Saturday November 15th
Rutgers plays Indiana in the military appreciation game.
Camo caps with a red and blue R will be given out to students.
Put on your hat for the troops!
Look at them stand there.
USA! USA! USA!
Gooooo Rutgers!
Third down, Indiana is looking to pick up a 1st.
FUCK THAT SHIT!
What is the Rutgers student body cheering for?
I think when Penn State came to play, the students were saying something a bit more real than our absentee press hungry President. I think, when we said ‘Fuck Penn State’ we were saying fuck institutionally sanctioned sexual assault, because that is what Penn State football represents.
This week of military appreciation and veterans day celebrations involves a great deal of patriotism and flag waving. As a veteran I will tell you that waving a flag does not do much for me. We are not the greatest generation. USA does not fight the good fight.
USA does not fight for basic human rights, not for Americans, Afghans or Iraqis.
We are veterans, we are students, we are Americans, we are Ferguson, we are the police.
We seem to have a problem. We do not know what is being done in our name, except, we kinda do.
Every veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan knows there is no such thing as ‘winning’ these wars. The armies USA created to take over their own country when American troops withdrawal are a joke. Everyone knows it, except maybe the American people. This is why ISIS is in the headlines; they were the military that USA stripped of uniforms. Then USA took people with no military experience, gave them guns and hats and said here you go guys, defend your country. These laborers laughed and said okay and got high while American soldiers kept on fighting the ‘insurgents,’ those OG soldiers that American politicians kicked to the curb. What do you do when you’re an unemployed soldier and foreigners colonize your country? It’s the same thing in Afghanistan, the Afghan army gets paid to hang out and smoke hash while Americans keep fighting the Taliban; who have been fighting for decades while running the country like a mafia, with our tax dollars. A billion a year funds a whole lot of nastiness if being nasty is your business.
And American soldiers die and lose limbs. And when we come back and get out of the Army, we know what continues in those countries. And then we hear y’all supporting the troops, but what I really hear is support for the Pentagon to keep using American bodies so the military industrial complex can keep on making money. It is the same way Rutgers uses its football players tax free for four years and sends them on their way waiting for another concussion before really showing those TBI symptoms. We’re in the Big Ten now fellas, play hard! $$$
Support the troops! Tell them you love them, it really is a sacrifice to serve. Ask them about it. Be friends, talk to them like we are all human beings. It is very hard to spend a year away from everything you know, surrounded by barbed wire and a wall of mountains, and then walk around farms waiting to be shot at or blown up just because you are there. And you are there 
because Americans are electing politicians that force you to be there. Not having choice in what you are doing and having to see the monstrous violence that humans may commit against one another is overwhelming, so you shut down. You dehumanize others and yourself in order to survive the brutality. Coming back to America and thinking no one cares that this is happening and being ashamed of what you did because you know it is not right, is crushing. I sacrificed my soul for six years of my life and I am trying my damndest to recover it, but I don’t ever talk about that. I do not overtly identify as a veteran because I am ashamed of what USA policy forces us to do in other countries and our own. It is so far away from what I see in the classroom and at these flag waving ceremonies that it breaks my heart to look at you all.
We do not want to think about it because it is ugly and because it is not just.
What is y’all sayin?
Do you think unarmed Americans should get shot by cops with no repercussion?
Should all those guns and equipment we use to fuck up the lives of Iraqis and Afghanis be used in your hometown? Should the National Guard deploy infantry soldiers in addition to the 1,000 police officers to occupy the town of Ferguson this weekend? While we await a Grand Jury decision, a decision over whether or not a gun and a shield can be put on trial. That USA shield protects the gun murdering the defenseless.
Please think about what you are cheering for when you chant USA! USA! USA!
Think about what policies you are supporting. You go into debt for life. The actions carried out by the military are done in your name. You are an American and your country votes for politicians that make these decisions. It is done in your name and USA support everything USA do when USA ignore what is being done.
Support the troops; show us some love.
Don’t tell, don’t just say USA.
Support the troops; bring us home from
‘The War of Terror.’
Show us the beauty in living,
Loving life every day.
Put some pretty petals in our hair.
We got enough paper medals,
Stood in enough ceremonies,
And saw so much camouflage
The world became a blur
&
All we really need is to smile more.
Cuz ain’t nothing nice.
Cept that Indiana ass whoopin
RU for our Ballers
RU for the Students
RU for them Soldiers
Gene Ratz