Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Henderson, a strapping Iraq combat veteran, spent the last, miserable months of his life as an Army recruiter, cold-calling dozens of people a day from his strip-mall office and sitting in strangers’ living rooms, trying to sign up their sons and daughters for an unpopular war.
He put in 13-hour days, six days a week, often encountering abuse from young people or their parents. When he and other recruiters would gripe about the pressure to meet their quotas, their superiors would snarl that they ought to be grateful they were not in Iraq, according to his widow.
Less than a year into the job, Henderson  afflicted by flashbacks and sleeplessness after his tour of battle in Iraq  went into his backyard shed, slid the chain lock in place, and hanged himself with a dog chain.
He became, at age 35, the fourth member of the Army’s Houston Recruiting Battalion to commit suicide in the past three years  something Henderson’s widow and others blame on the psychological scars of combat, combined with the pressure-cooker job of trying to sell the war.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I can understand how the job of military recruiting to quota might be absolutely miserable, and I think it’s clear that there aren’t enough supports in place for the poor guys who have to do it, but what does the author mean by “selling the war”? Selling the service seems to be more accurate, particularly with the draw-down timetable that’s been established for Iraq. But as far as the abuse, the media may want to look at . . . themselves.
Or not. YMMV.
Related: Lesbian raped by Prop 8 supporters
I don’t really know how to separate “garden variety” rapes from hate crimes, and I hope these f*ckers are caught and put away for a long, long time. Having said that, I don’t know how you jump from that to Prop 8. Is that supposed to be motive, or opportunity?
Also: Byzantines want their gold back
Or, turn them into a golden bird to keep a drowsy emperor awake–because of the mackerel.
The article doesn’t clarify how a British tourist managed to nose out all those Joooooos in finding the gold.
Moreover: Celebrity tired of all the attention
While this sounds like it could be commander abuse, the slant of the story is firmly entrenched in the “Trudeau Narrative.” Doonesbury has been running story lines of soldiers off and on for the last 4 years. Every last one of them has involved some sort of tragedy or heartache: Extended tours, intraservice rape, permanent, crippling injury, PTSD, you name it. There hasn’t been one panel in four years that had anything positive to say about any military related exercise.
This story turns on the phrase “selling the war” and then exploits the grief and anger of wives to keep it firmly implanted in its narrative, waving the Vietnam like concepts of broken soldiers from an unpopular war. That is the journalist’s choice and clearly reflects Ms. Roberts’ own point of view.
I do hope that they get to the bottom of this while mentioning more than in passing that these sorts of things, while newsworthy, are the exception rather than the rule.
And there, in a nutshell, is why I hate the entire concept of “hate crimes.” These guys are animals and should be tossed in jail for 20 years or more for such a heinous act. Is the crime somehow more egregious if all or some of these guys hated gays? Does every crime that involves an identified and established minority group need to be processed through the hate crime filter, accomplishing what, exactly?
A careful reading of the story shows that the woman was approached on the street and hit with a blunt object. She was forced into her car a little later when someone was approaching on the street. This raises the quite irrelevant (in my mind) question as to whether or not the initial attacker knew she was a lesbian or discovered such when she was later forced into her car. Do investigators need to spend any precious time trying to pin down that smokey point of view?
Again, what’s the point? A crime is committed, it is hideous by its very nature and should be ruthlessly and aggressively prosecuted. As a consequence of the whole hate crimes mindset we will be treated to other political opportunities to brand everyone who voted for Prop 8 as an enabler of LGBT hate and more opportunities for vapid and condescending advocates to make connections based upon their fevered desires for free press.
I’d rather pray for the victim and to see justice done to the attackers.
Is it a hate crime to hate hate crimes?
I denounce myself.
Don’t play the hater, BJ.
My first impression of the rape story was that the nickname description seemed to make unnecessary any other physical description. I mean, we’re not even told how big the Mormon Bibles were that they were carrying or what pattern of neckties they were wearing. Nicknames? Hey haystack, do you have a LDS needles named Blue or Pato in there somewhere?
