Our Smoke(Chief of the firing battery/ Chief of fire and smoke) told the guy tersely, "I think you'd best leave at this time."
The reporter pretty much stood there with a snotty grin until he saw that there were five of us walking up behind him.
That was when he took off running.
The unfortunate part of unit support is that if you make something mandatory rather than voluntary, people with chafe about it.
It's a different world now from when our parents were little, and 'nationalism' is seen as a bad thing on par with fascism and communism.
Victory gardens were done when my father was a baby, and now such displays of 'love of country' are seen by some as being dangerous and 'on the road to another hitler.'
The point of breakage between love of country, patriotism and volunterring is schools and school curriculum.
Children are taught that love of country is evil.
Good analysis, and very sad.