"One of my neighbors, who's in the Army and works in Oakland, was caught off post in her uniform by a bunch of people expressing their displeasure with the non-war in Iraq. They surrounded and harassed her for a good while until a few sailors happened upon the scene and extracted her from the situation just as it was starting to get a little rough. This isn't an uncommon occurrence around here but it's the first I've heard of it happening to someone I know.
They've been briefing us at roll call to refrain from wearing our uniforms off base, presumably for force protection purposes. I figured it was supposed to deter terrorist kidnappings or something like that, but I guess it's to protect us from the local population. It's weird to live in a place where the locals give you the skunk-eye or treat you with suspicion just because your hair's cut a certain way or you "look" like you're in the military. I'm not asking for adoration or anything crazy like that. Indifference would be just fine with me, but the outright hostility is pretty jarring, especially when you're treated better in most foreign countries. Even in the places we're not-so-liked, there's at least a minimum level of respect and common decency, but not from what I've seen here. Even the French aren't this bad." Sgt. Stryker is the pen name for a blogger in the Air Force. I was just e-mailing with a former boss of mine, now in the Middle East as he was called up in the Reserves. The people who do this sort of thing don't deserve to have him protecting their freedom. What is wrong with these people? Gautam __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
