I have been to many demonstrations in Washington DC as a counterprotester against the Code Pinkos, MoveOn and other antiwar types, and invariably we would encounter the “Veterans for Peace” douchebags.
Before I actually encountered them in real life, I had always thought that I would give those people a lot of leeway and consideration in their views, until I saw them with my eyes, read their signs, and listened to their words. The vast majority of them are leftists first and foremost, and veterans second. I really grew to despise them in particular, and I wasn’t alone.
We had some active duty Marines counter-protesting with us once, and those guys really took issue with them, one dickhead on their side got one of the Marines so riled up his buddies had to hold him back. There was a picture of the enraged Marine being held back by his buddies that showed up on the front page of one of the Washington papers the next day, might have even been the Washington Post. These were young guys who had all done two or three tours, and they had fought in Fallujah. Rough stuff. I bumped into them over in Arlington as they paid respects to one of their buddies who had been killed.
To a person with one single exception, every single one of those “Veterans for Peace” people looked like they were trying to find a way back to the demonstrations of the 1960s. I am not kidding. In both dress and manner, even wearing the old style fatigue jackets with peace signs on them. They filled me with contempt.
The lone exception for me was a Korean War vet marching with them who I had a discussion with at the gates surrounding the White House...I felt bad for the guy. He was sincere, and just didn’t want to see anyone fighting in a war. He wasn’t a stupid unhinged leftist like nearly all of them, he just seemed hurt and tired by war. It was sad, and he seemed so lost, as I pondered how he came to be with that group, I figured he must have just been looking for a way to make his voice heard and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He just seemed so confused and hurt.
All the rest of them were abject jackasses.
Yeah I saw them at the big GoE counter protest in Washington DC back in 2006.
Most of them never completed their initial enlistments. They we’re kicked out in basic for failure to adapt, or got the Big Chicken Dinner.
Heck, I had ID’d one of the antiwar traitors who had gotten kicked out because he was in my unit.