Star Spangled Ashes

So today in class there was a lot of political talk going in, due to the election and blog posts. This post, while pertaining to recent events brought on by politics, is not exactly political in nature. First, let me make it clear that I have no problem with peaceful protest. By anyone. The issue they are protesting might be something I feel is irrelevant or stupid, but they have that right, and peaceful protest has a storied history in this country. I cannot, however, condone the burning of the American flag. I understand that people are upset with the government, and that they are fed up with how things are going, and so they signal their discontent by burning the flag, the symbol of America. To me, and to many others, it's much more personal and important than that.

For 3 years I wore that flag on my shoulder. I wore that flag on my shoulder as a U.S. Army infantryman, and I served alongside some of the best men I've ever met in my life. When we die, our coffins are draped with the American flag, and our families are given a folded flag to remember us by. I've been at funerals, and I've seen a mother and her daughters with that flag instead of a father.

To me, the flag represents the people that I'm willing to give my life for. And it represents those men and women have given their lives. When I see the flag, I think about my brothers. Some of those men have held their closest friends in their arms as they died. They've seen their brothers and sisters with limbs blown off, gaping holes in their body, or in some cases, little more than a human-shaped smear across the inside of a vehicle just hit by an IED. Regardless of why they were sent to those countries, they went, and they served, and they died. And when they died, their family got a flag. That's what people are burning.

By all means, protest, but take into account your actions. Think about how those actions affect those who signed up to protect your right to protest. The conflicts we've fought haven't always been for the right reasons, but the men and women who've died in those conflicts joined the military to serve their country, and by extension, its citizens. Just remember that.