Howitzer a hit with kids

[JohnyCanuck]

Howitzer a hit with kids

Demonstration by National Guard members popular with students and teachers

BY PATRICK JOHNSON
Appeal Tribune
June 4

If you heard the sound of explosions near Bethany Charter School on Thursday, don’t be alarmed. It wasn’t a science project going wrong.

It was, in fact, artillery fire from the Oregon Army National Guard during a demonstration for career day.

Three members of the Bravo Battery 2-218 Field Artillery Unit set up a 105mm howitzer on the old baseball diamond below the school.

“This is the first time we have done this at a school,” said Sgt. Donny Holmes of

McMinnville where the guns are based. “I like it. It shows the kids that soldiers are nice guys, not just what the media portrays us to be.”

http://www.eastvalleynews.com/appeal/article.cfm?i=11663

I guess this must be one of the media portraits Sgt. Homes is referring to.

"And we were approaching this one house, and this farming area; they're, like, built up into little courtyards," he said. "So they have like the main house, common area. They have like a kitchen and then they have like a storage-shed-type deal. And we were approaching, and they had a family dog. And it was barking ferociously, because it was doing its job. And my squad leader, just out of nowhere, just shoots it. ... the motherf---er ... he shot it, and it went in the jaw and exited out.

"So I see this dog - and I'm a huge animal lover. I love animals - and this dog has like these eyes on it, and he's running around spraying blood all over the place. And the family is sitting right there, with three little children and a mom and a dad horrified. And I'm at a loss for words. And so I yell at him. I'm like, 'What the f--- are you doing?' And so the dog's yelping. It's crying out without a jaw. And I'm looking at the family, and they're just scared. And so I told them, I was like, 'F---ing shoot it,' you know. 'At least kill it, because that can't be fixed. It's suffering.' And I actually get tears from just saying this right now, but - and I had tears then, too - and I'm looking at the kids and they are so scared. So I got the interpreter over with me and I get my wallet out and I gave them 20 bucks, because that's what I had. And, you know, I had him give it to them and told them that I'm so sorry that asshole did that. Which was very common.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF07Ak01.html

[Captain Angry]

1. Yeah, that darn anti-patriotic media.

Hey McMinnnville, the only time the military has been questioned or even spoken about evenly in the last 8 years has been Abu Gharib, Hadditha, etc. Stuff the military for which the military earned a bad reputation.

Otherwise, we've been bludgeoned by how wonderful the military is. Where do these people come from?

[lapfog_1]

2. Shooting dogs over there so we don't

get arrested and thrown in jail for shooting dogs over here.

[yella_dawg]

3. I spent six years on the hogs.

What the fuck are these people thinking, popping shells at a school? This is insane.

[TomInTib]

4. No kidding. At first, I thought this was from The Onion.

Who the hell dreams up crap like this?

[Downtown Hound]

5. Early indoctrination ceremony

The military used to come to my schools as well, but to my knowledge they never fired off live ammunition before. Put the glint and gleam in the little one's eyes while they're still young, make them grow up with an overly glorified image of what military life is like. Notice how they never bring soldiers with missing limbs or other wounds to show off at school? Not as cool I guess.