Michael Connelly
For the spoiled overpaid professional athletes in the NFL and NBA who hate America and want to make a political statement against the police who risk their lives to protect us every day taking a knee during out national anthem is an acceptable form of protest. To me and other American veterans and active members of the active military it is totally unacceptable. In fact, it is the ultimate insult.
For us
taking a knee is what we do to honor our fallen comrades. There is the iconic
image, now immortalized in a statue of a grieving soldier taking a knee in front
of a pair of military boots and an inverted rifle with a helmet on its butt. Originally,
the inverted rifle and helmet was used by American soldiers to alert the teams
that retrieved dead soldiers of their locations. The rifle with a bayonet was
stuck in the ground with the helmet of the dead soldier and his dog tags so
they could be identified.
Preferably
it was at the head of the shallow grave the soldier was buried in, but often in
the heat of combat there was no time for burial so it was to mark the site of
the unburied body. So for us, taking a knee is a way of expressing our grief
for a dead comrade, and our respect for the reasons that they died. Most of the
elitist players of the NFL have never seen or heard of this act of respect in
the military, or if they have don’t understand its meaning, or don’t care.
In the case
of Colin Kaepernick who started this, he is kneeling because he hates our
country and wants to pay homage to his real heroes, Fidel Castro who brutalized
and oppressed the people of Cuba for decades, and Che Guevara. Guevara was an
especially brutal terrorist, whose specialty was leading his men into unarmed
towns, executing all of the men and boys, and then raping the women and girls
before murdering them. This has made him a hero of ignorant members of the left
like Kaepernick.
I am not a
sports star, millionaire, or Hollywood elitist although I have been many things
in my life. I have been a lawyer, a teacher, a public speaker, a published
author, a freelance writer, and a radio talk show host. None of that sets me
above any other hard working American who believes in God and out country.
However, those things are what I have done, not who I am. Who I was, still am,
and always will be is an American soldier. This means that I will always stand
at attention and salute when the National Anthem is played, and I will kneel
and pray when I attend the funeral of one of my fellow soldiers.
However,
unless there is a drastic change I will never watch another NFL game or ever
buy any products or services pushed by its sponsors.
Michael
Connelly
Michael
Connelly blog
Author of "The
Mortarmen" a book about my father's unit in WWII; "Riders in
the Sky: The Ghosts and Legends Of Philmont Scout Ranch",my novel "Amayehli: A Story of America", "America's Liveliest Ghosts ", and the newly
released, highly acclaimed. patriotic novel "The Rag"
I also have written a booklet on the U.S.
Constitution that highlights each section and amendment the way it was
originally written. Then I add my comments about what they all truly mean. This
a pocket size booklet that every patriotic American should own and distribute
to friends and relatives. Find out more and how to order it at: Constitutional Law Alliance,
and it is also available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle. and as a nook book on
Barnes & Noble
Check out my radio talk show every week called "Our Constitution" at: http://americaswebradio.com/our-constitution/
Check out my radio talk show every week called "Our Constitution" at: http://americaswebradio.com/our-constitution/
