Army/Navy Game & injured US troops....

Colleges & Universities Service Academy Parents
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<p>Wow, just read this and wanted to share with all of you…from
<a href=“http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/train.asp[/url]”>http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/train.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"…In 2005, the Philadelphia couple Bennett and Vivian Levin combined the idea of reviving the game day train tradition with their desire to do something for injured American troops — and they already had a good head start on the project since they themselves owned three luxury rail cars and two locomotives. With the goal of transporting wounded service members to the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia from Walter Reed Army Medical Center (in Washington, D.C.) and the National Naval Medical Center (in Bethesda, Maryland), they convinced the owners of an additional fifteen luxury rail liners into donating their cars for a day’s use and arranged for Amtrak to transport the cars to Washington and back. A donor from the Army War College Foundation supplied 100 prime-seat tickets for the 3 December 2005 Army-Navy game, and the Levins used their temporary rail line — dubbed the Liberty Limited — to transport 88 troops and guests to the game round-trip from Washington’s Union Station to Philadelphia, all free of charge. </p>

<p>The event received little publicity due to security precautions and because Mr. Levin insisted that no press or politicians be allowed to ride along on the train, but Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky’s account of it was published in the 22 December 2005 edition of that newspaper, and the text of her column was soon being circulated widely on the Internet via e-mail."</p>

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<p>how wonderful!</p>

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<p>There are some people out there in this world with some really big hearts. It great to see these stories to put your faith back into humanity. Thanks for sharing!</p>

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<p>prayerful mom: Thanks for sharing. It’s great to see examples of man’s immense capacity for goodness.</p>

<p>The reporter’s article is well done, hope it makes the wires.</p>

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<p>It was great thing to do. The only “dignitaries” on the train were the Sgt. Major of the Army and the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. No Generals, no Admirals. I was fortunate enough to be in the Army warming room and meet a number of the men & women who came up on the train and each one was an inspiration.</p>

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<p>LFWBDad, I’m positive you were in great company that day. I thought it was very neat that they didn’t invite ABC, CBS, NBC, & CNN. The day remained theirs & they could relax and enjoy it as their hosts intended. Pretty cool.</p>

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<p>Here is an excerpt from that Daily News article titled ‘Here’s a Yule story that ought to be a movie’…</p>

<p>"…The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.
“One of the guys was blind, but he said, ‘I can’t see you, but man, you must be f—ing beautiful!’ " says Bennett. “I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn’t even answer him.”…”</p>

<p>see…<a href=“http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/13462732.htm[/url]”>http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/13462732.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And in the words of the author of this piece, Ronnie Polaneczky ,“God bless the Levins. And bless the troops, every one.”</p>

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<p>That is an awesome story…</p>

<p>I was actually lucky enough to be working at Walter Reed for over four months starting in July this year in the Surgery and Psychiatry departments. Let’s just say the way those men and women were incredible, especially the amputees. One of the guys was notorius for his wheelchair antics (you made sure to get out of the way when you saw him coming, haha).</p>

<p>On a side-note that really gets me going: There’s a lovely bunch of people who decide that the best place for them to protest the war is right at the front gate of Walter Reed. It is usually the group Code Pink and they are there without fail on more than one evening a night. So the wounded soldiers if they leave the hospital have to walk past that…yep, you’re “supporting the troops.”</p>

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<p>Your last paragraph is so disturbing. I don’t get their point at picking that spot. Sigh…</p>

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<p>Jamzmom…some of the anti-war protesters are truly pathetic…</p>

<p>an excerpt from an article from Aug.'05, titled ‘Moore Useful Idiots’ by Mark Alexander.</p>

<p>"… As was the case three decades ago, the revived anti-war movement is casting its long shadow over our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen. Nowhere is this more regrettably evident than at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC, where hundreds of Patriots are recovering from severe wounds suffered in Iraq.</p>

<p>This week, protesters marched outside the facility’s entrance, chanting amid mock flag-draped caskets with signs reading “Maimed for Lies” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton.” They taunted veterans entering and leaving the facility with angry slogans like “George Bush kills American soldiers.” Walter Reed has been a primary treatment facility for American Patriots of all ranks for nearly a century. It’s the place where Generals Pershing, MacArthur and Eisenhower died. It certainly should not be defiled by such contemptible rabble…"</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19328[/url]”>http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19328&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>kp2001…</p>

<p>according to “code pink’s” own web site, the group continues their "vigil’ every Friday nite… a better use of their time might be to volunteer in the PT or OT dept. at Walter Reed…but then again maybe not…who knows what they might say to our injured military men & women!</p>

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<p>Iam sure free speech is respected in front of Walter Reed as much as it is respected on a right wing blog/site like the frontpagemag.com or in a left wing org like code pink, BOTH of which I found very offensive, on an intellectual level and a moral one—it’s not my call and this is as it should be or we wouldn’t be America.</p>

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<p>PM- it must be so hard for these troops to fight as hard as they do in the interest of freedom when that very freedom gets so abused. But I will keep that story in mind and work harder to say thankyou when I see those in uniform or proud vets in our area- maybe we can start a wave of our own. Thank you for a very compelling post; the Levins are truely remarkable people, as is their heartwarming story.</p>

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<p>I cannot say that they don’t have the right to protest, just that I would carefully question this group’s motives in being where they are. Guess the streets surrounding The White House are full up these days. It does, in my mind, make it abrasive that this group chooses to protest in the faces of people who have been injuried, are weak or who are ill.</p>

