<p>“Eww, why would you want to do that? You’ll get yelled at a lot, you know.”</p>
<p>My son told people (as he was smiling) that his mom yelled at him all the time so he’d be used to it! When his horse trainer found out he was applying, she said “Well, good, then I can justify yelling at him as training!”</p>
<p>S1 (NROTC) just commissioned in May. When I told a neighbor his first assignment would be in Florida, she asked about housing. I told her that as an Ensign he would get a housing allowance and would prob. live with another Ensign so it shouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>She grimaced and said something to the effect of “I guess that’s all taxpayer $$ going to pay for his apt. at the beach”. </p>
<p>She is the same neighbor who told another neighbor that S1 wanted to blow people up.
He’s going to EOD sch.</p>
<p>I give up.</p>
<p>Mostly we have been congratulated on his commissioning even though some still ask “So he HAS to go to the Navy now?”</p>
<p>My DS was picking his summer whites up at the dry cleaner last year at the end of summer leave. The girl behind the counter said to him “wow I didn’t know milk men wore uniforms like that anymore!” He just laughed and told her he worked for a special dairy.</p>
<p>Then one of Army’s spirit spots for the Army Navy game showed a milkman being kidnapped by a bunch of cadets. I just about died laughing.</p>
<p>The fun just continues here in my own little section of the Red Crescent:</p>
<p>I’m out raking leaves on a nice fall day a couple weeks ago, wearing my sweatshirt which screams ‘AIR FORCE ACADEMY’ on it, our US flag waving proudly above our Air Force Academy & Air Force flags- AF stickers on the car, AF bandanas on the dogs, AF banner on the porch railing. A neighbor walks by, and comments: “You know, our country wasn’t founded on military priniciples. Your kids will never go very far at West Point.” I wholeheartedly agreed, but he didn’t get it at all and went off all smug. I swear: they do walk among us.</p>
<p>My son was wearing his hat he got at AF Summer Seminar the other day (he’s a HS senior), with the AF logo in the center of it (they had a special “Field Day” afternoon for Homecoming). One of his classmates looked at it and said “Since when are you an American Eagle fan?” He looked at him strangely and said “AF, not AE!” and the classmate replied “Oh, Abercrombie & Fitch - same difference!”</p>
<p>Marcie, that was the best laugh I’ve had all day! Hilarious!</p>
<p>Thanks! Another one, more on the theme of this thread, that I’ve been meaning to add (meaning more sad than funny). My husband was talking to someone at work and telling them that our son’s goal was to go to either the Air Force Academy or the Naval Academy. The person patted him on the arm and said “That’s okay, he’ll be able to go to college sometime later.”</p>
<p>DH had to try to explain that the academies WERE a college, and that West Point was just recently named the number one college in the country! (Sorry, I had to throw that in there after your last post!) ;)</p>
<p>So, today I’m in the doctor’s office getting an allergy shot - no big deal but there ‘s a 20 minute wait while they make sure I’m not going to die from the shot. Wearing my UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY sweatshirt (it screams it). Guy sitting across from me asks if I went to USAFA. No, I reply, but my kids do. Oh, says he, what do they do in the air force? Well, I explain that USAFA is like West Point or Annapolis, you know the ol’ yarn. </p>
<p>Then, he asks me: “Have they killed any children in Iraq?” </p>
<p>Then it dawns on me, because I am a slow learner, that this easy-going conversation I thought we were having was not the conversation this gentleman was having. </p>
<p>I gently told him that while they hadn’t killed anyone YET, they’d not mind taking out anyone who attacked the citizens of this great nation.</p>
<p>I got up and left when he started wagging his finger at me. </p>
<p>It did occur to me when I left the waiting room that his T-shirt said “I’m not waiting till they legalize pot.”</p>
<p>“Have they killed any children in Iraq?”
