Bumped: Marine Color Guard Forced To Work Super Bowl But Denied Seats
Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multi-National Force–Iraq, recently issued an expanded waiver to the policy issued earlier allowing beer to be served for troop stationed in Baghdad last week, according to military officials the expanded waiver allows all units in Iraq to serve two beers per servicemember during the big game.
I’m referring to the Super Bowl of course.
What a change from years past, when only near beer was allowed. But … and there is always a but, not everything is coming up roses for military units in all things Super Bowl related
Since 9/11/01 it has become quite the event to have military color guards present the colors and be present during the singing of the National Anthem at sporting events of all kinds, and at Super Bowl XLIII this will also take place. So to say I was surprised when I received this email from a distraught Marine Mom would be an understatement:
My youngest Marine called me this morning. In the course of the conversation he made mention of being part of the Color Guard for the ceremonies at the Super Bowl. He has been part of other Color Guards at other games and has been able to enjoy the entire game after presenting the Colors. HOWEVER, this will not be the case this time. The 12 man/women color guard will be presenting the Colors and then will be escorted out of the stadium and therefore not allowed to see the game. Steven and the 11 others are quite upset about this and have asked that I see if I could contact someone and have that changed.
What? The Super Bowl won’t let the military color guard stay and watch the big game? Continue
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thats fucked up…the anti military shit has begun big time!
the very people who sacrifice so everyone can be free and safe and enjoy things like the Super Bowl have been downgraded now to novelty items? our military is now a side show to perform at events and then just leave. forget this shit!
what the fuck…
Fucking BULLSHIT!
I’m emailing the NFL tonight, that’s for damned sure. I’m also posting links to this article all over the place. We’re gonna get this shit straightened out. You can’t piss all over our military and expect us to sit here and take it.
If it doesn’t get fixed, I’m boycotting the Super Bowl, and I’ll petition as many advertisers I can find to do the same.
This is bullshit to say the least.
Thank you Pat, for posting this.
I have sent an email to the NFL, I would encourage every one to do so. And please have your friends do the same.
Go Viral.
Oorah!
this is messed up.
Greed heads.
Football is Bullshit! always has been…always will be. My opinion. Send me a Marine. I’ll take him fishing.
I would go even further.
Contact both team offices directly via email and/or telephone calls …
AND contact those cities’ news papers and TV/radio stations.
And then head to the corporate offices of huge sponsors, Budwiser, Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, etc, who you know have bought TV ad time for the Super Bowl …
Demand they get involved in getting to the bottom of this.
And then you contact your local cable and TV stations that will be carrying the game … even those that won’t be (they love bullshit about their rival stations) … and your local radio stations and newspapers also.
Call your local talk radio programs (somebody fuckin’ call Bill O`Reilly …).
I am contacting the talk radio program I listen to out of Pittsburgh and the one out of Akron, Oh. Sending them the info from the email DG sent me.
Look out!
Make a huge stink.
Maggie
Maybe they’re making the Marines think that they won’t get to see the game, but then they’ll surprise them and take them to meet the players or up to the press box or something.
Just trying to throw in a bit of optimism.
as per Lincolns Inauguration speech, here is an excerpt from the March 4, 1961 speech;
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous to have the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept of refuse.”
the only way to correct what is going now is to become Active and not just sit back and talk about it…we are a victim of ourselves for not doing anything.
don’t get me wrong, you all are my fellow patriots, pro Americans, but we need to get off the sideline and become Active.
I emailed the league as well, and encourage others to do the same:
http://www.nfl.com/contact-us
Hopefully they will get enough to make a difference. Spread the word.
This is sneeky… because they pretend to be patriotic by display but behind the sceane disrespect the military. The people their will think the show is great without knowing they have to be “escorted out”
You are so right, I write letters/email, call and inform others but we need more organization. I am writing Rush, Glenn Beck,Michelle Malkin,Mark Levin,Hannity,Andrew Wilkow, and anyone else I can think of to ask that they post phone numbers, post the names of republicans who vote for this crap like gitmo, geitner, bail outs, stimulas’s,amnesty ect… so WE THE PEOPLE can hold these sobs accountable remind them who they serve. We have the votes they want, if amnesty gets past then we are really screwed because the dims will have 15million more votes.
