Editor,
Dane Roberts' column in the Dec. 7 issue of the Daily Lobo, which stated that the Bush administration is just "playing the patriot card," is hardly fit for a University-level discussion.
Where is the intellectual honesty, or any honesty, for that matter?
As an alumnus of UNM with 22 years in the Air National Guard, and currently deployed on a two-year tour of duty, I wondered how Roberts drew his conclusions. Did he take any survey samples at Kirtland Air Force Base, polling airmen about how criticism affects their morale? Did he send e-mails to deployed troops to get their feedback? Or did he just visit the Al Franken and Cindy Sheehan Web sites for his background research?
I remember when I was attending UNM and I was called up for the first Gulf War. There were some guys trying to burn an American flag in front of Zimmerman, and a fight broke out over it.
I was happy to see some guys standing up for the flag and country for which I had volunteered to serve - that was a morale boost. Make no mistake about it, all this criticism pisses off the majority of our troops to hear the weak-kneed, insecure, mealy-mouthed, pussyfooting sissies criticizing both the war and our commander in chief.
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We are indeed professionals, and we certainly are defending your right to criticize. However, in our hearts, we aren't fighting for our critics. We fight for our loved ones, for God, and for country - our idea of what it should be like, not yours.
People like Roberts are cut from the same cloth as those who spit on our troops as they came back from Vietnam. We disdain the critics and fight on. Stop saying you support us, and be honest - you and other critics disdain the military and the mission we are called to accomplish.
Roberts should take a few history classes relating to the public criticism of Vietnam vets and its impact on their morale. Robert's statement that the "criticism-hurts-morale argument is a total sham" is untrue - such criticism does hurt. However, we're not a bunch of crybabies. We fight on - pissed off, but fighting on.
Cali Garcia
UNM alumnus
