A show of (good) Character. (For a change)

| August 17, 2012

Well since my last post was about someone who seems to be lacking character, I thought that it would be good to counter that when someone who has good character.

The photo that I will not post here, was the one where Mrs Kaplan was very much expecting and had a written message of “welcome home daddy” on her belly. Because a good portion of the population does not know/understand mid-tour leave that people were making claims that how can she be 8-9 months pregnant on a 12 month deployment. Instead of him hiding that he made a mistake he owned up to his error and and reached out to apologize for it. I am grateful for his actions.

It is is sad when a person who portrayed a fictional field grade (Or what every you Navy guys call them) officer has more class and character then a real one.

Category: Society, Support the troops

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AW1 Tim

Concur. There are Junior Officers, Officers, and Flag Officers. FO’s are the O-7 and above. JO’s the O-1 to O-3.

Took awhile to get used too, but I fingered it out eventually. 🙂

Jonn Lilyea

The whole story in case anyone missed it.

Angie

God bless you both. Thank you for your service. Also thank you for standing by your wife

streetsweeper

Kudos, Kendra Kaplan. Very well done! Now the commentors can kiss your butt.

Anonymous

This is an old story that Snopes debunked in 2010. I’m not sure how this one still has legs. See here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/welcomehome.asp

Eric

@5: Regardless of how long ago it was, George Takei had posted it on his page and then realized the truth of it and decided to apologize, own up to it, etc. That’s the important thing in this one and good for him.

It is great that he would step up like this. If there was more of this in the US, well, TAH would have a lot of slow news days I guess…

Devtun

@1

Junior officer – 0-1 to 0-4
Senior Officer – 0-5 to 0-6
Flag officer — 0-7 to 0-10

* 0-4/LCDR are considered JOs, and don’t have “scrambled eggs” on visor of their cover like 0-4/Majors in Army, Marines, & AF. Also Majors, unlike LCDRs are afforded field grade accomodations when assigned quarters.

Chuck W

Being in both Navy and Army, I think it is Line Officer is the equivalent.

Chuck W

Oops. Strike out it is. Never could type well.

Just Plain Jason

George Takei seems to be a pretty stand up guy. He is that gay uncle that everyone should have. I like him and he usually does a good thing.

Joe Williams

What the ? Mid tour leave, Hondo , Yat does the Corps do this?

Hondo

Couldn’t tell ya, Joe – I was Army, not USMC. But as I recall, USMC tours in-theater today are 6 to 9 months vice 1 year long (that’s the standard Army tour in-theater), so I’d guess not.

Rerun0369

The Corps only grants mid tour leave to Individual Augmentees that are in theater for 12 months or more. Our average deployments are 7 months, so no we do not normally get mid-tour leave.

Hondo

Thanks, Rerun0369. Thought that was the policy, but wasn’t sure. Always good to get confirmation.

Joe Williams

Thank you Rerun,The RVN tour was 13 months and only emerency leave during your tour. Joe

GoV

My wife is friends with this lady, and she has literally been through hell since that picture was posted on the news networks. One thing a lot of people do not know, is that the envelope she holds in he hand in the picture, has the sex of the baby and she was going to surprise her husband upon his return.

Kendra Kaplan

I am the women in the photo and my family truly does hate the fact so many people talk negative about such a great thing! He was deployed a total of 12 months with 14 day leave in March of 09. He returned in Aug of 09 and I was 5 months pregnant Tomas was born dec 2nd 09 . All of the math adds up!! Thanks to those who support and tell the true story!!

Frankly Opinionated

Kendra, while the dopes out here in cyberspace can say some incredibly stupid things; take it from this ol’Dude: “Consider the source, and don’t let it get to you.”
They do not count in the grand scheme of things.
Not one whit.