Rant; SUPPORT THE TROOPS

[nadinbrzezinski]

(Note did post this originally in GD, but there are nugets in here of what is going on... and how the propaganda has been cataupulted... politically significant)

So I went to a very local and overall VERY GOOD speculative fiction convention... and since I WRITE military Sci Fi and the program PROMISED research methods and theory and practice of the craft silly me I expected the panelists to know what they were talking about... Ok will avoid mentioning names or actual series, but a horror writer, who writes in the teen market, an alternative history (he was the cloest actually) writer and a Horror modern writer, do not experts make.

So I was fuming over that but was seating at the front and not like I could stand up and leave... here is what got my blood boiling... (apart of the fact they had no clue about the field, logistics, laws of warfare which became quite obvious, or for that matter any clue about actual war)

No you don't need to serve to do a good job writing this.. but it helps, and if yuo don't, go ASK... people will talk... what got me going was when one of them said that we were tying the hands of our military by actually having some Rules and Regulations regarding torture. Lets just say in the talk back section I laid into this clown hard... the vets in the audience said that I became that DI I once was when I trained my Red Cross Cadets... they just said we saw a DI... trust me that is a persona I keep hidden, it is not a nice persona (and yes as a MEXICAN Red Cross volunteer, I was technically part of the army for seven years, so yes they learned close order drill...)

So any way when I was done... this guy was shaken... and the vets (and one active duty member) were on their feet aplauding... for I said in ways that as one former squid put it, things they all wanted to say... oh and kept my imitation of a marine (yes I can swear like one) barely under control, some of it did come out.

Of course what truly set me off on this road I have not visited in over ten years (That Hyde side of my persona) was when he said, "like you've served!" Oh boy I have not felt that much rage. But what was so disconcerting was, (for him) at the end, when all my fury was spent... the vets told his guy, what she said, and one vet who retired showed this clown his ID as a retiree... we also told him to go get a fucknig clue and go enlist.

No we were not nice!

The organizers apologized and promised to either not have this forum next year, or get people who are actually qualified, and the active guy, we went for coffee, there is no way I could drive at that moment... he said what really had me and is still making me choke up... that is what support the troops actually means... standing up and saying what needs to be said, at the risk of social ridicule. he was also a JAG officer, and added... I thought only brainiacs like me cared for that shit any longer, refreshing to see that on the outside! So I told him what I did, and one of the many hats, he got it... but he was happy somebody was willing to go to bat on this issue with those who have been programed by FOX et al to think there is nothing wrong with Abu Graib.

Oh and none of us intends to buy the fiction, if you get my drift... we were pissed...