It is like political descriptors al, only necessary if they are Republican or white.
Alp, I would laugh but then I might be labeled a psycho like Dan.
Obviously, these folks are part of the Christian Right Wing.
But, just on the very-innsey-weinsy chance that they’re not (I know, c’est impossible) -how can a minority to be charged with a hate crime? I mean, like “racism” it can’t happen because they lack the institutionalized power … bla bla bla.
Oh, and I wanted to mention that I hate Trudeau with the fire of a thousand suns. That chronically unfunny piece of shit comic strip he does causes me to pop a blood vessel every Sunday morning.
If that dude had to peddle that stuff to the open market, he’d be broke.
Oh, but the passage of Prop 8 reveals that they do have the institutional power, Carin, which is why it must be repealed.
True-dough, please. It’s like Play-Doh, only more elastic.
Nowadays, the non-descriptor seems to be the loudest descriptor. But why did they say she was hit with “a blunt object” and not, say, a communion chalice?
I mean, we’re not even told how big the Mormon Bibles were that they were carrying or what pattern of neckties they were wearing.
Also, weren’t they wearing those cute plastic nameplates on their short-sleeved white shirts? That would help the police identify them, one would think.
Roving bands of Mormons: worse than the Hell’s Angels.
“‘Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks,’ he said. ‘People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice.’”
Sorry Avy, but more to the point, Anytime there is a heinous criminal act that can be exploited for political purposes, we can all count on the left to do so… I mean, they feel this sense of entitlement to generate sympathy and support by exploiting an act that all decent peolple would condemn…
These animals that raped this woman need to be caught and locked up for a looooooong time; maybe give them a chance to experience a bit of the same treatment they dished out at the hands of large brutish cell mates. But, at the same time, the notion that this is somehow worse simply because the victim was a lesbian is both astoundingly twisted and risible. The crime would be equivalently horrific regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of the victim, and no more or less hateful. The use of the hate crime appelation simply waters down the impact of any violent crimes that are not categorized as such. I mean, what kind of murder, assault, or rape doesn’t have an element of hate involved…
Too often it is used as a prop to underscore the whole phony enforced diversity dogma or as a tool of legitimization. Or simply to attract an extra measure of media attention, especially where useful…
This is one of those cases. It is revoltingly dogmatic for this fellow to use this opportunity to take a swipe at the supporters of prop 8. Somehow though, based on the proferred descriptions, I don’t believe that these were Mormon evangelical types. It is simply the shameless exploitation of a useful misfortune to advance a political agenda…
Talk about a hate crime; let’s make propagandizing and lying for profit a hate crime!
But then we’d have to jail all of the folks on Capitol Hill!
Also, there would have been a palpable lack of caffeine.
Heck’s Angels, please, SBP.
Somehow though, based on the proferred descriptions, I don’t believe that these were Mormon evangelical types.
Well, with names like “Blue” and “Pato” what else could they be? Hunting dogs? C’MON!
Oh, and I wanted to mention that I hate Trudeau with the fire of a thousand suns.
Word.
That guy has been phoning it in for thirty years.
The only reason he still has a gig is that aging hippie newspaper editors remember how funny it seemed when they were really baked, back in college.
Thanks. It’s been a while since I thought of “Sailing to Byzantium.” I must go pull out my W.B. Yeats poetry books tonight.
I did hear recruiter duty sucked. Everyone of them I talked to hated their job and was forced into it. It is rare to find a recruiter that likes it.
Hmm… if it were due to job-related stress, wouldn’t you expect to see more suicides among recruiters in, say, San Francisco?
I mean, given that recruiter duty sucks, you’d think that it’d be less frustrating in Houston than in many other places.
I’m no fan of Trudeau – I mean, look at what he did to Canada…what?
