Caught in the madness

A couple of stories came out of the madness in Baltimore this week; Bubblehead Ray sends us a link to the story of Midshipmen from the Naval Academy who were in Baltimore for a ball game. Protests broke near the Subway sandwich shop where they were eating on Saturday. When a chair smashed through the window, the ten middies took quick action and moved all of the patrons to the back of the business and stood between the protesters and the patrons;

These midshipmen directed families to the back of the Subway. Then they lined up, in front of families, as protesters passed outside, some throwing rocks. Women and children gathered farthest from the windows, except for [Midshipman Madisen Grinnell, 18, of Sacramento, Calif.], the only female there from the Naval Academy.

“You’re in the military and a midshipmen — you should be in the front,” she insisted.

Kadlubowski, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was uninjured when glass fell around him. He escorted the store manager to the door.

“I made sure he could lock the door without problem,” Kadlubowski said.

About 20 civilians sheltered, in the back of the Subway, while protesters passed. Some protesters waved their middle fingers, said Midshipman Erik Sabelstrom, 19, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Luckily the protest them by and the Middies were able to successfully extricate themselves unscathed. But, given their actions that day, I’d guess they know what is their place in society.

Now it is time for a cautionary tale.

I saw this photo on Facebook the other day and people were pounding their keyboards in anger about how he was participating in the protests in uniform and should be court martialed.

I didn’t see anything that indicated that he was protesting along with the crowd, so I asked a few questions that no one could answer and passed this non-story up.

According to USAToday, I made the right choice in this case;

Col. Charles Kohler, a spokesman for the Maryland Guard, confirmed to Army Times that the soldier works at Cade Armory, which is very close to where the protests were taking place this week.

“Every indication is that he is a solid soldier. He knows, and so does his chain of command, it was a case of bad timing,” he said. “He was walking home from work and saw the demonstration and stopped as they walked by, and then someone took his picture.”

I know we’re all looking for reasons to be outraged, but we need to be careful that we don’t make assumptions and ruin the lives of innocent folks.

Category: National Guard, Navy