Woody,

Toda rabbah & danke zehr -- couldn't have said it better myself !!!

Candi

Fight the power, Candi.

Or in this case, fight the armchair warriors like this idiot with nothing better to do with their lives than take their unhappiness and shortcomings and focus it into pure hatred towards others.

Bill,

You know the great thing about this country is that essentially the citizens are in control. The armed forces are basically an extension of the people.

With that being said, this thread is NOT about your delusions or you being able to force your delusions on other people. As you sit back and take offense to what I've said and possibly prepare to rebutt it, I and my fellow comrades-in-arms will keep protecting your right to do just that.

Have a nice day and please do us ALL a huge favor and stick to the topic in the thread.

Ed-

I can relate to the position you are in with your boy being overseas in hostile territory; my brother served with that unit for four years. He was in Afghanistan for several months and Korea for 18 months. Thank you for posting the pics. Our prayers go out to you and everyone for the safe return of their loved ones.

Thank you, Ed, for a thread that is, as Woody said, a sobering one, deserving respect and admiration .......... and thank you, Woody, Cat, and Candi for making a reply that I was agonizing over. I just could not summon the right words to speak against that kind of hate.

Mr. Wanke,

It's difficult for a bigot to disguise themself. You're not even trying.

DFrost

I am not sure where the people like Mr Wanke come from. The fact is people like Mr Wanke should make us all as nervous as any Muslim extremists.

Mr Wanke is a bigot and an anti-Semitic. He somehow blames the problems in the Middle East on Israel rather than Osama Bin Ladin and his terrorist network.

Needless to say Mr Wanke will never post on my board again. He has been blocked.

Mr Wanke has also bought products from my company in the past. That also will never happen again. I don't sell to known bigots, just like I don’t sell to a number of countries around the world (including Saudi Arabia) because of their position on Muslim extremists.

I don’t need to profit from a bigots or people who support Muslim extremists.

With that said – members of my sons unit are Jewish. I spent 9 days at Ft Bragg when Jeff came back from Iraq. I took his team to dinner, I got drunk with them, I celebrated a safe return from war with them. I was the father of a team mate and they accepted me as an equal. I could never find a better group of young men to send my son back to war with.

When they go into the mountains of Afghanistan for a year this coming February they will not be fighting for the Jews in Israel, or the Jews in the states. In truth they will not even be fighting for America. When the fire fight starts they will be fighting for the man on their left and the man on their right, they will be fighting for their team, for their squad, for their platoon and for their company. But with that all said to a man they all enlisted because of 9-11.

Jeff’s battalion of 700 paratroopers will replace a battalion of 10Th mountain Division on the Pakistan border, 30 soldiers from the battalion they are relieving came home in caskets. A company commander was killed last week.

Mr Wanke views would embarrass my son and the men he will go back to war with. They embarrass me because I gave Mr Wanke a platform to voice his racist views and for that I apologize.

Thanks Woody, I could never had been so restrained in the face of those tirades.

Bill, I hope you posted that mess as a joke, because if you were serious, you are very sick. Get help fast.

 Quote: Ed Frawley

When they go into the mountains of Afghanistan for a year this coming February they will not be fighting for the Jews in Israel, or the Jews in the states. In truth they will not even be fighting for America. When the fire fight starts they will be fighting for the man on their left and the man on their right, they will be fighting for their team, for their squad, for their platoon and for their company.

Incredibly well written and expressed, Ed. Much support to you, your son and all of those risking their lives for each other and for us.