Oh, the guy with the editorial-comic whatever! Yeah, he has been trying soooo hard to make sure that all of us who come back home are to be viewed as broken/victims/cast aside tools of imperialism…yada, yada, yada.
I wouldn’t get too worked up, however, he works in newspapers. Declining readership that ever creeps up in average age. So he is basically comfort food comics for the Boomer-Left. Ask an 18 year-old what they think of his work, heh heh.
From talking to a couple I think they just hated it all around. Imagine being in an artillery unit or admin spec in garrison somewhere in Germany and then getting orders for a 2 year stay in Kentucky as a recruiter. I think the school for it is like 2 months at most. Then you basically get put on a job as a salesman in unfamiliar territory and harrassed by your superiors (this is probably not true for all just all the ones I have talked to) to pull numbers in. Do not get me wrong some loved doing it, but it seemed like only if they were in a good area where they could get their numbers.
All of them did have stories about the young girls who they recruit hitting on them but seeing how it was Army recruiters they could not have been hot.
This one made me wanna cancel my subscription to the paper. Preening douchbag.
I quit subscribing to the paper a year or two ago.
Who would ever pay for that garbage anyway. I rather buy a 12 pack I would probably kill less braincells that way.
For us, it was when the wife discovered that the grocery stores were posting their specials on the web.
I like my local paper for local coverage – I don’t bother with the AP stuff they print for world or national news. You can go online and get that.
This whole PSTD, “trauma of war” thing is, as certainly most of you know, nothing new. I’m old enough to have met quite a few veterans over the years, not only from Vietnam, but Korea and WW II as well.
Something that becomes clear pretty quickly is that by no means are all service personnel who are sent overseas to a war zone in a position to be traumatized. This is because the majority of them are in the rear areas, supporting the minority who are out where the hot lead is flying; that is, in actual combat.
Now, I have also met a number of guys who were actual combat veterans. One is a very close friend who did two tours in Vietnam, and was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with V device, and a fistful of Purple Hearts. He told me stories that would stand your hair on end. War is a nasty goddam business, no two ways about it.
Did his experiences affect him? Betcher ass. I have yet to meet a combat vet, regardless of war, who did not have what I call “the look” (the look that says they have seen and done things that mercifully the rest of us have not).
But something he told me once when the subject of this whole “crazed veteran” thing (that the Left loves to throw around with such abandon) came up, was that the guys who ended up mentally in extremis because of their war experiences had underlying psychological problems before they ever got there.
So I call bullshit on why this recruiting sergeat committed suicide. It’s always a very sad thing when something like this happens, but you can bet that if the truth were known, he had underlying problems with depression long before he went overseas, let alone got stuck with that recruiting job.
In a sense, the rape case in SF is something similar, in that the story is being blown out of proportion. Based on those nicknames, this sounds like a bunch of Latino gangbanger types were the perps. And let’s face it, guys like this are not known for their political acumen, or much of anything else that requires intellect. Most likely, if the truth is ever known, this woman was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and her sexual appetites had nothing to do with it. But this being San Francisco, and in the wake of that Prop 8 vote, naturally the usual mediot suspects have to turn it into a political “hate crime”.
The whole “hate” drivel makes my blood boil. In America, we do have to tolerate other points of view; each entitled to their own informed opinions, family cultures, religious beliefs, and other forms of intellectual private property…
But tolerance doesn’t equal celebration or embrace of ideas that are revolting or unacceptable to yourself. Just because I believe that I must “tolerate” someones right to choose to be gay, doesnt mean I have to celebrate their gayness. Or, just because I believe in folks rights to adhere to any religious philosophy they choose doesn’t mean I have to celebrate Kwanzaa, a holiday as contrived and phony as the rest of the enforced diversity identity politics, mind control, ideology. Just as they needn’t celebrate my Catholicism nor my political or social ideologies…
The bottom line os that the lefty Democrats want to decide what should be tolerated and what must not; which leads to the hopelessly hypocritical double standards of the celebration of Jeremiah Wright, before O! sent him under the bus, and Louis Farakhan, while simultaneously vilifying David Duke, Hagee, Falwell, and Benedict XVI. And the label of hater or classifying hate-speech as a crime simply is a tool of thought policing…
I wish that Jeff G would write one of his stem-winding essay’s on this whole hate speech thing. By the time he was done hoisting the proggies on their own petard, by proving that they must be tolerant of intolerance, there would be more than a few heads exploding!