As a fellow SW PA resident I find this very difficult to believe.</p>
<p>I found it difficult to believe that anyone would ask me that. I don’t believe that the man in the waiting room was getting his news from the same sources which supply mine.</p>
<p>One common one that we seem to find that we’re being asked is “So where will your son go to boot camp?” This after explaining that he’s hoping to go to the Air Force Academy. Does anyone other than the Marines call it that, even ignoring the whole academy aspect?</p>
<p>NavySupporter:</p>
<p>I can’t believe the timing was coincidence. You almost wish he had the quick thinking to say “yeah, it will probably feel the same as when I run over your kid’s back on the way to the finish line today.”</p>
<p>Hope he is doing well at USNA.</p>
<p>Another response could be, “Do you mean Today? Hmmmm. I haven’t spoken with him today… Now if you caught me last WEEK, well, THAT was a good one!”</p>
<p>I used to enjoy/cringe at the old Jay Leno show on the feature called , “Jay Walking” where he walked up to people on the street and asked very simple questions. Seems like you’re catching some contestants.</p>
<p>I think this thread is GREAT! It always helps to know you’re not alone. Keep up the good work everyone! And keep the stories coming, funny or sad, they all help!</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this will make you all feel any better, but this type of ignorance happens with regard to civilian colleges as well. Generally unless you’re going to the big State U. or maybe to Harvard, no one will have heard of it. The level of ignorance in this country is astounding. Everyone seems to know all the details about the marriage of Jon and Kate Plus 8 and the Tiger Woods scandal, but they can’t identity Afghanistan on a map or tell you how many justices sit on the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>A fantastic thing happened at the airport on Monday after Thanksgiving. My boys were waiting in the security line (we were with them, having gotten the gate-pass !) and one of the TSA uniforms there noticed their military ID. Well, this wonderful man moved them up to the front of the line and several of the TSA folks stopped what they were doing and shook the guys’ hands, and clapped for them!!!</p>
<p>WOW! Knock me over with a feather!!!</p>
<p>Congratulations! I’m sure they were proud as well! </p>
<p>My husband was flying on business (like he frequently does!) the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and ended up chatting with several AF and WP cadets at the airport. He went and spoke with the gate attendant and managed to get a couple of them upgraded into first class. </p>
<p>On the flip side, I wanted to share one more funny one. When my son was out at AF for SS, he bought a shirt (since dad and I are WP grads) that says “Friends don’t let friends go to West Point” and has the AF logo on the front and the back says “Go Falcons!” He thought it was hilarious, as did the couple other kids he know at SS who had been to a couple other SS’s as well before AF’s. Well, he had no idea that the average person in our part of the country would not interpret it correctly.</p>
<p>Most everyone who has commented on it has simply ignored the AF logo and Go Falcons! part and taken the main comment to be either anti-military or anti-war! Just kind of funny to have my son - who is 100 percent planning on going into the military - trying to explain to some stranger at a restaurant why he is wearing an anti-military shirt! We were at a Benihana’s over the summer out of town and he was wearing the shirt and a group of Army recruiters (in uniform) came in and when they saw the shirt, asked him (seriously) why he would wear something like that. So it’s not even just civilians. They found it amusing when he explained the AF part, but still!</p>
<p>My 2° daughter has a similar shirt that she got when visiting AFA on a visit during her Junior year of HS - several years ago. She got the version that says, “Friends don’t let friends go to Annapolis”. One of her best friends was at West Point at the time so she decided to get the Navy version - then a younger friend of hers ended up at Navy this year so it’s even funnier now. She still has (and wears) that shirt proudly!</p>
<p>Hi all I’m a vet and going to school next year after my last (probably) deployment. I really don’t get the killing children comments. Do people not understand how damaging that can possibly be? A very close friend of mine did in OIF I and it has affected him deeply. This is a man with two combat deployments, about to go on a third, and on the two occasions I have been around when people have said something like that did not end well. The guy who said it ended his night with a black eye and possibly broken nose, the girl didn’t get touched but we had to spend the rest of both nights making sure he didn’t do anything too stupid. I’ve never heard him talk about it and heard the story from a friend who was there for it and my buddy is a guy who likes to talk. The same with the “well, have you killed anybody yet?” comments. *** does it matter? Do you really think I would talk about that with a complete stranger? I like to think that if people knew that they might be talking to “that soldier” they wouldn’t say these things but I know I’m wrong. On the other hand, I have received so much support from people when traveling when they recognized that I’m in the Army. Beyond the beers and food the amount of mail that folks send downrange to just “a soldier” is astounding. For every ignorant or mean spirited hippy there are five well adjusted people who understand what a privilege it is to serve our country.</p>
<p>You make me teary, and I bet I’m not alone. I’m so glad to know those “Any Soldier” letters are received and recognized, and gladder still that you recognize that the crazy people just speak louder than your many supporters. Thank you for your service, and best wishes for great success in school.</p>
<p>We have two sets of brothers in our parish (my twins and another set of brothers) and all the Service Academy kids names are posted in the bulletin every week. </p>
<p>So. a lady I used to know comes up to me and says, “I heard your kids are in the Air Force.” Just about to explain that they are in the AFA, a guy comes up behind her and spends 10 minutes explaining to her what West Point, Annapolis, AFA, CGA, and MMA are. It was great! Turns out, he’s a West Point grad, 1969. He saw a lot of bad stuff in Viet Nam, but was a great AFA and other S.Academies supporter last Sunday.</p>
<p>I didn’t have to say a word!</p>