Dear Governor Palin...Sincerely, A Veteran

Dear Governor Palin,

Yesterday I read with increasing gall your reproach to fans whom you mistook for protesters at a recent rally in Virginia.  You took the opportunity to, yet again, pull your "I support U.S. troops/veterans" card, saying:

"I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest."

Well, I am here - a veteran myself - to tell you that it is getting old.  I am tired of being a tool for politicians to cull more votes.  I am tired of people pretending the U.S. military is something it is not.  I am tired or people with a microphone insinuating that the military has provided for our right to protest what they have to say...as a means of one-upping the protesters.

I was an officer in the U.S. Air Force for four years, during which time I served in two war zones (one of which was a combat zone).  As such, I feel the need to point out an important misconception that you, and many others, seem to hold regarding the military's role as it relates to American's right to protest.  Let us begin by reviewing the oath of office, which all military officers take upon commissioning (there is also an oath of office for enlisted personnel, but here I focus on my own experience).  The oath states that we swear to "...support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." not to support the president, the country, or even the government itself...but the document which, ostensibly, makes our nation what it is.

In the Constitution we are guaranteed many rights, but since you brought it up I will focus on the First Amendment, ratified in 1791, which states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

So, here we're offered "free speech" as well as the right to gather in a peaceful manner.  If those rights are curtailed we are guaranteed the opportunity to bring our complaint up with the government.  I am neither a U.S. History nor a Military History scholar, so I can't speak to the events leading up to the creation of this Amendment.  I can, however, offer some observations about my experience in the military, vis-a-vis protesters.

I was never called on to ensure that a group of protesters were guaranteed their right to gather.  I never had to do anything to protect someone's free speech, nor any other right guaranteed by the First Amendment.  My own rights were (voluntarily) curtailed during my tenure in the service, but that was more-or-less understood before signing up.  My service, from 2000 to 2004, had very little to do with what my oath entailed, and everything to do with spreading America's interest/involvement into other parts of the world and calling it a "War on Terror".

The military as I knew it was (and, in my opinion, continues to be) an offensive force, rather than a force supporting and defending the U.S. Constitution.  Our Constitutional rights were not in danger when President Bush made the call to invade Iraq in 2002.  That decision, many would argue, was instead made many years earlier.  Sadly, it seems that many of our Constitutional rights seem to have been put in danger more from the current administration than from any outside source...and yet so far the military has not been called to change that trend.  When I took my oath I (perhaps naively) believed that my vow to offer my life in protection of my country would be handled with the utmost care.  I trusted my government to put my skills and force to use only in dire situations.  I believed in the Constitution and in the oath of office.  I thought that my years in the service would uphold that oath, rather than being redirected toward the machinations of "spreading democracy".

Let me be very clear:  my service did not ensure anyone's right to protest.  Those fans/protesters do not have the right to protest because people like me had or have the "courage and honor" to serve in the military.  They have that right because leaders of a bygone era had the foresight to create a Bill of Rights particularly to cover things that were not laid out in the Constitution.  We all have the right to protest not because military members have guaranteed it, but because the Constitution does.  Theoretically, military members guarantee the protection of the Constitution, but so far that is not a task to which our military has been assigned.

Please, Madam Governor, I implore you:

• If you truly support America's troops, find a way to bring them home safely and stop putting them in danger just to spread American influence (nobody likes a bully, any school kid could tell you that).
• If you truly support America's veterans, improve funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs (among other organizations) and improve the opportunities for care to those of us who need it.
• Last but not least, stop using the troops/veterans card to entice people to vote for you, it's a cheap tactic that insults the intelligence of American voters.

Sincerely,

Kelly Pretlow

Yogini, Veteran

Comments

[molly]

Sing it sister! Thoughtfully and intelligently said. Thank you for saying it.

[TEd Granger]

Well said Kelly! And it echoes my views from the previous fiasco, forty-plus years ago. I'm sad that not much has changed. They're still getting us killed on false pretenses.
TG