People talking out about the war. Why?"
I listened to the reasons some of which were very valid, others of which were knee jerk emotional. Then I simply stated, "What we are willing to go and do is precisely so that they can do that. It is what the military (ok I probably just said the Marines) have done forever. Give Americans the right to free speech."
The Marines fell silent and smiled.
I never heard another complaint about protesters again.