Conspiracy theory insults soldiers

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It began with Vietnam and now, 40 years later, the disrespect for the small minority of Americans who enter the military service has become outrageous. Right now many Texans believe that a training operation scheduled for this summer is actually a takeover.

Some people who have discussed Jade Helm mania say that soldiers will take orders given by the overreaching Obama White House and institute martial law.

A few giant leaps of logic are required before you can adopt that theory.

One, most of the serving military officers were commissioned before the Obama presidency, so it’s far from “Obama’s Army.”

Two, Texas sends more people into military service than any other state — in fact, the number of recruits entering the armed services each year nearly double the number from the second highest state, Florida. 

I believe you would be hard pressed to find a company in any branch of the military without at least a handful of Texans. And there are thousands of Army and Air Force personnel within a short day trip of Gonzales every day. If you want to buy into the “military takeover” conspiracy theory, we already have an occupying force.

We’re practically neighbors with Fort Sam Houston as well as the Lackland and Randolph Air Force Bases. It might be difficult for the folks stationed at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to get any ships up the Guadalupe, but I would expect they are in our air space daily. Why wait for Jade Helm? They could strike on any Wednesday and sleep in their own bed that night.

This conspiracy theory is just another slap in the face for the folks who volunteer to protect your freedom. It’s been a popular pastime for many half-hearted Americans since Vietnam. Some people took a hiatus after the terror attacks of 9/11, but that seldom went beyond sticking a yellow ribbon on your car or singing the national anthem a little more often.

I probably should have confessed my bias before now. I’m a former Army wife.  Those yellow ribbons were cold comfort when both my daughters walked down the aisle without their dad. They weren’t much help when he couldn’t get home in time to say goodbye to his dying parents. We have six granddaughters. How many times has he been able to be home for those big arrivals? Never.

Isn’t this theory just a bit disrespectful to everyone who serves? It’s blasphemous for those who have sustained life-changing injuries during their service.

Each of you probably have men or women that you know well who are making sacrifices and serving their country. Do you honestly see them coming home and rounding up civilians? How about the soldiers who just traveled through Gonzales as part of Warrior Weekend? Did you see any one of them as an invader?

Picture the faces of the soldiers, sailors and airmen that you know. Now, each of them had a provision in the Uniform Code of Military Justice drilled into their head. It states that they have “a moral and legal obligation to the U.S. Constitution and not to those who would issue unlawful orders.”

It’s that provision they used against Oliver North during the Iran Contra hearings in 1987 for breaking the oath that military members have an obligation to disobey unlawful orders.

That’s what separates us from Nazi Germany.

Go ahead. Believe some crazy Internet conspiracy theory. Slap these brave men and women again. They’re used to it. I just hope this craziness doesn’t cause any of them to be killed or injured during this very routine summer exercise.

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