By Greg Corrales
“We must not in the course of public life expect immediate approbation and immediate grateful acknowledgement of our services. But let us persevere through abuse and even injury. The internal satisfaction of a good conscience is always present, and time will do us justice in the minds of the people, even those at present the most prejudiced against us.”
- Benjamin Franklin, December 2, 1772
On March 2, basketball superstar LeBron James tweeted, “20+ games left in phase 2. I’m reFOCUSED! No prisoners, I have no friends when at WAR besides my Soldiers.”
That sentiment didn’t sit well with South Florida Sun-Sentinel sports editor Joe Schwerdt, who has two sons in the Marine Corps, one currently deployed in Afghanistan.
Schwerdt saw the tweet while at work and it “just struck a nerve.” He immediately began to write.
“Dear LeBron,” Schwerdt wrote. “Just wanted to let you know: You are not at war. You are not a soldier. What you do and who you are is not even close to what they do and who they are. You are probably a nice guy, and you are not the first athlete to compare sports to war; athletes to warriors; games to battle. I don’t mean to single you out. But it is time to stop those comparisons. People die in wars. They rarely die playing the games you play. If they do, it is not because they are attacked or shot at or booby trapped by an enemy. People lose limbs in war. Their bodies are torn apart by IEDs. Their legs and arms ripped through by bullets and rockets,” he wrote.
Schwerdt went on to say that LeBron, and by extension, pro athletes like him, go to work in cozy arenas before throngs of adoring fans. Marines, on the other hand, go to work patrolling village streets, unaware of who the enemy is or what might be lurking around the corner.
“You travel to your games in the comfort of a chartered plane, “ Schwerdt wrote. “You go home to an opulent mansion. You have little danger of coming home in a flag-draped box.”
A top defense official in the African nation of Swaziland has asked an anti-corruption commission to release five military personnel arrested in September because with them in jail, there is nobody to fly the helicopter. The Times of Swaziland says the commander of the Umbutto Swazi defense force is not saying the troops, three officers and two enlisted men, are innocent of charges that they defrauded the government, Rather, the general says national security is being compromised because with the five men in jail, no one is left to pilot the nation’s lone military helicopter.
Game show legend Bob Barker is donating $2 million to the Semper Fi Fund to help injured service members and their families. Barker, who hosted “The Price is Right” for 35 years before retiring in 2007, served in the Navy as a fighter pilot in World War II. The Semper Fi Fund provides financial and other assistance to Marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen who were injured while serving in support of Marine forces since 9/11.
An Indiana couple is fighting their local school board over whether their Marine recruit son can wear his uniform to high school graduation instead of a cap and gown. Brennan Ranard, 17, completed his requirements for graduation early so he could join the Corps, according to local media reports. He shipped out to boot camp in San Diego last month and will return home in time for his graduation from Crawfordsville High School. School administrators have denied the request.
Liam and Theo were a team, fast friends doing a dangerous job, searching out roadside bombs laid by insurgents in Afghanistan. The jovial British soldier and his irrepressible dog worked and played together for months, and died on the same day. They went home together, flown back to Britain in a somber repatriation ceremony for the soldier remembered for his empathy with animals and the companion he loved.
Lance Cpl. Liam Tasker, a dog handler with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, was killed in a firefight with insurgents in Helmand Province on March 1 as he searched for explosives with Theo, a bomb-sniffing springer spaniel mix. The dog suffered a fatal seizure hours later at a British army base, likely brought about by stress. Military officials won’t go so far as to say Theo died of a broken heart, but that may not be far from the truth.
“I think we often underestimate the grieving process in dogs,” said Elaine Pendlebury, a senior veterinarian with animal charity PDSA. “Some dogs react very severely to their partner’s loss.” She said it was not uncommon for pets to respond to an owner’s death by refusing food and becoming sick, and the bond between working dogs and their handlers is especially close.
Liam Tasker and the 22-month-old dog had been in Afghanistan for almost six months, uncovering roadside bombs and weapons in a dangerous daily routine. Tasker was the 358th British soldier to die in Afghanistan since 2001. Theo was the sixth British military dog killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001.
The San Francisco Police-Fire Post meets on the second Tuesday of every month at the War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, Room 214. Meetings start at 1800 hours and refreshments are served at the conclusion of business. Any veteran interested in joining is urged to contact me at Mission Station.
