YOU! Out of my country! *ranty*

[Mamadrae]

My husband and I are taking a vacation to Calgary in Canada to visit relatives in that area. We're leaving on Saturday and driving the whole way, because of this I needed to get the oil changed in our car.

Now I love the guys I go to for this. They all know me by name and if I have to bring my 2 year old they have no problems with including him in things like teaching him how to use a wrench and trying to get him to say various car part names.

Today I found a new reason to love them. They give discounts to folks in the military.

However there was a lady there that took exception to this and made the most ridiculous argument.

SL - Sucky Lady
Mech - Mechanic
Me - Slightly frazzled Mama

Mech: Alright Mrs. Sucky your total comes to 30 some bucks.
SL: You gave that man an oil change for 15. I want that.
Mech: Well ma'am do you have a current military ID I could see? I'd be happy to give you the discount if you do.
SL: I volunteer with the local animal shelter*, I save lives everyday while that kills people.
Mech: Sorry I can't give you a discount for that.
SL: So you and your company support murder and oppression and

Now I was trying to bite my tongue so as not to get into it but I HATE when people confuse those who are in the military with the politics of war and such. I don't agree with the whole war but I have LOADS of for men and women who can and do serve in the military. I do not take pot shots at them for the politics which are out of their hands.

Mech: I really need to go get your car now Ma'am. (escapes)
SL: (looks at me) Can you believe they'll give a murderer a 50% discount while they give a life saver like myself nothing?
Me: (heavy on the sarcasm) Oh indeed. After all, any idiot can lay down a shannook* on a bit of the mountain side to e-vac our troops from a recon mission after a terrorist or even face every day in a foreign land knowing they might never see their family again. Cleaning up the dog crap when volunteering to play with the puppies though? That takes balls of steel.

The lady looked confused as hell till one of the guys called me to my car which has a giant yellow ribbon magnet on it's ass. Then she was all .

* The animal shelter in question has volunteers spend time with the animals and do grunt work so the animals get use to people. Unless this lady was a vet or specialized helper she would not be saving lives technically.

* A shannook is a big personal carrier with double helicopter blades. My brother (who is currently not in the states, that's all we know) and his crew had to land one on a skinny bit of mountain once. That was all he was allowed to tell us.

[Pezzle]

Not to be an ass, but I do believe you mean the CH-47 CHINook.

God I can't wait to make weight for the Army.

[ArcticChicken]

I hate it when people get the politics confused with the soldiers. I am completely against war, but I have the greatest respect for the men and women of our armed.....yeah, I'm gonna shove a sock in it before I get relegated to Fratching.

[Gurndigarn]

Not to be an ass, but I do believe you mean the CH-47 CHINook.

The irony of it is that she's heading to Calagary, where they get plenty of chinook winds. (My wife loves telling about how the 1988 Olympics nearly had some of the outdoor events killed by the chinooks that came through the days before the games.)

[Becks]

Mamadrae, if you don't mind, I'll be your fangirl.

[Jack7957]

After all, any idiot can lay down a shannook* on a bit of the mountain side to e-vac our troops from a recon mission after a terrorist or even face every day in a foreign land knowing they might never see their family again.

There's another photo out there just as impressive, but this was the one I could find.

[BlaqueKatt]

SL: (looks at me) Can you believe they'll give a murderer a 50% discount while they give a life saver like myself nothing?

All I want to say is I'm sure my murderous friends in the Army band* would appreciate the discount

*maybe they could beat the enemy to death with a tuba-or drive them to insanity/suicide from bad playing?

[Mamadrae]

Mamadrae, if you don't mind, I'll be your fangirl.

Lol. Sure, Becky, specially since you have my name! :P

Pezzle, your probably right. Sorry for the misspelling.

Jack. From the looks of that picture and the story my brother told me I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same.

[zzapp the witch]

Mmm chinook salmon......I also dated a man that's a member of the Chinook tribe.....never got to ride in a Chinook though.

/wink

(But I still knew what you meant).

[RayvenQ]

Another Tale of Helicopter Heroics.

A group of Royal marines, after attacking an enemy position and falling back, realised that one of their own had gotten left behind.

So they went to go and get him back but land vehicles would take too long, so what did they decide to do?

4 of them climbed onto and held onto and strapped themselves agains the sides of 2 apaches, yes, on the outside of the Apache. Unfortunatley, by the time they got there, their comrade was killed.

Here is a picture of one of the apaches.

I hate it as well when anyone in the military is assumed to be a murderer, as, at least from the frontline soldiers that I call my friends, most of them will only kill someone as a last resort.

[Crow The Robot]

I'm sure all the medical personnel, search and rescue teams, and Army Corps of Engineers are thrilled to be labeled murderers.

[BookstoreEscapee]

My cousin flies helicopters (not sure which, Apache, maybe); he's a Marine. He was in Kuwait back in the early '90s, and has been to Iraq 2 or 3 times since 2001. I'm not sure if he's still in Iraq right now or not. He missed his daughter's first Christmas, missed his son's birth...I'm sure the last place he wants to be is over there.

My mom sent me this: http://g.dwgsee.com/wake/index.htm

The line that struck me is "as if I really want this war."

[Evil Queen]

Respect the people who get shot at everyday.

Even I give pretty steep discounts for Military at work.

[Samaliel]

Well, when I was young and foolish (well, I'm still young and foolish, but in an all other kind of way), I didn't like the military, because I thought they were warmongers.

Now I know that they are not. I still have a slight distrust towards the Military as an organization, but understand that soldiers are still human beings. Some are dumb, some are clever. Some are hateful, some are kind.

While I'd rather they didn't defend peace with tools designed to kill, I'd rather they defend peace wherever needed than having conflicts spreading worldwide.

[Bradester]

There is also a breed of dog called a Chinook.

If she was saving Chinooks in a Chinook, I'd give her some props.

But she sounds like the woman who told my dad when he was in uniform "I hope you get sent to Vietnam and get killed!"

Those Army meteorologists, they'll kill you with government issued lightning.