Letter: Give our soldiers a (smoke) break

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

Regarding Larry Wyntjes' ridiculous Feb. 8 letter, in which he states being offended by seeing "several broadcast reports on TV news of our troops fighting battles, firing guns with cigarettes dangling from their mouths":

It is deplorable to read his outlandish comments about something he does not know anything about! While I do not smoke, I do understand why some would be smoking. To them it is a stress reliever, perhaps.

As a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, I can only hope that his comments never reach our soldiers who are putting their lives on the line. Our armed forces personnel have volunteered to fight the fight. They know what their job entails because they have trained many hours, days, months and years to become our elite protectors and defenders.

Not knowing what preceded those "broadcast reports" that Mr. Wyntjes commented about, and then for him to condemn someone for having a cigarette dangling from his mouth while being shot at, is totally stupid. But after all is said and done, Mr. Wyntjes is the reason we do what we do: To protect his right to do and say what he wants. That is the American way, and the people of our armed forces will continue to fight to the death to protect his rights.

Personally, I would like to see more appreciation and less criticism and whining over such insignificant things as he has bored us with.

Gary Saffell, Henderson