I, like former Corporal Kanady (“‘Like a pawn on a chessboard,’” Oct. 20), am a veteran of multiple combat tours. I don’t believe that we were just “numbers,” and my time in-country did serve a purpose.
All this is is the whining of a bad soldier; besides, he joined for the wrong purpose. Jail time or service is not a good reason to enlist. There is no reason to go AWOL or UA in any military branch, either. I would say almost half of all of the armed services members have children, and they don’t leave their duty due to “their hands being tied behind their backs.”
Although I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion, calling jail “safer” than a combat zone is completely ridiculous. I was not an office jockey, either; I served in an infantry unit in Iraq in the Marine Corps and earned my Combat Action Ribbon like everybody else I served with, and just for information’s sake, I was also hit with an IED, my driver had heavy brain damage, and one of my friends lost a leg, a few fingers, and an eye. And even they don’t whine as much as former Corporal Kanady.
One more thing: “We come back and there’s nothing for us” is just another thing someone who blames everyone else for their actions says. The military is there to help you if you seek it. Like people, it is not a psychic who is going to know if you need help. Why don’t you write a story of a veteran who has helped the community in some way, like a police officer, fireman, or any other type of leaders in the community, instead of giving us a sob story about a bad apple who went AWOL and is suspected of home invasion and gang involvement?
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2011.