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<p>Shogun… Frontpagemag. you find morally and intellectually offensive???</p>

<p>Well, like the past “Christmas tree” discussion I could not agree with you less!</p>

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<p>Shogun wrote:
“Iam sure free speech is respected in front of Walter Reed as much as it is respected on a right wing blog/site like the frontpagemag.com or in a left wing org like code pink”</p>

<p>Your argument has a valid point in that free speech is protected. I would like to hear from a Constitutional lawyer on whether the Constitution protects free speech and whether it also protects your right to protest when and where you want. I know some schools and the such have set up “free speech zones” and municipalites require permits for certain protests. I’m not smart enough to know all the details there. </p>

<p>I agree that Code Pink has the right to free speech. I do not, however, see how your point about a blog site and a protest in front of Walter Reed are related. In medicine we would call it “true, true and unrelated”. The place that these members protest is in full view of most servicemembers windows at Walter Reed. Walter Reed also only has one after hours entrance; and guess what, that’s the one they protest at. This means that the service members have no choice but to pass these people if they want to leave the hospital. People have a choice as to what tv shows, radio broadcasts, newspapers, or blog sites they visit. If these service members were only at the hospital for a week it wouldn’t matter as much, but many at WRAMC have been there for six months to a year or longer. If you get an abdominal blast injury in Iraq and survive you will be at WRAMC within four days; however, it will take months for them to fully close your wound and then if you are being “boarded” out of the military you are required to stay at WRAMC (most cases) until that is completed which can take over a year.</p>

<p>Other people are also impacted. How would you like to be the mother or father of the soldier in the ICU who lost his eye sight, half his face, his right arm and both legs in a blast injury and you have to pass by people calling him a murderer and the like. The people in front of Walter Reed say some pretty nasty stuff, let me tell you from personal experience. </p>

<p>As suggested by another poster they would probably be better served by protesting at the White House. The men and women in WRAMC have no say in the policy of Iraq. Those men and women simply follow orders. I do not question the right to protest or free speech, in fact I serve to protect those rights. I do however question the protester’s common sense. Unfortunately I also serve to protect the Constitution which allows us to be a complete (insert your favorite word here).</p>

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<p>kp2001…you really rock!!!</p>

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<p>kp- well said- the protests in front of Walter Reed, while they may be protected under the letter of the law, smack the face of common decency. Let the wounded heal in peace.</p>

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<p>Free speech is free speech. The freedom to protest is at the core of our way of life. The very fact that one has the freedom to protest in the face of those who do not agree is what we are supposed to be fighting for is it not? I have no problem with dissention, protest, and civil disobedience—it’s what got this nation started in the first place. Iam sure the “anti-George III movement” wasn’t seen as too patriotic among some circles in 1775. Frontpagemag.com is just one side’s answer to moveon.org-- they are BOTH political tools of the extreme left and right.</p>

<p>It is not ours to decide where the proper place to protest is as long as that protest is legal and peacefull, but the thought of getting my information from people like Dick Morris and Ann Coulter on some right wing blog/site is just as idiotic to me as getting it from moveon.org. </p>

<p>Neither side can claim to speak for all of the wounded or their families. It is insulting to think that any of them do. I personally would like to see them take their protests someplace else besides Walter Reed, but thankfully young men and women have sacrificed their lives and fortunes to ensure that decisions like that are not up to one person or one like minded group.</p>

<p>The anti-war demonstrators have some wacky ideas, but they also make some very good points and their right to demonstrate and speak their minds in any public place is inviolable. The kind of public discourse/discussion that dissention and disagreement creates is invaluable to a free society.</p>

<p>Frankly, I doubt the complete truthfullness of the reports of protestors spitting on wounded veterans in front of Walter Reed. I trust Fox news would have documented that little tidbit and played it 24 hours a day should it be happening. There are two sides to every “truth” in the media today and I don’t trust the extremists on either side to give me the “whole story.”</p>

<p>“Shogun… Frontpagemag. you find morally and intellectually offensive???”</p>

<p>Yep, proclaiming Hillary Clinton a communist, runnings ads for t shirts suggesting that guns, tobacco firearms all be readily available in your local convenience store instead of being regulated by the government, the discourse on aids, abortion, academia, blah blah blah. It’s not a news and information source, it is a propaganda site. it belongs in the same category as moveon.org, the pink.org people, Rush, Al Franken, and the rest of the folks fighting to influence the minds and votes of the American people.</p>

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<p>Shogun - "I don’t trust the extremists on either side to give me the “whole story.” Man you got that right. The National Inquirer does a better job some days. LOL I’ve learned to take bits and pieces of all the days news, think it out, then decide whats credible or not. I think the point is in not questioning the freedoms but the morals of this group and their choice of location, thats all. If I were a parent and had a kid coming out of a hospital, blinded, on crutches, or missing a limb, & someone spat on him, I’m afraid, no I know, I would have to go to jail that day. I haven’t heard any stories where protestors were spitting on them. Did you read or hear that somewhere? Tell me that isn’t happening. I couldn’t bare it.</p>

<p>As to the t-shirt thing Shogun mentioned, I noticed that too. Thought it was an advertisement telling me that I need a little plastic surgery in my upper regions. :smiley: They used Hooters girls.</p>