....the Coast Guard is really cool to join! It's not like being in the military. You do some law enforcement and fight off pirates. Yep, that's about it!
Wait, WHAT?
Can you believe these words actually came from the mouth of a military liaison in a Congressman's office?
Yes, my jaw hit the floor. I was in disbelief and disgusted. I am even more upset that I didn't refute the statement. I felt lost for words. How do you even address such ignorance? The regular civilian with no military ties, I might look the other way, but a political individual?
So, this guy, continues to tell me, Yeah, that's what I tell the kids who want to join the service, but don't really want to be in the service. The Coast Guard is a safe bet. Or words to that effect.
Let me say this diatribe of idiocy was prefaced by me stating to him my husband was in the Coast Guard and I volunteered for a support group. He asked me why such an organization would exist. To him, I explained because many organizations and entities don't support the Coast Guard the way the other branches are supported. I continued They don't really view us as military, which is....and then he interrupted me with Well, it's not really the military.
I know, I know, I should have ripped him a new one. I didn't. I failed my Coast Guard family in putting this guy in his place. Or did I? Was it even worth it?
I'm thinking of having a letter written from the organization I volunteer for to give him a little background and up to date information on what the role and mission of the USCG actually is. I think he missed that somewhere along the way. I suppose I could direct him to: http://www.uscg.mil/top/missions/ or simply have him talk to some of the folks doing their jobs defending our coasts each and everyday or the ones over in PATFORSWA or some other region around the globe.
4 comments:
Grr... those kinds of statements REALLY tick me off. You held your cool a lot better than I would have!
Yes so very Ignorant. If you don't know then you shouldn't say anything!
Ughh!
My hubby works Intel with the other military branches. And with Intel comes being stationed in places not near the ocean and you should just hear all the weird comments we get when they find out we're Coast Guard. Can be so frustrating sometimes! Guess people don't understand that our CG does Home land security and is not limited to oceans and water way enforcement. Oh and at our last station we had 3 coast guard Intelligence guys over in Iraq in one year... so hmm... Guess we're not like military at all. We don't get moved around every 1-4 years and we don't have to deal with anything like Homeland security.
LOL! Geesh! You are better woman that I! I couldn't have held back my tongue.. Specially when I have seen my hubby come home from a 14 hour work day knowing only that he helped saved a good amount of people, but not being able to talk about it ( what he does that is... I just get bits).. and his deed unknowing to the public (and i for that matter) lol! Way to make our lives seem insignificant guy! grrr
Which congressmen should we start sending our letters to to request support? Maybe he needs to be made aware of the ignorance of his personnel.
And the there are the people who think they're military when they're Fed-Ex/UPS... really?
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