Everything the military is NOT in one sentence
This has me really mad. I’m bolding the most idiotic statement.
On Feb. 29, President Obama and the First Lady will host an East Room dinner for returning Iraq veterans, with representatives of all ranks, all branches, and every state and territory. Attire will be formal: black tie or dress uniform. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, will attend. More than 100 combat veterans of Iraq will be invited, along with a guest for each, many of whom are expected to also be veterans. The guest list will include wounded warriors, caregivers, and Gold Star families, who have lost a loved one as the result of military service. The list is being assembled by the senior enlisted representative for the five service chiefs, and the goal is a mix that is racially diverse, old and young, gay and straight.
The beautiful thing to me about the military was the equality of opportunity and the meritocracy. I really didn’t give two shits if the person next to me was fat, skinny, gay, straight, metrosexual, sartorially deficient, black, white, asian, male, female or other. I just wanted them to shoot straight. And now they are hosting a dinner party as a black tie affair (real working man’s shit right there) where the stated goal is to find “a mix that is racially diverse, old and young, gay and straight.”
Are you kidding me with this shit? Why the fug should a persons sexual orientation, gender or ethnicty be a determinant in a White House invite to celebrate the end of Iraq? Why not just do a damn lottery or something? Holy shit this makes me mad.
As my friend David Bellavia snarked:
Great news!!! President Obama, in lieu of having an Impersonal ticker tape parade, is inviting 200 Iraq war veterans to a black tie dinner at the white house. Surely no generals or high ranking pencil pushers will be there. Just grunts. Bloodied, valorous, selfless grunts.
So my fellow Ramrods, I will be with Ruiz and Sucholas by the chocolate fountain….. You didn’t get invited either? Maybe our invitations are lost with the other 1.1 million who served.
Open the rose garden and fire up the BBQ. Let’s all go and drink to the fallen. Maybe president Romney will hook us up.
Category: Politics
I am now waiting to see an AKO message that reads:
Are you an old, fat, white soldier who just came out of the closet? If so, Uncle Sam needs you for a special mission. Click here for contact information. PS, skinny, Asian lesbians also needed.
I feel so fucking honored. Hey maybe Obama will pull me to the side and tell me “my bad for saying that the war wasn’t worth fighting. I was totally wrong, and you guys did an awesome job”
yeah. any day now.
“Why the fug should a persons sexual orientation, gender or ethnicty be a determinant in a White House invite to celebrate the end of Iraq?”
Because it has nothing to do with honoring veterans, its a glorified photo op.
So, I guess Dan Choi can chain himself to the dinner table while he’s there. Oh, you know he’s getting himself an invite, and he has about twenty sets of Blues all ready to go.
In 2007 while at Basic Training (for the second time) I volunteered for a detail, because no one else would (the whole be the gray man, or be outstanding but don’t stand out concept). I was kicked off the detail because I was “too old and too white”. Turns out the detail was for a dinner with the Post Commander.
When I mentioned it to the EO rep about it, she explained to me that the younger minorities needed to see that the institution supported them and their goals in order to give those kids better self-esteem and sense of purpose.
I think that was the moment I knew this wasn’t the same Army I’d been in before.
I am going to comment as the parent of 2 Soldiers currently active duty.
I come from a family that has served for generations. In fact my oldest son is the second generation to fight in Afghanistan. Military service has always been a source of pride for us.
I would like to say that I LOVE and ADMIRE our men and women who are willing to sacrifice for all of us but I CANNOT WAIT FOR MY BOYS TO OUT!!!!
My oldest wanted to be a lifer, he is infantry and he is so disillusioned by the PC bullsh!t that he has to endure, even in a combat zone, that as of now, he says he is DONE!
When retards rule, then things get retarded. Why spend so much time, effort and money on doing something so retarded. If I was still on active duty and my commander and came to me to ask for me to do this (because I was old and fat white guy) I’d volunteer to go back to Iraq.
Because it has nothing to do with honoring veterans, its a glorified photo op.
Adam_S is hereby awarded one Internets for steel on target.
And I thought the PC bullshit was bad under Clinton.
Actually, considering the folks who occupy the WH, and not meaning just the POTUS and FLOTUS – but the military aides who’ll be on hand to ensure every servicememer is on their best behaviour, and various synchophants and such – this is a high risk mission.
Safer to be in a minefield with an unseen sniper grading your work than in the WH even during a military-friendly regime.
Bellavia thinking he was going to get an invite is kinda funny though. Why should a guy who is a certified badass, a guy who should have been awarded the CMOH, and the writer of the best POV book about the Iraq War get an invite?
Something tells me there’d be a whole lot less grumbling, and a whole lot more happiness and appreciative vets, if they instead took 200 Iraq vets and stuck ’em in a Legion Hall with an open bar, instead in mess dress uniform at the White House, shaking the hand of the man who fucked them all over royally.
notice that the “diverse” assembly does not make a difference between veterans who went outside the FOB or spent most time in the Pentagon.
I mean you can shave the diversity game all you want. Are amputee vets going to represented?
This is a joke. the war is not over….won’t ever be. How do you end a war against an enemy that cares for nothing about borders, or nationalities.
we will be back there. this is a budget reduction move. no more no less.
Don’t forget the Army Service Ribbon is a rainbow, in solidarity with all the Gays. I’m sure someone will point this out to Obama, and I’m sure Choi will wear 20 of the damn things to prove not only is he gay, but also his service was pretty gay as well.
Do you think Sal Gunta and Dakota Myer would be in attendance?
@13, not at all related, but I took a piss in a portojohn next to Dakota the other day. I was impressed he bypassed the VIP crappers and just used the regular one.
ok Doc….I am sending you a bill for a new keyboard. Just spit my coke all over it.
