Troop-support Videos Pulled Over Taste

Support the troops with something like this? A matter of taste? Give me a break. I bet many people find these videos very funny. That's fine. It seems that supporting the troops requires actually doing it instead of just entertaining them. How about actually putting out videos about readjustment? Maybe some one PTSD and what they go through? How about what it's like for the families when they come home wounded and then have to face life altered by it along with months or years of having to fight to have a VA claim approved? How about actually doing something to support the troops instead of putting out videos about this kind of sensationalism? Taste is always debatable but it's a waste of time when what they need has been unattainable.

Troop-support Videos Pulled Over Taste
July 14, 2009
Fayetteville Observer

The promotional videos were meant to show that Fayetteville goes out of its way to support the thousands of Soldiers who call the city home.

But the videos were quickly pulled from YouTube and other Web sites Monday after their tastefulness was questioned.

One video shows a Soldier leaping on the back of an old woman using a walker to cross a street. Late Monday, the video was back on YouTube.

Another has a Soldier kissing a blonde while a man dressed in women's clothes sits nearby and fumes because he's ready to go.

Later, the man in drag is approached by a swarm of prospective suitors. The Soldier turns to the camera, gives a thumbs-up sign and says, "Thanks, Fayetteville."

"Now that's what I call supporting the troops," adds an actor playing a town official in the videos. "Then again, that's what you'd expect from America's first sanctuary community for Soldiers."

The videos are a product of the city's advertising campaign "Fayetteville N.C., the World's First Sanctuary for Soldiers." They were spearheaded by the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

One includes a flatulence sound. Another seems to imply masturbation on the part of the "official town official" before the camera sweeps down to show that he's rubbing a Soldier's feet.

"Shhh. He's sleeping," the actor says.
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Troop-support Videos Pulled Over Taste

Vietnam Veteran to soldiers: 'It's OK to be scared'

Veteran to soldiers: 'It's OK to be scared'
Story Highlights
Walt Peters welcomes soldiers home, wishes "Godspeed" to those deploying

The Vietnam veteran has greeted an estimated 20,000 soldiers since 2004

He says he lost sight as a result of chemical diabetes from Agent Orange exposure

That's why the retired Vietnam veteran has stood outside at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, for the past four years as a beacon of pride and support, welcoming home returning soldiers and wishing "Godspeed" to those deploying.

"To me, if it wasn't for our soldiers and our veterans, we would not have this beautiful country," says Peters. "These guys are our freedom."

Peters, 64, has been one of the last people that about 20,000 soldiers so far have seen before boarding the plane for the war zone -- and one of the first seen upon return.

No matter what time the soldiers' flights are arriving or departing -- many take place in the middle of the night -- Peters is there to shake their hands and give them a token of support: a small American flag. Some of those flags, Peters says, have gone to Iraq and back.

"When they touch that flag, we're giving them a piece of our country, saying, 'Thank you.'"

Peters is not the only volunteer showing his support at each flight. But he does all of this nearly blind.

He says learned he had chemical diabetes nearly 10 years ago after he was exposed to Agent Orange during his Vietnam tours. He has lost almost all of his sight over the past few years, but that hasn't depleted his dedication to the soldiers.

"When I went to Vietnam on my tours I'd never had this. I had never had nobody say, 'We appreciate your service. We thank you for what you're doing for our freedom,'" Peters says.

"When they get on that plane, they're gonna know that this old Vietnam vet cares."
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/19/heroes.walt.peters/index.html

This is just one of the reasons why I think the Vietnam veterans are the greatest generation. When they came home, the older veterans did not greet them with a "Welcome Home" or stand up for them. They did a lot of complaining about the fact there were so many protestors but when it came down to doing something for the Vietnam veterans, they didn't. The Vietnam veterans decided they would be different and ever since they came home they have been on a mission that "never again will one generation of veterans abandon another" and they have moved mountains to prove it. Every program this nation has for PTSD began because of them. That was just the start. Most of the advances in research began with them. When it came to chemical exposure, they were on the front lines and have been fighting for the generations who came after them as hard as they fight for themselves.