Take A Knee, To The Face

I like to stay current in the subjects that I blog about.  However, I feel that I might be a few days late on this one. I've been busy dealing with a certain Combat Vet and some PTSD. That's okay though. It gives me an opportunity to show you WHY this kneeling stuff is a bunch of bullshit. 

First off, let's say I'm a bit biased when it comes to this kneeling stuff. I'm the granddaughter of a WW2-era Veteran. I'm the daughter of a Vietnam-era Veteran. Both good men.  Both served during war time but didn't go to war. They were Officers due to joining ROTC in college but they went into the program knowing FULL WELL that they may be sent to war. Thankfully, the United States government kept them stateside and that is why I am here to tell you about it. 

Despite these facts, I grew up hearing a lot about Combat PTSD. Although I didn't know what it was at the time. Neither did my dad. You see, he ran the R & R (rest and recuperation) Center in Hawaii during Vietnam. His job was basically to get in the Combat Vets and let them have a good time. As long as they didn't get it in their heads to beat up hookers and get in bar fights. Sadly, that happened at times, but overall the idea was to give these guys a rest and let them have some Hawaiian fun - before they went and got their heads or limbs blown off by the Viet Cong. But that's another story for a different time.

I might have "dodged the bullet" within my family, but I didn't dodge it in my personal life. 

My boyfriend is a Combat Vet that served during the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. He is a Marine. And you know what they say:

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Here's something they don't say, but should. When you are in a relationship with someone with PTSD, you are a Warrior as well. 

You are in a constant battle to save a life. 

Don't believe me? There's around TWENTY wives, girlfriends, parents and children of Combat Vets that will get the call or the (gasp!) first hand view of what exactly Combat PTSD does to a person A DAY! Around 20 Vets with PTSD kill themselves DAILY! They will come home to find a gun in a mouth and brains splattered against a wall. Or they will get the call from a hysterical wife or girlfriend that she found brains splattered against the wall. 

Another dead Veteran. 

Well, what does this have to do with football, you ask? It's very simple. There are a plethora of us that believe that kneeling during the national anthem is DISRESPECTFUL to those that have served. Good, strong men like my father and grandfather and boyfriend. Worse yet, there are plenty of Veterans that feel this way as well. 

Combat PTSD is a MONSTER!

Ask any person who loves a Combat Vet. Ask a wife. Ask a mom. Ask a dad. Ask a kid. We will ALL TELL YOU that one of the people that we love most in the world has an illness that we fight DAY IN AND DAY OUT to just go away. 

However, that Son of a Bitch isn't leaving. 

The Combat PTSD Monster is quite the charmer too. He tells our Vet that he's not any good. He tells our Warrior that he would be BETTER OFF DEAD. He tells the person that WE LOVE that what he did in Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan was A BAD THING. 

I'll let you in on a little secret. 

The guilt that Combat Vets feel is OVERWHELMING. That's why a sweet lil gal like me will come home to find her honey's brains splattered all over the walls and a gun in his mouth. 

Am I being too graphic?

You can bet your sweet ass I am. Want to know why? Because I KNOW what the PTSD Monster is capable of. I've seen him first hand. He's ugly as sin and a goddamn liar! He tells our Warriors that they AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH! 

Then you have some punk ass kid with a Jew-Fro kneel for the National Anthem and what do you think the message is?

THE SACRIFICES THAT YOU MADE WERE MURDER!

Remember when I said that Combat PTSD is a monster? It surely is. It's a liar. A liar that tells our Warriors that what they did was bad and THEY SHOULD BE PUNISHED! 

What better way to punish a Warrior than divide him from a sport that he may have once loved? 

Once again, our Warriors are being PUNISHED for their service to our country. And it's killing them. Literally. 

Then there's people like me. 

There's the wives and girlfriends and parents of Combat Vets that have to watch these shenanigans. That have to worry if we will come home to find another gun in another mouth. That we will have to clean up the brain matter off of the wall. 

And it's fucking killing us. 

When you kneel for the National Anthem and don't salute the flag, you disrespect EVERY Warrior and also EVERY Warrior's family and the people that love him or her. 

I've got a knee you can take. It's one to the face.

FUCK YOU Kaepernick and all of you other football players that think your life and your notoriety is worth more than my Combat Vet's. You are not a Warrior. You are a nothing with bad hair and a shitty attitude. You are a COWARD that's more afraid of the PO-PO than afraid of what your disrespectful actions will do to a Warrior and how it will feed his Combat PTSD Monster. 

You are an ACCOMPLICE to the deaths of 20 Veterans a day. 

My name is Leilani. My boyfriend suffers from COMBAT PTSD. The only knee I'll give an entitled NFL player is one to the face.