Soldiers at the SOTU

[tarheel]

Did anyone else notice the soldiers seated in the gallery at the SOTU last night ? I'm not talking about the generals, admirals, joint chiefs of staff or whatever seated up front, but the rank and file soldiers in uniform seated in the gallery.

Was it just me or did they all look like they were going to gag at *'s every word? Especially the young male African-American soldier. He was rolling his eyes and biting his tongue almost as much as Ted Kennedy !


(editted to clarify the soldier's gender)

[Nevernose]

1. Oh yeah

They didn't look exactly thrilled, did they?

(I thought I was the only one who noticed that -- God bless DU)

[Plaid Adder]

2. Yeah, I noticed that.

I hope he doesn't get in trouble. They all looked particularly fed up during the Ashley Pearson excursis.

I don't blame them. Cheerist.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[TNOE]

3. Yes I noticed .....

These were the soldiers who were featured as Time Magazine's People of the Year - the black guy looked bored to death and was barely managing a clap - the white girl was saying something to each of them almost every time the camera panned them - and then the one soldier in the back looked almost pissed when the camera came to him. This tells me our military is VERY unhappy with Bush*.

Also - did anyone watch Chris Matthews after? There was the I beleive the Democratic Governor of New Jersey on - and he said his state has lost "700" of their service members. Was that a slip or the truth??????

[tarheel]

6. I didn't see Chris Matthews

afterward, but I do think that if the soldiers I saw last night are indicative of the general feeling of our military, then they are fed up with *'s bullshit and failure to support veterans.

[Scottie72]

4. Yea I noticed

It was like I could almost read their minds. It looked like they were thinking "yea right.... oh do I _have_ to clap now.."

[RapidCreek]

5. It wasn't just you....

I noticed it as well....In particular I noticed a soldier of African heritage roll his eyes and yawn while Very half heartedly clapping his hands when the camera panned over to his group. When he noticed the camera on him he sort of chuckled....the military folks he was with just looked pissed.

I didn't notice the high ranking military folks doing a whole lot of clapping either, for that matter....not once did they stand as far as I could tell.

Being an ex-navy man....I can tell you....allot of those boys aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer....most are 'blind' patriots. Not intentionally but out of ignorance. Thing is, they are a naturally aggressive bunch and when someone starts shitting on them...particularily someone who they risk their lives for, they can get very very nasty about it. It's sort of the "fool me once" deal. Well these poor fuckers have been fooled four times and now they're getting their faces rubbed in it. Not a good thing to do if you're goal is to take over the world using them as your mercenary force.

RC

RC

[tarheel]

7. Yeah I noticed that

the high ranking personel did not clap or stand much, but I sort of assumed that they were taking the position that as military leaders they were not supposed to take a stance on policy either way. At least I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt for that. :shrug:

[Palacsinta]

8. Apathetic, even weary

Before the speech, I assumed that they were handpicked for their support of the war and I thought I'd see alot of jumping up and down and rah-rah-rah-ing. Their lack of spirit and enthusiasm was telling..........they didn't even smile , much less cheer!

[skypilot]

9. That was the only part I saw

I didn't watch the SOTU address. I almost never do these days. An hour of listening to that man would push me right over the fucking edge. I did tune in right near the end and caught the bit where the camera was trained on three (I think) soldiers. I noticed the black male soldier looking at someone off to his right and he seemed to be shaking his head ever so slightly. I think I detected an eyeroll too. I love the fact that I could just tune in at random and catch a moment like that. I'm sure there were lots more.

[Holly]

10. Wow, I saw that too

I hope that that guy doesn't get into trouble, but his eye rolling spoke volumes. * is loosing or has lost the military. I can't help but wonder, are conditions for the soldiers even worse that we imagined? This war is unjust and illegitimate, sadly for the soldier (who's just a person after all), echos of Vietnam.

[RapidCreek]

13. Being an ex-soldier I can tell you conditions are MUCH worse

than you can possibly imagine.....even though I never saw combat....I spent loads of time with men and women that had and had occasion to hear many, many unedited stories of the shit they went through. So many of them started out like this...."when I went in I knew I was doing the right thing...I thought I was serving my country.....

RC

[HawkerHurricane]

11. Something I've noticed around the ship/base...

not a lot of support for Bush this time among the enlisted folks...

The orrificers are still the same, either apolitical or pro Republican, but the enlisted folk... they are getting angry. It's getting hard to find a freeper on base nowadays. A lot of servicepeople are going to sit out this election. Give them a veteran as a candidate and they'll vote against Bush.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Bet W won't be so anxious to count

the military vote this time?

[Solomon]

14. Those soldiers are in trouble right now.

It was very obvious. All of them.