1 post tagged “rant”

I want to discuss something I read in my local paper today.

A few weeks back we had a “big case” happen.  I consider it big simply because crime of that nature doesn’t typically happen in a small town such as the one I lived in.

A guy decided to hole himself up in his ex girlfriend’s house causing a standoff between him and the local sheriff’s department.  At one point, gunfire was exchanged and one of our officers was hurt in the incident.  Eventually, the guy committed suicide and the officer was put in the hospital.

All in a day’s work I say.

This officer did have surgery done, isn’t back to work yet, and may have to undergo further surgery on his shoulder.  Once he came home, of course he had lots of well-wishes and the sheriff’s department had a large banner outside the building welcoming him home.  I’m all for that.  It’s good when an officer isn’t killed in the line of duty. 

Here’s where I start getting a little miffed.  Today in the paper they highlighted how a group of current and former cops who are in a biker club presented him with gift certificates, cash, a weekend getaway pack, etc.  My question is this – why is there no such camaraderie for our soldiers?

A pat on the back? Sure, they get that

A nice banner welcoming him back home? No problem.

But rewards and gifts? Not a damn thing.

What further miffs me is the fact that we live next to a military base. In fact, if it wasn’t for this base, this town would just be another small, rinky-dink hick town.  Recently, we had a company return home from their tour of duty in . 

Did they get anything? Nope.

Did we line the streets with people waving American flags, handing soldiers homemade hero banners, and screaming at the top of our lungs?  We did when they came home from the Gulf War.

Sure, we have businesses welcoming them home on their marquees.  But no one’s handing them gift certificates and a weekend getaway for two.

Now of course some would say, “Hey! It’s in their job description too to be shot at.” And especially in this town you’d probably hear, “Well, it’s not everyday one of our officer’s take a shot.” 

Here’s my response.  If it wasn’t for the soldiers answering to the call of duty, we wouldn’t live in a civilized nation that allows us to have a police force to protect us.  Yes, I most certainly feel that our soldiers should be getting a hell of a lot better treatment than the professions of others.

This small group of bikers came up from Branson which is a 4 hour ride to help this officer out. We live RIGHT OUTSIDE the military base. A lot of theses soldiers are our neighbors.  I have to wonder how many of us poor plain-clothed folks are offering to cut the grass of our soldier next door?  How many of us are offering to look after their kids for a couple hours or, heaven forbid, overnight so they can spend time with their spouse? How many of us are even THANKING them for answering the call of duty?!

Look how we treated the vets. We scorned them, spat on them, and denied them any assistance or recognition for their work.  We let them come home to suffer debilitating injuries, drug addictions, and post war trauma by themselves.  We treated them with pure, utter contempt.  I think we’ve definitely come a long way from that but all the same.

Our soldiers deserve a whole lot more recognition and honor than they’re getting. And I say, “Shame on you” to this county for publicizing and making a big deal out of gifts to an officer who was doing their job yet allowing our soldiers to STILL come home without proper recognition.