If we all start calling with the demand for our voices to be heard maybe someone will listen.
capital #202-224-3121
ask for any senator and talk to an aide.
I put a lot of pressure on Lyndsey Graham of SC because he is a amnesty supporter with McCain.
happeningnow@foxnews.com
Emailed the NFL - also Jane Skinner at the above email address - she is married to the NFL Commissioner . . .
happeningnow@foxnews.com
Emailed NFL - Also emailed Jane Skinner at Fox News - husband is NFL Commissioner.
done, emailed NFL
Can someone tell me who is in the Super Bowl and where it is so I can email additional parties?
Sorry - I hate football.
I will also start emailing the vendors as suggested by Drill.
bullshit dude bullshit
Done, emailed the nfl.
I think the CO should push back and say, no seats, no show.
teams…Pittsburg Stealers and Arizona Cardinals…
Maybe McShame should get some email about this …
2245 CST
NFL E-Mail is NOT accepting new messages.
The switchboard is closed.
KEEP FIRING AWAY at THOSE SOBs.
They CAN NOT! dis our Brightest and Best!!!!!!
I WILL NOT let this RUDE DISRESPECT to my two Sons Service (4 deployments between them) to stand un-challenged.
what a crock of shit.
No probs. I just got rid of cable anyways. In addition to all the libshit on TV, I’ll also be boycotting the Stupor Bowl. Fuck the NFL assholes who did this. Like to hear Kurt Warner’s take on it? Especially after one of the own, the great Pat Tillman was a member of the Armed Forces.
E-mailing…
The ultimate insult after players in pretend mini-wars over a damn leather object earn a pathetic percentage more than what men and women defending our country earn. Not to mention someone gets injured badly and it’s all over the news. Someone dies for his country, and it’s a blip in the news. Total bullshit.
[...] Found on Pat Dollard’s Blog [...]
I say let the Berkley Jerk Squad - Code Pink carry the colors then.
My turn, I emailed ‘em too. Fuck that shit pisses me off. Have some fucking respect, even if they are marines..(ha sorry, Im a grizzled Screamin Eagle)But seriously. These people need a real fucking wake up call. Without the military there is NO United States.
That is so wrong-let them stay, they are already there.
I do not watch the NFL anyway, I hate football.
“Nothing is more dangerous than a Marine, except for a Marine’s Mom.”
I bet the Moms will adjust the NFL’s attitude.
Off to email.
Apparantly this is a dumb question but here goes. I want to e-mail these pukes and let them know what I think. What is the e-mail address?
Hey Dingus, I wanted to join the Airmobile, but then they found out I knew who my father is… hehe Semper Fi
another idea is for everyone who can to call into Glenn Beck, Rush and Hannity to ask them to look into this story and see if there is any truth to it, that would get more exposure and put more pressure on the NFL to do the right thing if this is true.
I just called the NFL at 212-450-2000 and spoke to a “Jared”. He stated that protocol is for anyone not working “during the game” to do thier thing and then be escorted out. I asked if this will include Bruce Springsteen and he said that he did not know what that arrangment was.
As a follow up to the comment abouve, the phone # is available on whitepages.com. Don’t want to be accused of accessing anything in an unethical manner.
Send your concerns to the following:
Roger.Goodell2@nfl.net
Hold the commissioner accountable.
