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AmericanProtest.net > Hurray for the Troops! |
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Hurray for the Troops!by Wayne Boettcher Dark clouds filled the sky as I raced toward the Military Recruiting Center at 2302 E. Speedway in Tucson, Arizona on Wednesday, March 1rst. In our drought stricken land, rain filled clouds are a joyous sign. Yet, the precipitation was sparse that day. Still, it was with happiness in my heart that I took my station on the corner. At 8:10 am, I was the first one there. Soon others joined me. A grizzled Vietnam Veteran Marine newcomer named Joe had arrived almost the same time as I. "General" Pat showed up and began taking out her huge array of extra signs. She had recently attended the "Restoration Weekend" in Phoenix and was full of information about what an easy time the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay had, and had copies of the movie "Weapon of Mass Destruction." She had also met radio talk show host Tammy Bruce and had an interview on her national radio show the night before about the Wednesday troop rallies. I had called in to Charles Heller's Swap Shop radio show myself to advertise the midweek event. Charles, an avid patriot with three radio programs every week, recalled how Antoinette Lucero had vowed to join the Marines in honor of her brother, Josh. (Marine Lance Corporal Josh Lucero died in Iraq while saving two buddies from a grenade.) I was able to relate the news that Antoinette is now a Marine, having just graduated last weekend. The Lucero family is a fixture at many pro troop rallies and functions because (according to family head Michael Lucero) if Josh were alive that's where he'd be. As the rally progressed that day, it was obvious that the side of good would prevail in numbers. We had at least twenty to their approximate ten protesters. However, the moonbats had a new sign similar to the "Mother of All Banners" (MOAB) from the Washington DC Walter Reed Pro Troop rallies. It is a giant home-made banner proclaiming "Bring The Troops Home Now." Did they want the troops to come home quickly so they could display flag draped coffins at them? They didn't have those this time, but neither was there any sign proclaiming "Sorry we put those flag draped coffins out before." To effectively respond to this DCOAB (Demented Cousin of All Banners) I walked a bit past them to hold up my large "counter-sign" which proclaims "Say No to Communism" on one side and "Don't Believe Left Wing Propaganda and Lies" on the other. Now it would be the last sign cars would see coming from the direction the giant banner was pointed. I reversed the sign at random and spent the rest of my time there. I played the first part of a George Bush speech on my megaphone using my MP3 player for awhile but it turned out the building I was in front of is a small liberal college, and it was freaking them out. So I tried singing "unplugged" for a while, belting forth military theme songs and "God Bless America." I was able to hand out quite a few copies of "The Changed Baathist: Interview with Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti" from WorldThreats.com and good ol' "The Killing Machine that is Marxism" by Professor R.J. Rummel. This reminded me: the previous Saturday featured the 24th annual Peace Festival in the afternoon at Reid Park. But I didn't notice it till Saturday morning! Ringing up Protest Warrior leader Dennis, I discovered he was at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base entrance supporting the troops. Though already exhausted from pro-troop whooping, he, Jen and all around good guy Larry would meet me at the park exit at 4:00 pm to picket the exiting activists. But we wondered if such dedicated moonbats would cause trouble? It was decided I should notify the local police we would be there. The call was comical, to say the least, as the police operator at the non-emergency line seemed to have no idea of what I was talking about. "Your group is 'Pro-Americans?' Does that mean the others are Anti-Americans?" "Yes," I replied. "If you read or listen to the statements they make most people agree that they are. Some of them openly admit it." "I just don't understand how being for peace is anti-American," she pontificated. I tried to explain that Communist activists were not necessarily for peace even if they said they were, but the conversation was rapidly degrading. "They have a right to free speech!" she fairly shouted. "And we have a right to free speech, too," I quietly countered. "We're just going to peacefully protest at the park exit." Finally she cut me off quickly saying she would let someone know and I called Protest Warrior leader Dennis to let him know what happened, joking that we might be surrounded by the local SWAT team. As a matter of fact, we didn't see any police except one car briefly in the distance, and the moonbats caused little trouble as we stood at the exit with pro-troop and anti-Communist signs. One lady with four children in the car loudly insisted I travel immediately to a place which is not heaven, but just the opposite. Another fanatical peace lover with at least 20 bumper stickers on his large SUV shouted incoherently and refused all information. However, quite a few took copies of the two articles I mentioned previously, including a polite young man with anti-Bush T-shirt who said he respected us for standing by our beliefs. One fellow with wife and son walked over to the grassy knoll near us and I offered him the General's interview. He was laughing but it was too loud and sounded forced, as if he was trying to make a point. Then I noticed his shirt had a logo. "I see you're from the University so I know you'll also want a copy of this article on Marxism!" I proclaimed as I handed it to him. As he looked at the title he guffawed in an even louder and more fraudulent tone. It was a little weird so I backed away slowly and went back to the exit. Protest Warrior Jen, who had traveled all the way from Sierra Vista, was a military intelligence Iraqi veteran who spoke Farsi and some Arabic. "Have you been there?!" she demanded of detractors. "I have!" It didn't seem like there were as many moonbats as we had thought and after Dennis and Jen went to the band shell it was determined that probably it was because not very many had showed up, perhaps only a few hundred or less. We left at 6:00 pm. After the Wednesday rally Michael Lucero invited me to lunch with new Marine Antoinette, who as active military could not be at the rally. We were having some great Mexican food when we noticed a military person about to come through the glass doors. We were sitting, in fact, right by the doors. "Let's applaud him as he comes in," I proposed. So we did with great gusto, thanking him for his service. We did the same for several other entering groups of Air Force personnel, and Pat ran over to buy lunch for one man who later came over to talk with us for a while. The Iraqi war is no easy action, but it's worth it to bring freedom to the Iraqi people and fight terrorism. We can all find some way to support the troops as we all stand up for the military - and America! Wayne Boettcher is the head of AmericanProtest.net Related Links: |
