Bush Supporters Beware - Angry Veterans Will Confront You!

[JFN1]

Okay, I've got to tell you what happened. I'm still pumped up on adrenaline, and I'm not exactly writing this at my best, so please excuse my sloppiness, and I may not have all of the language that was used, but I'll try to be as accurate as I can. And this all happened fast - a minute or two at the most.

So I'm at the grocery store with my wife a bit ago, we're putting the groceries in the car, making small talk about the ridiculous heat and humidity. There's a guy, maybe in his mid-fifties, in the slot next to us with an elderly lady sitting in the front seat, while he was putting groceries into their/his van. I'm going to call this guy 'grocery guy' so we can keep the players straight.

A truck pulls up next to grocery guy's van, into the disabled parking spot. A man gets out of the truck, a blue Chevy S-10, and starts to walk toward the store (after this was all over, I noticed his left leg was dragging the pavement when he walked away, like he couldn't pick it all the way up from the ground). So grocery guy, I guess to the old lady in the front seat, says, not loud, but enough volume to easily carry in the high humidity, "Humph! He doesn't look disabled to me."

The guy who had parked in the disabled spot and walked toward the store, without bothering anyone, stopped in his tracks. He turned slowly, then walked toward grocery guy.

"Excuse me?" said the disabled guy. "Did you say something to me?"

The man pretended he didn't hear him, kept unloading groceries, fussing with bags, making himself appear to be busy. And I know he heard the guy, because my wife and I both heard him, and we were another car over.

Finally grocery guy turns toward the man and says, "I don't know why you're in that spot - you don't look disabled, and I couldn't find a spot for my mother today because people like you who take spots they don't need." Grocery guy puffs his chest out when he finishes his little speech - I thought he was trying to look tough or something.

The disabled guy's face turns instantly angry, and he speaks loudly - not shouting, mind you, but authoritatively. "And what does a disabled person look like, sir?"

Grocery guy didn't answer right away, so the disabled guy kept going.

"I just got back from Iraq about two months ago, and I'm still in physical therapy." He pulled his shirt up and exposed a series of red and pink marks and pits (scars? burns?) running across his stomach, up toward his chest, and around his back. "Do I look disabled enough to you now?"

Grocery guy looks sheepish for a moment, as my wife and I stared at this young man, stunned.

The veteran pulled his shirt back down, and steps closer to grocery guy. You can feel something building in the air, and my wife and I stood there, waiting for it, not sure what to do.

The veteran points at grocery guy's van. "I see you support the President." My wife and I looked where the veteran was pointing and saw the 'W04' sticker on the back glass of grocery guy's van. "So I have you to thank for these." He gestured to his upper body, his voice beginning to rise a bit more. "And now you want to give me a hard time for going to get some milk?"

Grocery guy is scared now. He grabs his cell phone and unexpectedly screams - I mean screams - at the veteran, "I'm calling the cops!"

The veteran responded, rather calmly, "Go ahead - call them."

"I will - and I'm going to tell them you're threatening me!" Grocery guy flips his phone open and starts pressing buttons.

At this point, I lose it myself. I hobble around the back of grocery guy's van, shaking and instantly outraged, and say, "That's a good idea, sir. Call the cops. I've been here the whole time, and if anyone is acting threatening, it is YOU! So call them - or I will, if you won't."

I looked over at the veteran and told him, "I'm a veteran too, and I'll not let this Bushie tell any lies about you - I've got your back."

Seeing he was not going to be able to bully his way out of it, grocery guy put his phone on his clip, slammed the van doors closed, got into the driver's seat, and pulled away.

The veteran looked at me, gave me a nod, turned, and limped into the store, holding his head high.

My wife and I thanked him for his service as he walked away. We both wanted to speak with him, I don't know, to comfort him somehow, but we could both tell it would not be welcome, so we let him go on his way. This young man is in such pain, it is utterly heartbreaking.

I am really proud of this young man, this veteran, this kid - disabled in the line of duty. I'll tell you, he handled it much better than I would of, in his shoes. I'm disabled, too, and I don't take one ounce of shit about it from anyone - no one should have to.

And I'll tell you one more thing - if this is any indication of how our soldiers feel once they've come home from Bush's war, Bush supporters may just get more than an earful about their support for President Psycho...