I’m not very patriotic and make that know to most who I talk with. It’s is not that I am trying to make a statement about the military. It is more that I am trying to express an opinion about equality of all. Not all people are equal, true…yet why do we expect the military to be more honored than any other occupation that exist to serve the greater good of our communities (nation)? Do teachers, counselors, police officers, janitors, or gas station attendants not deserve to be honored any more than the military personnel? I think we have become (some people, not all) to absorbed with the ‘fantasy’ view of these workers. It is very easy to fantasize and place certain people in places of honor because they bear (or seem to bear) traits that we see as important. We have no clue if these color guard people are in the military for the reasons we fantasize or even if they are the type of person that embodies what we consider ‘good’ qualities’. Should the NFL be shamed because they require someone to pay for their tickets…I don’t think so. It’s like this…religion and politics… why should the NFL (a sports organization) be required to embody the beliefs of a political (or even for that matter a spiritual) point of view? I also think it is ridiculous that many are saying that the NFL won’t ‘allow them to stay’ and watch the game. It is not as if they are being kicked out. They are being treated just as anyone else would if they did not have tickets. They aren’t ‘allowed’ because they don’t have tickets. No the other issues is this is everyone else who is performing some type of benefit for the over feel of the superbowl allowed to stay? If so then the NFL should follow suit.
Email is back up.
Mr. Commissioner INCOMING!!!!
[...] http://patdollard.com/2009/01/first-time-ever-marine-color-guard-forced-to-work-super-bowl-but-denie... [...]
BOO
[...] H/T Pat Dollard [...]
Cameron, with all due respect - fuck you. You are comparing someone who puts themselves in harm’s way for their country to a gas station attendant? Really?
I do not serve in the military and even I am willing to acknowledge the sacrifices our military members make for this country, as would many other humble gas station attendants. Some of those gas station attendants you speak of may have already done their service to the country.
These men and women are not mere ‘workers’ and probably wouldn’t appreciate your hoity-toity attitude towards all they do. These are people who do what pansy asses like you would consider unthinkable to keep this country safe. They go to places the average American (including myself) would NOT want to be and do the jobs most people couldn’t stomach doing because they have to be done. Their jobs are the MOST valuable to this country, the most underpaid, and sometimes the least appreciated. NOBODY in this country is above these men and women - not doctors, lawyers, or any president of this country that never served in the military themselves.
Apparently, you don’t know very much about Marines, but every Marine is trained to be a rifleman, it doesn’t matter if they are a chef, a member of the color guard, or a salty infantryman. Every man is on call in defense of this country. These aren’t just pretty boys picked to wave the flag as it’s obvious you think they are.
Nobody is saying to give these brave men and women the best seats in the house, although they deserve them. What they are saying is to let them see the game. Would you invite someone to your house for an appetizer and kick them out before the main entrée and dessert? What if those people were possibly veterans who watched their friends die to preserve YOUR own freedom? Are you going to say those costs are so little compared to the cost of the potluck dishes your guests brought?
Fact is, these guys died for not only YOUR freedom, the freedom of every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the NFL commission, every football player on that field, and every one of those people who paid an arm and a leg for those tickets. Trust me, it’s asking the very LEAST that these people be able to stay for the full course meal.
I just received this from the NFL after I voiced my concerns over this……
Thank you for your email.
Our longstanding support of the military is a proud NFL tradition, including numerous NFL players and coaches traveling overseas with the USO to visit troops. Last summer, Commissioner Goodell, Drew Brees, and Osi Umenyiora went on a USO trip to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen.
Since we had not heard about this directly from the military, we contacted our military liaison for the color guard immediately to discuss the issue. After speaking with our military liaison for the color guard, we will host the members of the color guard (12 people) in the stadium.
The background is this:
The members of the color guard have always been our guests at a Super Bowl party in a compound on the stadium grounds where they watch the game on big-screen TVs and enjoy food and beverage. That is how we have done it every year. The military provides an intra-service color guard as part of our pre-game tribute to the military that also includes the military fly-over of the stadium. Then we arrange a place for the color guard to watch the game along with other pre-game and halftime show participants (more than 2,000 people).
We appreciate your commitment to the NFL.
Best,
Mallory Steinberg
NFL Communications and Public Affairs