Everyone here has already stated the point succinctly, the event should have been about performance and merit. Send your Soldier/NCO/Jumpmaster of the year, SS awardees, etc.
Though I don’t think any other Administration would have made much of a different choice, minus a particular category.
“The list is being assembled by the senior enlisted representative for the five service chiefs, and the goal is a mix that is racially diverse, old and young, gay and straight”.
STOP THE MADNESS
In my Navy we don’t see colors. But we do recognize Blue, Gray, Gold, White, and Khaki because of our heritage and traditions. We don’t care how old you are, as long as you can do the job. And we certainly do not consider GAY or STRAIGHT as that would be a direct violation of DoD and Navy policy. In my Navy we recongnize the Sailor regardless … based on performance and initiative. PERIOD.
Oh pick me. Please … please … please. This will be fabulicious. I can’t wait to get all dressed up. Oh … oh … please pick me!
It’s fairly obvious what is going on here: another media moment for the president. That mix they indicated is being used because it will make pretty window dressing.
Why doesn’t he just hold this thing at a Benneton store?
TSO–better yet, an Abercrombie and Fitch, that way you KNOW he’ll get teh ghey demographic covered.
No comment yet….trying to keep from stabbing myself in the eye.
I’m watching the demise of western culture.
As a straight white male in my thirties, I can rest easy knowing that I have absolutely no chance of being invited. Recruiting got old quick, but at least it saved me from another cold march down Pennsylvania Avenue in ’09. At least in ’05 I didn’t mind my CinC.
#13,
Officially, the ASR symbolizes all the branches of the Army. We all have our own names for it though, and as a smart ass E-1 on HRAP, I told a JROTC cadet that it was my “DADT Ribbon” for attending mandatory training on gays in the military. A retired LTC instructor was right there and just smiled.
Would it be against the UCMJ to tell the President to get bent? What about just not showing up? That would be pretty cool, wouldn’t it? All those 100 troops standing in solidarity with their comrades and not showing up.
I actually, stupidly, had high hopes that Martin Dempsey had the stones to arrest or slow down the poison that is Barak Hussein Obama. Poor deluded me.
It’s moments like this that make me glad the Marine Corps told me to retire. Even more fitting that my “request” for retirement went up the chain right after the 2008 election.
This crew disgusts me. I’m even more disgusted that none of the Sergeant Majors / MCPOs / CMSgts have the testicular fortitude to say that this is wrong. Friggin’ pansies.
I’ve started checking the block on all forms as “Other” and then filling in “Army American” or “Green.” Maybe that’s diverse enough.
@27 Sig: You just made my day with that “Army American.”
I think you just coined a phrase! 🙂
@15: hey I’m good with the one liners.
did Barry remember that Veterans are one of the smallest minorities in the United States? Yet as minorities go we are the most enviable. We recognize no race, nor creed. I kinda think this whole thing is pretty insulting. 200 out of what 1.5 million?
I’m excited to see who will be the representatives from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
I heard the guys from Hezbollah may not be able to make it due to a scheduling conflict, but they at least suggested someone from the PLA take their place.
[…] why I get really really pissed at the Obama Administration when I see things like this – this posting at the Daily Beast POLITICO via This Ain’t Hell about the guest list of enlisted military members for a dinner party to mark the end of the Iraq war […]
I’d like to see one of the invited ask along as his/her guest former President Bush. One advantage would be for the Secret Service, should make the vetting process go pretty quickly, at least for one attendee. Judging from past experiences with this administration, Bush just might be the only old, white, straight veteran in attendance.
@32…..Right on Bro.
Little late to this topic and since most bases are covered I’ll just say …um stupid.
I thought a part of being an equal was to be just just that and not receive any special attention. I’d be pissed if I was selected for anything just because I was hispanic and not because of anything I had accomplished.
[…] down the heroes February 15th, 2012 Last week, TSO wrote about the politically correct process that the White House is using to honor Iraq War veterans. USA Today […]
Ya know, maybe it’s only 200, and maybe it doesn’t include those who some may feel deserve to be there, but it’s more than the last fool did for any returning vets! You just can’t make everybody happy, but at least Obama is trying and honoring those who served and came home. My brother was a Marine in Viet Nam in early 70s, and when he came home he was spat on in the airport in CA! Today we have many groups (Warriors Watch Riders and Welcome HOme here in eastern PA) who greet returning military with flags, banners, and handshakes at the airport, and usually with a motorcycle & van escort home – many times joined by police and fire trucks! To piss and moan about this dinner tonight, shows a lot of disrespect to a country that is grateful and not afraid to show it. The young vets returning home now don’t realize how good they have it! Typical of a generation that is so self-entitled, I’m surprised we get any to serve at all…
Sylvia, you mean like on September 18, 2007 when President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Condoleeza Rice and others from the Administration had over 1,000 troops and gold and blue star mothers at the White House for a BBQ thing on the White House Lawn? Something like that?
Yeah, I sat at a picnic table with Cheney.
Also, the depth of ignorance on what we Afgan and Iraq vets think about Americans is astounding. In fact, we go to great lengths almost every day to thank the Viet Nam guys, and those who preceded us, for the thanks we were showed when we got home. I am on the Board of Trustees for a group with a 12 million dollar budget that makes sure that all the troops know how grateful america is. So don’t try that condescending nonsense with us, unless you’ve read the gazillion other posts we have done lauding America. We aren’t pissing and moaning about the dinner, we are pissing and moaning about a selection process for it that is dictated by what gender you happen to be in love with, or what the color of your skin is.
Go see the DFW USO, Sylva. Make sure to shake Dubya’s hand while you’re there since he is quite frequently.
Then you can head to the little hermaphrodites’ room and fuck yourself.