STILLWELL: Iraq War Veteran To San Francisco: We Must Win This Fight!

Cinnamon Stillwell's Blog ^ | 12/29/6 | Cinnamon Stillwell

[SmithL]

Last year, I wrote a column for SFGate titled, "San Francisco Declares Itself A Military Free-Zone." It was about the city's propensity for anti-military activity and how taken to its logical conclusion, San Francisco might well become a military free-zone someday. The San Francisco school board's recent decision to ban the JROTC from the city's public schools would seem to back up that contention.

But plenty of Americans are fed up with San Francisco's anti-military values, which may explain why I continue to receive e-mails about that column more than a year after it first came out. The majority of them come from veterans and active duty servicemen and women who, to put it lightly, don't exactly appreciate the illiberal treatment coming from the self-proclaimed city of tolerance, San Francisco.

The latest of these missives came from a 24-year-old United States Marine Corpsman and Iraq War veteran who, like myself, was politically awakened by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He joined the military and fought for our country in Iraq where he was wounded and lost several friends. And yet, his dedication to fighting Islamic fascism has never wavered.

He's given me permission to reprint his e-mail below. Those in San Francisco who think themselves on the winning side when they oppose the U.S. military would do well to heed his words. I know I will:

I am a combat wounded Iraq war veteran and I just got done reading the article you wrote titled, "San Francisco Declares Itself a Military Free-Zone." I don’t think a lot of people actually understand the importance of the war in Iraq and the military in San Francisco and it makes me sad.

[SmithL]

Cinnamon Stillwell Ping

FReepMail me if you want on, or off this low-volume Ping list