Guardmen rescue flag from Ferguson protesters
Stars & Stripes recounts the story from two weeks ago when Missouri National Guardsmen Major Lance Dell and Sergeant First Class Eric Allison rescued a burning American flag from protesters in Ferguson;
“They treated the flag like it was trash,” Allison said. “It’s not trash to us.”
[…]
Dell, 46, and Allison, 43, are full-time National Guard members, assigned to the 205th Military Police Battalion in Poplar Bluff.
Both men spent 13 months in Afghanistan around 2010, and Allison also spent 18 months in Iraq in 2004-05. They’ve served together long enough that they knew their thoughts were aligned when the flag was burned. They looked at each other and acted.
Said Allison, “My dad used to tell me that you can’t even count the people who gave their lives so we can fly that flag. We love the flag, or at least what it stands for.”
Dell noted that he and his men are well aware of the court rulings concerning flag burning.
“We know that it’s a constitutional right to burn the flag,” Dell said.
“But I knew we couldn’t leave it just lying in the road.”
The article continues that two weeks later the flag is still in the possession of the two Guardsmen and they promise that it will be treated in accordance with the Code.
Category: Real Soldiers
Next time someone should “accidentally” light the protesters on fire.
I hate protesters so that’s “Free Speech”, Right?
Yeah, “accidentally.” That would be tragic.
Omfg.
My sides, Bro!
Oh contraire’ Chip. We’ve had at least four examples of “protesters” burning themselves…
Is it ironic that flag burners will hide behind the flag as soon as they are arrested or questioned about it?
Certainly agree with these two Guardsmen and applaud their recovery of the flag.
That said, my issue is with towns and cities which allow the burning of anything in crowds because it’s a safety issue. For public safety, it really doesn’t matter if what is burning is newsprint, trash, a stack of foam cups, or something else entirely – it just should not happen. A regulation to stop it is easy to include in code.
They should just amend 4 U.S.C. § 1 to read: “All US Flags made after this date, regardless of size, shall only be made from fire retardant materials in accordance with NFPA 701 standards.”
Problem solved. They can still try to burn it, which satisfies their free speech entitlement. It would make some awesome news video… stank ass hippies trying to get a flag to light on fire and failing. Natl. Guard guys pointing and laughing at them.
I think that in this case we can assert that the Guardsmen were exercising their rights under the First Amendment as well.
You see, the First Amendment protects the right of free speech in BOTH directions. You may express your opinion. But I have the right to REBUTTAL. Too often protestors forget that part. So, if a protestor is burning a flag in front of me, and I stop them by, say, dousing the area with ice cold water that happens to get them wet, I believe that I have exercised a rhetorical device in response to their “argument”.
Or when someone tosses a bottle of accelerator to help the flag burn and accidentally get half of it on the flag burner…
I wuz only tryin’ to hep the dude !!!
To quote Johnny Cash:
“we appreciate the freedoms we have here…including the freedom to burn the flag. (Boos)Hush now….you have the right to burn the flag, but we also have freedom to have guns, and if you burn my flag I will shoot you – with love in my heart, like a good American.”
from his intro to “Ragged Old Flag”, perhaps the best flag song ever written.
Amen.
Nicely done Major Lance Dell and Sergeant First Class Eric Allison, it’s an honor to live in a nation with good men like this.
I maintain that if you have the right to burn the Flag, then I have the right to bitch-slap you (open-hand, no fist, no foul) and call you a cocksucking piece of shit for it. Actions have consequences, after all.
First, “Well Done!” to Major Dell and SFC Allison. Very Well Done, indeed.
Second, to the “protesters”. I, personally, reserve to myself the right to hold you in utter contempt, to mock you at every opportunity, to remind you that you are regarded with loathing, and finally, that you are a disgusting pile of excrement.