The worst of people…

Are represented by guys like the Kamunen brothers.

“Luke Kaumunen began to wonder if he’d made a mistake the moment he arrived for basic training. He was still in the airport at Ft. Jackson, SC, with other members of his Minnesota Guard Unit, when an officer reprimanded him publicly for leaving a paper cup on his seat in the airport.” Good thing it was in South Carolina. Here in liberal Minnesota, it would have been some hippy environmentalist who would have also spat on him for wearing a uniform.

“His Twin Brother, Leif, started having doubts within weeks when a drill sergeant indicated they were probably heading to Iraq. Leif said that possibility had been downplayed by the recruiter who signed him up in June.” And the Drill Sergeant should have reprimanded him for being STUPID. Um, we’re at war in Iraq, and you signed up, and the MN National Guard has had its largest mobilization since WW2, and you didn’t think you’d have to go eventually?

“The recruiter, Sgt. Christ Beron, told him about a $20,000 signing bonus and, according to Luke, said that deployment was unlikely.

“’He told me that it’s really a rare occurrence that I was going to war,’ Luke said. And if he did go to Iraq, ‘he told me I would be sitting in the barracks somewhere fixing a vehicle.’

“Beron denies that. ‘I tell them that we are in a war, you are in a branch of the military…. I tell them that in 13 years, I have never been deployed… anywhere. I spend a lot of time telling them there is a possibility, but I can’t guarantee it one way or the other.’”

So, now it is the recruiter’s fault they are this irresponsible, gullible, and idiotic?

“Once at basic training, Luke said he hated the way drill sergeants yelled at recruits. And then he started hearing rumors about deployment to Iraq… He also learned that his unit, which was supposed to be fixing Army vehicles, would carry weapons. He was trained to use M-16s and grenade launchers.” Wow! Who doesn’t hate drill sergeants and who doesn’t hear rumors about deployments? And, imagine this, a soldier learning to use an M-16 and a grenade launcher. I mean, this is SO unusual. I can’t believe a soldier would ever be asked to learn to use a weapon needed to defend oneself.

“Maybe this shouldn’t have been a surprise (Ya’ think?), he conceded. But, ‘I have been living in a small town, trying to get a job,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’” Being from a small town does not excuse your ignorance. My husband is from a small town. He is not ignorant.

“None got their $20,000 bonus; recruits get half after finishing training and half after four years, Beron said.” The big mean recruiter tricked them into signing up and when they went AWOL wouldn’t give them their signing bonus. SOL.

I grew up to middle class parents, who stayed married, in the ‘burbs. So, I have no idea what it is like to be from a small town and without any future near home. But, ever since September 11, 2001, anyone who signs up for the military is fooling themselves if they think they will not have to go to war.

These guys want the type of benefits the military offers, without having to be in the military. They want us to feel sorry for them because they are from a small town and they think it makes them more susceptible to being tricked into signing up for the military. They do not want to be real men and accept responsibility for improving their lot in life and they do not want to accept responsibility for failing to see the very obvious consequences of their action.

They will now have less then honorable discharges, which will severely limit their options in the future; more so then sucking it in and serving your contract. And serving in the military can most certainly improve ones lot in life.
One of Josh’s battle buddies, Ed, finished three tech programs, plumber, lineman, and carpenter. At least I think the third is carpenter. Yeah, he got deployed, 10 weeks after he got married. But, when he comes back, he can seek employment in three well paying fields. And Ed is from an even smaller town with an even bleaker future.

The Kamunen boys are idiots. They deserve no respect. And they certainly didn’t deserve to have their story on the front page of the Star Tribune. The only good thing about their picture is it will make a diaper wipe for one of the mil kids I’ll see on Saturday.

And I have canceled my subscription to the Star Tribune. AWOL deserter cowards should not be given any sympathy or recognition by society. It would have been better if they had never enlisted as now everyone knows what stupid, immature, entitlement whores they are.

Josh and I will have a nice dinner courtesy of my Star Tribune refund check, when he gets home.

Well, it does look like I’m not the only one who is outraged . My favorite of these letters is from Mrs. Bigley: "My 5-foot-5, 19-year-old daughter successfully went through the same boot camp experience at Fort Jackson, S.C., two years ago while still in high school. She now proudly wears her Army boots and carries a large weapon, which she is trained to use.

I want to reassure the three brothers and their families as well as all of the Star Tribune's readers that, if called upon to do so, she can be counted on to defend everyone's lives with her own. "

Glad there are people like her in the world who will defend those poor boys. My husband won't. He'll be too busy with me.

Josh adds here, as he is having problems with Blogger: If one doesn't want to kill people they should look for a different line of work. I wonder if they were expecting a day camp and sleeping for 15-18 hours a day, too. I know S.C. has some great beaches which are no where in water.

"Mommy they yelled and me!" cried little Luke. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetie. Why dont you come home to mommy. She doesn't want you to stop breast feeding yet anyway." Or to put it in a Drill SGT way: "Do you want your mommy? Do you want to go crawl up her skirt and cry? Are you a man? I didnt think so!"