Veterans symbolically discard service medals over the Wars Bush Started.
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their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said
symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of the veterans, many
wearing military uniform shirts over black anti-war t-shirts, choked
back tears as they explained their actions. Others folded an American
flag while a bugle played "Taps," which is typically performed at U.S.
military funerals.
"The medals are supposed
to be for acts of heroism. I don't feel like a hero. I don't feel like I
deserve them," said Zach LaPorte, who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006.
LaPorte, a 28-year-old
mechanical engineer from Milwaukee, said he enlisted in the Army at 19
because he felt there were few other options. At the time, he could not
afford to stay in college.
"I witnessed civilian
casualties and civilians being arrested in what I consider an illegal
occupation of a sovereign nation," LaPorte said.
He said he was glad the
United States had withdrawn its combat troops from Iraq, but said he did
not believe the NATO military alliance was going to leave Afghanistan.
On Sunday, NATO
Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen opened the two-day summit of the
26-member alliance saying there would be no hasty exit from
Afghanistan.
A veteran from New York
who only gave his name as Jerry said: "I don't want any part of this
anymore. I chose human life over war, militarism and imperialism."
The veterans had hoped to
present their medals to a NATO representative. The closest they could
get was the fence ringing the McCormick Place convention center about a
block from where U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders were
meeting. The veterans threw their medals toward the convention center.
Matt Howard, 29, who
served in the Marines from 2001 to 2006, said the rate of suicides among
veterans returning from the wars is high.
"These medals are not
worth the cloth and steel they're printed on. They're representative of
failed policies," said Howard, a spokesman for Iraq Veterans Against the
War.
Former U.S. Army Sergeant
Alejandro Villatoro, 29, of Chicago, served during the Iraq 2003
invasion and in Afghanistan in 2011.
He said he suffers from
post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression and gave back three medals
- one "War on Terrorism" medal, one for participating in the Iraq war
and a NATO medal from the Afghanistan war. He said he wants the war in
Afghanistan to end.
"There's no honor in these wars," said Villatoro, before he threw away his medals. "There's just shame."
And i got mine for the vietnam war, another worthless plotical blunder that got hundreds of thousands of Americans dead, and my best friend!!!
But We The people keep n voting for these fools that keep getting "Us" killed.
We should have a war where only political leaders go and fight to weed them out of the system!!!!
These men are intelligent and sensitive enough to realize that they participated in something that our nation should not be proud of. I agree with that sentiment, but I also think that what our government decided to do has nothing to do with the individual effort and sacrifice that our soldiers make. Despite their government's deception, these soldiers performed honorably and willingly, and deserve recognition and respect for that performance. I wish there was a way for them to keep their medals, and to strip something away from the Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld gang that so abused their power and their positions as leaders of our fine soldiers.
But posting this was more of a view on why this last war was for all the wrong reasons....
In case you cannot tell I have talked to more than a few service members, active and retired. And as I stated prior those who hold a negative view of their service are a minute minority. I would beg you to find me more than three who have actually served in combat, that would throw their service metals away, and if you do I would contend you have them do so in front of someone I just put a prosthetic leg or foot, on. If they are willing to do so they never understood the honor of the fallen among them.
You are using generalities that you cannot back up, which is typical for someone with no knowledge.
they told me it all sucked and just could not understand why they were placed in a country that hates them for being there...and they told me some pretty sick things...some lady was cooking rat on a stick for her kids...because there was nothing else to eat...soldiers tried to give her food and she spit at their feet and spoke in her language ...which was interpret as cursing them and hoping God would strike them all dead...
well they got a lot of that over there and it made them bitter and kinda hate Arabs...they called them Sand nig-gers..but of course they had some good times with some of the kids and families in what was considered better areas to live...but a lot of it was described as an endless ghetto with the smell of danger .. mixed with the other odors of human waste, death, gun power.and hash,,,,