Ann in no way condemns Cleland's service, in fact, she just honored it. But the accident that caused his injuries was not brave, it was stupid. He shouldn't have done it, he had no reason to do it. I can imagine that the thought going through his head as the grenade exploded was probably "that was stupid".
What Ann is condemning in this article is Cleland's allowing his accident to be twisted into an intentional "brave sacrifice" in order to be used against President Bush. He may not be doing it himself, but he's allowing it to be done. That is shameful and worthy of criticism.
JMO
O2
I'm wondering about this. Was it his own grenade? Who carries prepared grenades on a helicopter? Sorry, but I really don't know the answer to this.
what we are talking about is a grenade with the pin partially pulled, the safety off, so to speak. The pin is split like a cotter pin, and normally spread so it can't fall out. The reason for this is obvious from the evidence of this accident.
Well, I disagree there. In his account, he says he thought it was his grenade. If he honestly thought it was his and had just fallen out of his grenade pouch just then, it wasn't that stupid. It was a terribly unfortunate thing- yes. It didn't have to happen- yes. But if he thought it was his equipment laying there, he would've been within 'reasonable mistake' zone to have secured it.
I don't think he saw a grenade that had been activated lying there on the ground and thought 'hmmm, live grenade, I'll just pick that up and put it in my pocket'
I don't think Cleland should be misrepresenting what happened- if that's what he's been doing- but I don't think we should either. It was an accident. It could've happened to anyone.