And people wonder why I hate journalists...

A couple of days ago the great New York Times put together a hackneyed, sophomoric, pathetic excuse for an article about the poor mistreated veterans. First in a series, apparently. The point of this article was nothing new: pity the poor soldiers, for they know not what they do. The same old tired themes were trotted out, almost as if they simply dusted off the old playbook from Vietnam for a new era of veterans. We have all heard them before-the troops are broken. They desperately need help that the government is not giving them. They are liable to snap at any moment. Etc., etc.

What they are mainly trying to do is erode support for the war by using the anecdotal evidence of a few veterans run amok to advance their own agenda. Fine. What I do not like at all is me and mine being used as a stalking horse to shield them from flatly stating their agenda. If you are against the war, say so. But leave the vets out of it, alright?

For the record, their idiotic notions are not so, what is that term leftists like to throw around... reality based. That's it. When I deployed in 2003 with the Marines and again in 2006 for the Army I was asked repeatedly in the "redeployment" briefings if I needed additional help for any psychological problems. The resources are there, it is just a matter of utilizing them. I am certainly not saying that veterans, in and out of the military, were all taken care of the way they needed to be. The care is available, though.

Another important point that many cannot understand is that there is a vast difference between then and now. In Vietnam our military was mostly conscripted. 40 years later we are in a totally different state of affairs. All of our veterans, all of them, were in a volunteer military. This throws cold water on the whole notion that the poor veterans didn't know what they were getting into. No one in the military now is ignorant of the war on. They all know that they will have to deploy.

The best part of all of this is the unintended side affects of this sort of disgusting whispering campaign. It will make it harder for veterans to get jobs, get into college, get a loan, etc. Ironically, by calling attention to the so-called plight that we all suffer they are making our lives in the future much harder by calling attention to the small percentage of us that snap. Minorities of any sort cannot get this sort of treatment. Unless they are veterans. I love this brave new world.

In short, let me sum it up in terms that even a reporter can understand:

• I knew what I was getting into when I enlisted in 1999 and when I re-enlisted in 2007
• veterans are very well taken care of when they get back from war nowadays
• we have an all-volunteer military now, not a bunch of slave soldiers which means that...
• we want your respect, not your pity
• if you replace the word "veteran" with "african-american" and your article sounds a little kooky or racist then maybe you should re-think printing it

Thank you New York Times