A Southerner Speaks

[redcliffsw]

I have always been proud of my time spent as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I served in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and, while I was certainly no "John Wayne" type, I tried to do my duty to the best of my ability and I did bring all my platoon out of Vietnam alive.

This past summer, the son of a friend of mine was very 'gung ho' about joining the Marines and asked my opinion, which I tried to give as honestly as possible, warts and all. I don't know if my discussion had any influence on him, but he enlisted, completed all the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and went to all of the pre-enlistment meetings. To say the least, he was very excited about serving his country in the Corps.

Shortly before he left Nashville for boot camp, he was told he could not serve his country because he had a Confederate Battle Flag tattooed on his shoulder in an area that would be completely covered by a T-shirt, and certainly by his uniform.

When informed of this, I went to the local recruiting station that had processed this young man to see if I was getting the entire story. The recruiter, a staff sergeant, told me, "Yes sir. The Marine Corps considers the Confederate Flag a 'hate symbol,' but if the young man in question had a state or U.S. flag tattoo, that would be acceptable."

I informed the young sergeant that my family had defended the State of Tennessee (also his home state) against a sadistic invasion under that flag and to call our sacred flag of honour a 'hate symbol' was an insult to ALL southerners, but especially to those southerners who had risked or even given their lives in service to the Marine Corps.

rest of story:
http://www.newsnet14.com/2010/04/24/a-southerner-speaks/comment-page-1/

[redcliffsw]

Updated and better story:

U.S. Marines boot recruits with Confederate tattoos
You won't believe what military thinks of historic Southern symbol

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=149729

[Sarge]

Well, if that is true, which it looks like it is, it's a damn sad day for this country.