fuck the secret service. bring in the marines.

[yesiwasacop]

44. If you have ever been in the military or a cop

you would know you do not get to pick your co-workers. In fact, I have never worked anywhere (including private sector where I am now) where I was able to do that. Ever. Well I guess I could quit.

When police officers are hired, they are generally in their early 20s and pretty much dont care about politics. That being said, political conversations rarely happen until they get much older- early to mid 30s or more. By that time, one has pretty much developed their political belief system and are generally not afraid to talk about it- even if others will mock them.

This is the time when discussions in briefings get political or your lunch with a couple other cops gets political. Sometimes you are surprised at some people's views and other times you are not. One of these lunch discussions was where a female officer friend of mine told me and another guy she was a lesbian. This was about 15 yrs ago, where gays/lesbians didn't advertise that kind of thing. She asked us how we thought it would go over with others and we both came to the conclusion that no one would care. Fast fwd to the present, our department has dozens who march in the annual pride parade in uniform. Not all are LGBT, some are just supporting their friend's rights.

Anyhow- lots of things get discussed and you learn a lot about other people. The other thing you learn is that despite all of us having a wide variety of opinions we could all agree that we can still be friends even if we disagree with each other. Imagine hearing your friend tell you that next time you need help and call for it on the radio, that he is gonna stop for coffee and let you get beat to death because he doesn't like your views???

Slow-rolling to back up another cop(taking your time) is something we don't do. There are a couple cops who I very strongly disagreed with how they handle business (they were not doing anything illegal, just being assholes) and I told them so, but we always responded to each other when we needed help. We definitely cannot rely on 95% of the public to help other than to record it and eat popcorn so all we have is each other- even if we disagree politically. I had one a couple years ago after a heated argument over 4th Amendment tell me-" hey I think your opinion on this is totally fucked up, but I'll still back you even if you are a dick... "

Once you have developed that kind of reliance, loyalty and dependancy on each other when fighting crime it is real hard to just one day after knowing someone for ten years who says something bad about Obama or that he/she is against abortion (or name it) to all of a sudden say - go fuck yourself and go die in a fire. You still have to work with them and your life depends on them at times. This isnt an episode of "The Office."

Being a cop is like being in a family. Funny how we get upset here on this forum when a family disowns a kid because he comes out of the closet, but if a cop doesn't disown (or not socialize with) a loyal partner who will risk his life for him somehow the cop is bad or doesnt pass a purity test of sorts.

I'm not talking about being loyal despite some other cop committing crimes, murder, rape, robbery etc, I'm just talking political differences.

Now that I am retired, it is still fun to connect and catch-up with others. There is a FB page where if you want to stay connected with anyone from the PD, it is easiest to do it there. Yea I'm friends with a few people who dont agree with me politically, but we are friends because we have worked with each other for years and saved each other's lives a few times. We have gays, lesbians, blacks, mexicans, whites, mormons, catholics, atheists, asians, abortion supporters, pro-lifers etc on our site. We all get along-dont agree many times, but we can get along with each other. If I am a bad person because I still communicate with some of them, well I guess I am a bad person. Thats fine, I have spent 20 years getting an earful of you "you guys" are all the same comments.

Too bad our gov't on both sides of the aisle cannot get along like this. We have our disagreements, but in the end we respect each other for what we believe and will protect each others lives.

Ok- moving on to the socialist military healthcare comment.

If you do not retire from a 20 year active duty career, you are not eligible for tricare (Socialist) insurance. Vast majority of the guys I worked with did 2,3,4 years in active duty and then out. They dont get the "Socialist" insurance . I think two of them did a whole 20 yrs. I guess those two have their socialist healthcare.

I did 20 yrs+ mostly in reserves. I am eligible for Tricare reserve insurance at the rate of $965 a month. I passed on that.

Heres that plan_ http://www.tricare.mil/Costs/HealthPlanCosts/TRR.aspx

I use my current employers insurance which costs me abut $525 per month...plus co-pays etc.