ihavebeenfloated

This’ll be the second time I’ve had a marine talk shit to me. The first time, I’ve posted about before, but to rehash it: A guy in my health class a few semesters ago came up to me while I was wearing a khaki army (marine?) shirt with an infantry chevron on one of the sleeves. He said to me that, to a marine, seeing someone wearing something “like that” is a slap in the face, and that it’s very disrespectful. I told him, “Well, I’ll keep that in mind,” and then he stood there for a few seconds, staring deeply into my eyes with his own full of hate, trying to mad-dog me, and then walked away fuming.

Tonight, Mike, Vern, Juan and I went to Molcasalsa to get some eats, and as I walk up to the front there’s an older guy, kinda built, standing there. He eyeballs me, and asks me about my jacket. He informs me that it’s a marine jacket, and I show him the buttons which I think aren’t original, and he says they’re army. Then he tells me the same thing, that wearing a coat like that is a “disgrace to the uniform” and that “a lot of people gave their blood so that you could have the freedom to breathe this air and live in this country” and some other stuff. He was respectful, but you could see something in his eyes that made me uncomfortable. He shook my hand and said it was good to meet me and that was about it.

Until he finished eating, and then he came over to our table and said, “You’re taking a great risk, wearing something like that. I have a few buddies who would take that jacket right off of you and beat on you. In fact, four years ago, if I saw that jacket with those buttons on it, I would have taken it off of you. But I’m a Christian now. Good night,” and he left.

When we all finished eating we stood out front and smoked a couple cigarettes. At one point I turned to my left, and there he was again.

“Hey, I just wanted to talk to you again for a bit.”

Keep in mind this guy actually drove away and then came back.

I said sure thing, and stood there as he went on, in a calm manner, about how we were all made by God, that sin separated us from God, and the only way to get back to God is to ask for forgiveness from God. He said a lot of other stuff that I, unfortunately, only remember in fragments. Stuff about God’s Wrath; making good choices results in good dividends, making poor choices results in bad dividends; sometimes in your life you need to fall back on your buddies, especially as you get older, and he’s happy to have his marine buddies to fall back on; that he’s made poor choices and good choices and has to live with that; how I’m taking a great risk wearing that jacket when 50% of the population of the United States are veterans, and one day I’ll run into someone who isn’t so in tune with God and I will pay for it; that he thinks I’m a smart man and hopes very strongly that when my head hits my pillow tonight I will spend some time thinking about the things he’s said.

What’s more is that he actually stated that he came back because it was God’s will for him to come back and talk to me.

And all this was going on while he looked at me with eyes so full of passion, restrained anger, and pure torment that I was a little worried. He said that it was hard for him, because he learned something in the marines, but he learned something from God, and I could tell by his eyes that he was battling the urge to kick the shit out of me because of it.

I have to say, I’m a little thankful this guy was a religious nut because it totally saved my ass tonight.

The second time he talked to me he didn’t really seem to have a point, he was just rambling and hoping I was taking it to heart. Maybe he was expecting me to take off the coat and hand it to him, but I didn’t. He finished it all up by saying that he hopes that I will someday stop wearing the coat, not out of fear, but out of respect for the military.

Feh.

I think I’m going to wait until someone beats the shit out of me before I even begin to contemplate taking my jacket off out of fear.

My father was right though, I’m going to get myself into some serious shit because of this coat.

Update: Here’s a little something of relevant interest.

Update 2: Here’s something else, about the legality of wearing military uniforms. Guess what? It’s illegal! Who would have thought that in the land of the free, that wearing a piece of military clothing would be illegal? Oh, yeah, I guess I did, too. But, chances of getting arrested for it? Not gonna happen unless you’re a nut.