Reply #16: Your Dad rocks, and he's oh-so-right.

[moriah]

"And don't anyone say I am not a patriot. I'm too old to be a soldier now, but I was once a long time ago. I know that a soldier overseas thinks about one thing more than anything else - going home - even when there is no fighting. Senator McCain says that's not important. Well, he's dead wrong on that."

Another thing that my friends who are soldiers say -- "No one values peace more than a warrior." My mother was an Air Force wife during Vietnam, and her first husband, my sister's father, recently retired from the AF. I have several friends who are deployed, and a few who have been able to come home for extended leaves before going back. One of my coworkers is back from his third deployment -- he is too injured to go back, so he has a medical discharge. All of them agree -- they value peace because they know the reality of war.

I think your Dad understands it perfectly.

I protested the Iraq war. I was very lucky to be in New York at the time. But I didn't carry a sign that said "No Blood for Oil", or signs with pictures of dead Iraqi civilians.

My sign said "Support Our Troops -- Bring Them Home!"

And I meant it. I still do.