A Platoon Sergeant’s touch; by request

Well, I was just sitting here doing the people’s business this morning when I get an email from my buddy COBDanny at Crotchety Old Bastard who writes me that out in Berkeley Californ-eye-ay, there was a protest. Of course, I’d linked to Gateway Pundit’s story yesterday about it. But Danny pointed me to Blackfive who pointed me to Neptunus Lex where I found the SFGate story on the protest;

“None of us is pro-war! I’m pro-defense,” Kevin Graves, 50, of Discovery Bay shouted at one protester. Graves, whose son Army Spc. Joseph Graves was killed in Baghdad in July 2006, continued, “My son died so you and I can stand here and disagree.”

In an interview, Graves said, “I think they’re misguided,” referring to Code Pink.

But David Santos, 15, of Oakland, said the conservative element was on the wrong side of the issue.

“They represent the social base that’s giving rise to this imperialistic war. Their so-called patriotic attitude,” he said, “just shows their blatant disregard for humanity and what the flag stands for. The very fact that they’re holding it up is enough for us to be out here.”

David Santos, 15, of Oakland doesn’t even shave, yet he’s got the world all figured out already – moreso than a father who has sacrificed his son for the country’s security. I wonder where David Santos’ father is – David Santos probably wonders the same thing.

But the part COB emailed me about is coming up;

Graves yelled at another protester, Pablo Paredes, 26, of Oakland and mocked him for his long hair. “Are you a soldier? They wouldn’t let you looking like that,” he said.

Paredes said later that he had served five years in the Navy and that people of color like himself bore the brunt of military service.

“I think the color of my skin shouldn’t make me be on the front line,” Paredes said, adding that he left the Navy because he refused orders and opposed the war in Iraq.

Say huh? Well, it turns out that Pablo Paredes has a Wikipedia page (I can only assume that Pablo was the only fellow interested enough in himself to write it, so I’m going to use it as a reference) and after reading it, I think I know Pablo pretty well;

Paredes tried unsuccessfully to switch to the military police in order to avoid involvement in the war. Paredes then applied for discharge as a conscientious objector on January 4, 2005 but was denied by the Navy in July of that year.

After deserting and missing movement, he returned to the Navy on December 18, 2004. The same day he made a statement to local press saying that he was fully aware of the possible repercussions of his decision.

According to this, he deserted and missed movement and then returned to the Navy December 18, 2004. Then he filed for conscientious objector status January 4, 2005. So, actually, he went through the process backwards – by the time he filed for CO, he was already a criminal who’d broken laws and CO was his way out of the charges – the Navy refused him CO after he’d tried to use it as an excuse to get out of being punished. In fact, the civilian courts have refused two appeals, according to the Wikipedia entry.

So like Adam Kokesh who turned against the war when the Marines busted him for smuggling a pistol back from iraq on his first tour, Paredes turned against the war when his own derelict behavior caught up to him. So what’s the first thing he drags out?

“I think the color of my skin shouldn’t make me be on the front line,” Paredes said…

A whole boat full of people went off to war – a crew – but unless that boat was full of strictly brown people, Paredes doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Neptune Lex probably said it well enough;

After having enjoyed peacetime service in Japan you deliberately missed ship’s movement and shirked your duty to avoid a very minimal risk in sailing to the Arabian Gulf. You don’t get to claim front line service when you bailed on your shipmates and forced someone else to cover your watch, to take your spot on the line.

Paredes is accustomed to misleading people. Take this Democracy Now statement that’s repeated around the internet in several other websites;

Paredes was convicted in a court-martial on Wednesday. However a judge decided Thursday not to sentence him to jail – instead he will face three months of hard labor.

Um, how is a three months sentence at hard labor in court martial procedings not jail time? If it was an Article 15 (or Captain’s Mast, I think the Navy calls it) there probably wouldn’t be jail time involved, but not in a court martial conviction. What a bunch of tools.

Paredes, keep your mouth shut – you don’t even know why you were convicted let alone how. You let empty-head spazzes like Paul Rockwell give you legal advice – and then on top of it all, you blame the fact that you’re brown as a reason to get out of going to war. (wasn’t that a line from the South Park Movie – Operation Human Shield). I’m pretty sure you were going to be a long way from any shooting – you’re one of those weinies who can’t stand being at sea, or out in the field on weekends – that’s what really scared you – no off time to play with the girls (or boys…or whatever).

After years of shore duty in Japan, you couldn’t stand the thought of actually doing your job – that’s why you missed movement. If it had been your conscience, you’d have applied for CO right after we went to war. The anti-war movement accepted you because there’s no one there who ever had to accomplish anything, no one whoever counted on them to do their job, or shoulder their own load – so you fit right in with them. And the chicks probably have hairier legs than yours, too.

You can’t fool the real troops, paredes – that’s why I nominate you to join the ranks of Phony Soldiers.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Phony soldiers, Politics, Terror War