Carry On

 A big to do about nothing. That's what I have been thinking after reading eighteen posts about what Tom Brady said and how many are so deeply offended. Yes, it was a terrible analogy, very simplistic and unthinking, but hardly a reason to be offended. As a retired member of the US Navy and having been deployed many times all I could do was laugh at that statement. Yeah, it's just like that Tom. But, I'm not offended by a professional athlete and his analogy. I get what he was trying to say. You are away from home a great deal of the time, you have to go to practices (drills) all the time and eat strange food. Yeah, it's just like being deployed. I didn't feel like he was trivializing or disparaging my time in the service. I didn't feel like he was uncaring, unfeeling and ungrateful. No, none of that, it was just a very poor analogy. 

 I did leave a comment on one of those posts saying something similar, just briefer. I was immediately attacked. I was surprised to see it was another veteran that made the claim I didn't count because I was in the Navy and he had been in the Army, so it isn't the same thing. The implication was clear, in the Navy we have it easy, but in the Army they are the real combat veterans! I was amazed at such a juvenile response. Sounded like kids on the playground, my dad can beat up your dad. I left all of that behind a long time ago. Sure, I have teased my fellow veterans about their branch of service, that's what comrades do. Did you know you have to be six foot tall to be in the coast guard? That's so you can walk ashore if your boat sinks. And the Marines are bullet stoppers and the army guys dog faces. Things is I respect each one of them and their service equally. I wasn't offended by his comment though, just amazed at the hypocrisy on display. 

 I'm no big fan of Tom Brady. He's one the best quarterbacks to ever play the game you can't take that away from him. What he is like as a person I have no idea, we don't hang out in the same circles. He does retire, a lot, but keeps reenlisting for one more season. His wife is leaving him, saw that on the news, probably because he keeps promising to retire and then changing his mind. I'm guessing he loves his fame more than his wife. Knew a Marine like that. I asked him if he was married and his response, and he was deadly serious, was if the Marines wanted me to have a wife, I would have been issued one! He was a Sargent Major at Annapolis with 25 years of service. Hoo Ray, Semper Fi. 

 Things that do annoy me? Parade ground patriots top the list. Those that simply want to be in the parade, not ever having done a thing. Those that engage in "stolen valor" are also despicable creatures. If you haven't served, walked the walk, you have absolutely no right to say a thing. Navy guys like to tell their sea stories and I'm certain all the other branches do the same. It entertains those that don't know and amuses those that do. I was never a Navy Seal, but a detachment was on a ship I was on. They were dedicated to exercising no doubt about that. They were rough and ready macho type guys no doubt. Yes, they believed! Knew some Marines the same way, the brainwashing stayed in full force long past boot camp. If you have ever served yourself, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And I'm thinking you wouldn't be offended by Tom Brady. All I have to say to Tom Brady would be, Carry On! LOL.