Support Our Troops

I've heard that there are some people out there who are opposed to the war in Iraq who have as a slogan, "Support our troops-- bring them home". I'm the last person to find fault with such a nice sentiment. My friends in Iraq would dearly love to come home. And I can agree to disagree with people who insist on being respectful. I think this is a very respectable anti-war slogan. The anti-war movement serves a purpose in America as a check on pro-war advocates, making them think twice about going to war. And the less obnoxious or sloganeering the protests are, the more likely people are to actually listen to them.

However, I have a counter-slogan to "support our troops-- bring them home."

My counter-slogan is "support our troops-- make this country worth coming home to."

I would certainly hate to see my friends come home, only to be spat on by the kind of people who are spitting now on the memory of the late Army Ranger Pat Tillman. If anti-war people make this country not worth coming home to, it will only result in soldiers' coming home to a country that hates them. Why would anyone want to come home under those circumstances? But if we all work together to preserve the America we know and love, to bring to pass an environment where everyone can express their opinions respectfully; to show that even if we disagree with our leaders we will not endlessly play Monday morning quarterback, but will instead just vote in the next election; then our soldiers will really have something worth fighting for, as well as something worth coming home to.

So put on your yellow ribbons, folks, and let those soldiers know that when they come home, they will not be spat upon even by people who opposed their being overseas.