Posted on 05/04/2010 7:20:28 PM PDT by Man50D
A widely regarded Southern symbol of pride and states' rights is standing in the way of would-be Marines in their quest to serve their country – a Confederate battle flag.
Straight out of high school, one 18-year-old Tennessee man was determined to serve his country as a Marine. His friend said he passed the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and looked forward with excitement to the day he would ship out to boot camp.
But there would be no shouting drill instructors, no rigorous physical training and no action-packed stories for the aspiring Marine to share with his family.
Shortly before he was scheduled to leave Nashville for boot camp, the Marine Corps rejected him.
Now, the young man, who wishes to remain unnamed and declined to be interviewed, has chosen to return to school and is no longer an aspiring Marine.
"I think he just wants to let it go," said former Marine 1st Lt. Gene Andrews, a friend of the man and patriotic Southerner who served in Vietnam from 1968 through 1971. Andrews is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group of male descendents of Confederate soldiers. He counseled the young man when he decided to become a Marine.
"He had been talking to me, and he was all fired up about joining," he told WND. "He asked my opinion of it, and I just tried to tell him the truth, good points and bad points."
When the young recruit didn't go to boot camp, Andrews learned of his rejection based on his tattoo of the Confederate battle flag on his shoulder.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
I challenge anyone to name one true conservative legislator in the NE U.S. Nope, they are all down here.
Break your leg.
I don't think he would have made it.
ROTFLMAO!!!! Won the war all on your own did you?
It is incontrovertible fact that most of the military men of this nation come from the former eleven states called the Confederacy.
It is BS.
That wasn’t their intention you know!
Instead he had one of the largest volunteer armies in history show up at his doorstep ready to whuth somebody.
The military allows swastika tattoos? I have a hard time believing that.
The Dixiecrat compromises allowed entirely too much government growth. I blame this on Theodore Bilbo, et al.
Now maybe some skinhead's date said "he's a Marine" but she was wrong.
Yeah. Lincoln snuck in troops dressed in rebel uniforms and fired on Sumter himself. </sarcasm>
I have yet to meet a lost cause fanatic who will accept the blame for anything connected with the rebellion. And I doubt I ever will, your denial runs so deep.
Absolute nonsense.
That comment is so stupid that it doesn't merit a serious reply.
For example?
Actually he was living there at the time. He hadn't been at West Point for years.
The Federals marched on Virginia, and the war was begun.
That's like saying "The U.S. marched into North Africa and World War II was begun." You ignore little tidbits of history like Fort Sumter and Pearl Harbor.
It became the war of the 'United States' when Lincoln drafted unwilling soldiers fto fight on the behalf of the Federals.
You might want to tone that claim down. A far larger percentage of confederate soldiers were conscripted or forced to remain in the army for the duration of the war than were Union soldiers.
That did not happen in Virginia, where Virgina's sons willingly came to her defense, unlike today's citizenry.
Right.
“I’m an active-duty enlisted Marine, and I don’t want that in my Corps.”
Well, I’m a former Marine and I don’t have a problem with it. You are just another PC Yankee. KMA!
The difference is, a white soldier a century ago would have had no moral ground on which to oppose serving with a black soldier. A black or Hispanic soldier in 2010, however, could rightfully perceive the flag as portending a racist message.
Is the flag inherently racist? No, of course not. And there are many who bear it without race-related intentions. But there are also a decent number who do carry that flag as a symbol for a racist cause, and if I were a black man in a predominantly white organization, it would be hard not to have my suspicions.
With that possibility in mind, given two applicants identical in every way but for such a tattoo, I would select the one without it. And that really does describe the dilemma face by Marine Corps recruiters, who now have far more potential recruits than they have spots available at boot camp.
I would not want a member of my unit to have a tattoo of any race-related emblem, be it white supremacy, black liberation, or MS-13. The Marine Corps is by and large an organization of tense, violent young men required to trust each other under the most demanding of circumstances. Having grounds to question the racial loyalties of the Marine next to you is conducive to success neither in training nor in operations.
Regardless, this debate is for moot. The CMC doesn’t like ink, and what he says on this goes. Applicants also get rejected for tattoos of girlfriends’ names, nautical stars, tribal designs, and Pokemon characters. I would advise any teens considering getting tattoos to bear this in mind if they are thinking even idly about enlisting.
OK I've got to ask. What kind of idiot gets a tattoo on the inside of their mouth?
Speaking only for myself, laugh my ass off at yet another example of Southron boobery.
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