And who knows, maybe the action alerts to the electronic brownshirts, to SHOUT DOWN THE HATER!!1!1!eleventy!1!!! would boost his traffic to record levels…
The last line of the rape article is telling on so many levels:
Rape = entitlement? Pass a law preserving historical marriage makes people who have no other criminal inclinations go out and look for a lesbian to rape?
It’s called projection, Darleen. The left is simply describing how they would behave in the same circumstances.
Well it does seem like the anti-Prop 8 crowd is taking their sense of extra-entitlement out on any Mormon they see. Almost as if they have been waiting for a chance to act out their prejudice against a group of Christians.
Of course,, the article failed to give a description of the perpetrators. All that means to me is that the rapists were either black or hispanic. Funny how that works.
“Of course,, the article failed to give a description of the perpetrators. All that means to me is that the rapists were either black or hispanic. Funny how that works.”
I’m sure you would like to know every single little detail of the act – the races, their heights, hair color, body type, anatomic details, etc… Just so you can put your mind at ease, I understand.
Crawford pointing to projection so that Darleen might understand the concept – put the bottle down Rob, it’s early.
I’m sure you would like to know every single little detail of the act – the races, their heights, hair color, body type, anatomic details, etc… Just so you can put your mind at ease, I understand.
What, did the Obama press corps interview the victim? What kind of dog did she buy?
Granite countertops! The wingnuts must be appeased or else! ELSE!
Of course, it’s going to make it so easy for the community to identify these attackers by NOT knowing age, height, weight, facial hair, melanin-level, possible tatooes, clothing …
Paging Det. Carnac, Det. Carnac please pick up the courtesy phone
I think the Richmond police are withholding info, because they don’t have the $10K
I suggest you contact the PD and protest their denial of your masturbatory fantasies.
I suggest that you pound sand up your ass.
Semanticleo
I’m sure you would like to know every single little detail of the act – the races, their heights, hair color, body type, anatomic details, etc… Just so you can put your mind at ease, I understand.
Aw, that’s a good little dupie-dupe. Now go away.
Did I hit a nerve? I know the subject of homosexuality tends to send your hands to crotch in OUTRAGE ECSTASY. Maybe try porn?
And now projection too, Assclown?
I’m becoming very worried about you.
Please, look up projection and try and use the term properly next time. You look stupid.
That’s assclown for ya.
psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which one attributes one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts and/or emotions to others.
Please Assclown, it is delusional to try and argue with the psychological victor of Vienna!
You condition is rapidly degenerating.
Unfortunately, you are an wrong. The defense mechanisms are diagnosed in people who are unable to deal with stressful life circumstances. Such as watching America reject your dead ideology, abandonment by your thought leaders, and the the disaster that was is the Bush administration. Myself? Flyin’ high.
“The defense mechanisms are diagnosed in people who are unable to deal with stressful life circumstances.”
And now unintelligable gibberish! Which defense mechanisms are you referring to?
I fear for you; next you will fall into a catatonic state.
Please, get help immediately. Either get to a psych ward stat, or put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger.
One way or another put us all out of your misery as soon as possible!
Unfortunately, you are an wrong.
Nuh uh, we are an right.
Did I hit a nerve? I know the subject of homosexuality tends to send your hands to crotch in OUTRAGE ECSTASY. Maybe try porn?
Is that what you think of, dupie-dupe? I was getting at your inability to admit exactly *who* the attackers were. Vague descriptions are a dead giveaway….
Can someone lower the banhammer?