Lurker Bill from Maryland is joined on the southeast corner by 3D-Joy.
Posted on 07/27/2006 6:53:33 PM PDT by Albion Wilde
WASHINGTON, DC 7/21/06-- This FReep at the gates of Walter Reed Army Medical Center started out calmly enough, very much like so many others since we, the DC Chapter of Free Republic, have have been coming there every Friday night since March, 2005 to counter anti-war agitators organized by Code Pink. Nothing seemed different except the wildly enthusiastic beeps of passing cars. In summertime's long daylight, with many car windows open, the enthusiasm of the drivers for our support-the-troops rally is much easier to express. Even two DC Metro police officers patrolling the area gave us the thumbs up as they drove up Georgia Avenue, and later, as they drove back down.
As a result of our keeping the pressure on, the Pinkos have bent over backwards to obscure their malevolence towards the Administration, the soldiers and the entire idea of defending this country, not just by having adopted hypocritical signs urging better care of the soldiers, but also by having now brought more American flags -- flags that are not desecrated like ones they have brought to Walter Reed in the past, or the one they recently protested with at the White House.
So, to help passing motorists tell them apart from us, the week before we started a helpful "Burma-Shave" campaign, and mounted it again this week:
Abruptly, one of the Pinkos decided that their feelings were hurt. Free speech is only for the hate-America crowd, not for those who honor the troops and support their mission! So one of the Pinkos performed a stupid human trick and started yanking the signs off the tops of the cars, tossing them over the fence onto Walter Reed's property. Kristinn wrote about it in an earlier thread.
We went up to the gates to see about retrieving our signs, but not so fast. It seems that the Pinkos' anger management issue had generated a call by the gate guards to the U.S. Department of the Army Police, two of whom strolled down to have a talk with the Pinkos:
A friend of the Pinkos arrived on the scene after the brouhaha. A DC lobbyist, he was also an acquaintance of Debbie Does DC. Returning to his car after bringing the Pinkos some sodas, he stopped to tell her that his friend in the Pink camp "felt really bad about it." I was standing with Debbie Does DC and remarked, "It looks like they got their feelings hurt." With a chuckle, she remarked how lucky it was that was all that got hurt.
...and the FReepers carried on as usual, waving to the troops that came and went, and waiting for the bus to return that brings troops and their families back from a night on the town. Pinkos do not wait for the bus, having been visibly disdained, back in the early days of their phony pro-troops vigil, by genuine troops on the bus. FReeper rlmorel hoisted the "THIS CORNER UNDER NEW NON-COMMIE MANAGEMENT" sign, but everything else settled back to normal. Carloads of people kept honking and high-signing us, including soldiers yelling out their car windows, "Thank you!" and "We love you!" to which we shouted back, "Thank YOU! We love YOU!"
An Army active-duty sergeant from California stood next to me for awhile as he waited for a taxi with another solider from Michigan and that soldier's father. The two looked so much alike I asked if they were brothers. "Yes, but from two different mothers," he said, meaning that his comrade-iin-arms was as close as a brother. Sergeant Bientema was from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and Spec. Litherland was from the 562 Engineers. Both had been recovering at Walter Reed. It took me a long while to notice that the sergeant had one prosthetic leg, since he was moving around so effortlessly.
"Thanks for being out here," said Sgt. Bientema. Regarding the anti-war protesters down the street, he continued, "They'll never get rid of us ground-pounders. You can't win a war without ground-pounders, whether for the fightin' or for the clean-up. Thank God for those that support us, and too bad for the ones that don't."
A young servicewoman who, with her mother and a group of other troops was also waiting for rides downtown, related that she is a medic and had been in Balad, Iraq, where there is a trauma hospital in the Iraqi combat zone. Battlefield injury patients are typically stabilized in the combat zone, then flown rapidly to longer-term care facilities such as Landstuhl, Germany or Walter Reed. This medic is now at Walter Reed for further training. "I like being here," she said, "because I get to see some of the patients I took care of in Balad. Now they are getting better."
FReepers present this week included Apple Blossom, Black Republican, bmwcyle, Cindy-True-Supporter, Debbie Does DC, Fraxinus, Gretchen15, Jack Deth, Jimmy Valentine's Brother, Just A Nobody, Kristinn, rlmorel, SenseiErn, tgslTakoma, 3D-Joy, Tom the Redhunter, [Mr & Mrs] Trooprally and myself. Lurkers included Bill from Maryland, Gavin, and his guest, Jeff.
Link to all the previous Walter Reed FReeps, courtesy of BufordP.
BTTT
I love it!
Has the MSM ever covered Code Pink's disgusting protests by showing ALL the signs they carried? I assume not.
5.56mm
DR
It takes about 10 minutes off the drive. Very little traffic and fewer traffic lights. Real nice drive. Just watch the stop signs on Geranium Street.
[Mr] T
Great report!
FYI, that wouldn't have been a Secular Franciscan; they don't dress in habits. That would be an actual Franciscan, who should have better things to do with his time.
That is true. He should have not been there but, he was right in the middle of everything. What a disgrace to his order.
[Mrs T]
Thank you for the kind words.
What a great post. You did good Again!!! :>)
[Mrs T]
With you all in spirit, as always. Great job! DC FReepers ROCK!
You did great! Thank you so much for representing all of us from FRee Republic so well.
Honey, not vinegar, Bill.
3D Joy........ back in action...... Great!
It's not legal for them to touch your protesting signs. Can't you arrest, sue, punch and kick, whatever?
All he'd have had to do is tell everyone that hot chicks with bodacious tatas were out there.
If they touch the cars again, they will be walking wounded.
Very important public service necessary in Texas! GWB is the CinC of the troops in Walter Reed.
Thank god that Freepers are everywhere, or the DBMedia would have Americans thinking that most "Americans" were against the war, etc.
When an idiot wants to dig his own grave, it's best just to hand him a shovel. I think the Walter Reed security force would love nothing more than yank their permit.
We called the police and they did nothing.
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