What is your response to the following comment by a radio host in Orlando----?

Question

“Soldiers should not be given special privileges for anything. If anything, they should be held to a higher standard. They should not get out of speeding tickets, get their meals paid for, they should not be praised or given special attention. They are doing a job. A job they have because they could not do anything else. They want respect? Are they not murdering kids overseas and raping women here in the states. Special privileges…please.”

Answer 1

Let's have a name and a station call sign and a date, please, for this alleged commentary. Give me that and I will approach the station for a transcript of the particular program. If someone did make such a series of remarks, he and I and my fellow veterans in the American Legion - over three million of us - will have further discussion regarding his attitude. And we'll be joined by nearly two million of my fellow Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, my fellow veterans in Vietnam Veterans of America and my fellow members in the Marine Corps League. (I belong to all four organizations). I rather think we will be able to persuade himself to think again...

Answer 2

Do I agree with him? Not completely. Should he be allowed to air his feelings on his radio show? Definitely. It is his opinion. Get over it. Soldiering is a job, a volunteer job. You don't want to go to war, don't join the military. Period. And try to deny that some of the soldiers are doing these things. It's all over the news everyday. I don't think it is a good message to send to them, but it is his right. And these soldiers aren't fighting for our freedom. They are fighting for Iraqi freedom (vaguely) and to establish the 51st state. It just happens to be in the Middle East. Don't cry to me about the horrors of war, you knew what you were getting into when you signed your butt over to Uncle Sam.

Answer 3

I don't know about you Justin, but I DON'T hear about murder and rapes in the news everyday. (Armywise)I don't know what anti-American programs you are listening to, but when I watch the news, this comes up RARELY. You along with the radio host are giving wrong perceptions about the war, and what is going on. Of course if you think all our military does is rape and kill over there you would say that...BUT THEY DONT. So shut it!!!

Answer 4

What radio host are you talking about? What radio station?
It seems only fair to have a name to go with the speech.

So glad the military is protecting this #!# 's right to free speech.

Answer 5

I think it is disgusting and deplorable. Perhaps some one should point out it was the solider that fought and died to give him the freedom of speech to make such horrific remarks.

Answer 6

i think most sane Americand would disagree with that statement. Tell us the name of that jerk.

Answer 7

Just some loser trying to make ratings.

Answer 8

let me see if I get this straight, if they are engaged in battle, they have to call time out so the guys can go to mc donalds, to buy a hamburger, ?

Answer 9

he needs to go over there and see for himself what there doing and not all of them are like that my Daddy is not like that at all
there
nearly killing themselfs for use

Answer 10

The vast majority of the military act as they should. However many are not trying to win the "hearts & minds" of the people. Here are a couple of examples, and I'm sure this is only the tip of the "Iceburg".

At the hearing into whether four U.S. soldiers should be court-martialled for rape and murder, a special agent described what took place in Mahmudiya in March, based on an interview he had with one of the men, Specialist James Barker.
The case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the U.S. military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
Special Agent Benjamin Bierce recalled that Barker described to him how they put a couple and their six-year-old daughter into a bedroom of their home, but kept the teenage girl in the living room, where Barker held her hands while Sergeant Paul Cortez raped her or tried to rape her.
Barker then switched positions with Cortez and attempted to rape the girl but said he was not sure if he had done so, Bierce told the hearing.
Barker also told the special agent he heard shots from the bedroom and shortly afterwards Private Steven Green emerged from the room, put down an AK-47 assault rifle and raped the girl while Cortez held her down.
SHOT HER SEVERAL TIMES
Barker told Bierce that Green then picked up the weapon and shot her once, paused, and shot her several more times.
Military prosecutors are expected to set out their case against Private First Class Jesse Spielman, 21, Barker, 23, Cortez, 23 and Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, who face charges of rape and murder among others.
If court-martialled after the Article 32 hearing -- the military's equivalent of a U.S. grand jury -- and found guilty, they could face the death penalty. The hearing began on Sunday and is expected to last several days.
Green, 21, faces the same charges in a U.S. federal court in Kentucky, home of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, his former unit. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a "personality disorder."
A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and will also appear at the hearing at a U.S. base in Baghdad.
Defense Attorney Captain Jimmie Culp was blowing chewing gum bubbles while Yribe, sitting to his left, began sucking on a red lollipop during the testimony.
An Iraqi army medic told the hearing on Sunday he entered the house and found the body of 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi naked and burned from the waist up, with a single bullet wound beneath her left eye.
Special Agent Gary Griesmyer recounted Cortez' account of the day. "While they were playing cards and drinking Iraqi whiskey, the idea came to go out to an Iraqi house, rape a woman and murder her family," he testified.
Cortez said Barker told the young girl to "shut up" after she was raped, Griesmyer said.
Bierce said Barker told him he poured kerosene from a lamp on to the girl. It was not clear who set her on fire.
Barker later signed a sworn statement based on the interview, in which he said that on the day of the attack he, Cortez, Spielman and Green had been playing cards and drinking whisky mixed with an energy drink. They then went to the rear of the checkpoint where they ware based to hit golf balls.
Green said he wanted to go to a house and kill some Iraqis, Barker wrote in his sworn statement.
After the rape and murders, he wrote that he began to grill chicken wings.

Soldier gets 21 months in killing of Iraqi man

By The Associated Press
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A marine was sentenced to 21 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to lesser charges in the killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian whose body was left with an AK-47 and a shovel to make him look like an insurgent.
Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate entered his pleas to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice through his civilian lawyer, Steve Immel, during court-martial proceedings. In return for his guilty pleas, the government dismissed other charges against Shumate, including murder, kidnapping, assault and conspiracy.
Shumate was part of a squad of seven marines and a sailor who were charged with kidnapping 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the rural Iraqi town of Hamdania, dragging him to a roadside hole, shooting him and then trying to cover it up.Shumate is the fourth squad member to accept a plea to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony.
Testifying in a loud but sometimes halting voice, Shumate recalled that the squad was on a nighttime patrol seeking insurgents planting bombs April 26.
All eight of the men agreed to a plan to kill a known insurgent, and four left to kidnap him, Shumate said.
When they returned with a prisoner, Shumate said he was "told to fire" by the squad leader and thought he was shooting at the insurgent. He learned only later that it was Awad, whom prosecutors have described as a disabled father of 11.
Shumate faced up to 15 years in prison.
Military judge Lt.-Col. Jeffrey Meeks initially sentenced Shumate to eight years in prison and ordered a dishonourable discharge.
But Shumate was protected by the plea agreement, and the sentence was reduced. His jail time includes six months already served, and he will likely be given a general discharge.
Two other marines and a navy corpsman earlier pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Four senior squad members still face kidnapping and murder charges.
One of them, Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington, a marine, appeared in court Tuesday and asked to be released from the brig while he awaits trial. The judge did not indicate when he would rule on that motion.

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