While in the NCO corps, you rarely get termed by it unless you're being talked to by an overenthusiastic first sergeant or platoon sergeant, the fact remains that when it comes down to it, every soldier currently serving in the military is a troop. That goes from the guy standing behind Bush at a photo op to the active duty soldier getting arrested in DC because he believed this war was wrong.

You can't exactly pick and choose; "I Support The Troops Who Believe Wholeheartedly In The Iraq War" doesn't really fit on a bumper sticker or an outraged counter-protest sign, and you'd probably actually be supporting a minority anyway.

From my experience, a majority of troops I've encountered oppose this war, and the leadership who is sending their brothers to die for political purposes, hamstringing them in order that their poll figures might go up. We see a lot more than most: from Dick Cheney 'staging' reenlistments behind him while speaking so that he could make a point about people eager to go back to Iraq (the soldiers, of course, chosen at random from the audience and not reenlisting in fact at all) to a comment I heard from another NCO when Bush came to speak to us. "Someone should shoot /him/ with an RPG" she said. A hooah, gung-ho soldier and NCO, but one who, like me, felt betrayed by the way this war has been handled.

And there are, again, a lot of us.

Not everyone speaks up. It's too deeply ingrained into military culture for most to raise their voice against leaders to those outside of the service. That's why I hear it more than you do or ever will-because having enlisted and re-enlisted to serve my country, other soldiers know that I'm committed. They know I'm not going to take their words as being somehow anti-military. I know that they serve with honor; I simply know that that honor is being betrayed.

Those soldiers and veterans who do speak up are showing the ultimate bravery. They are taking the hard right over the easy wrong, they are doing the right thing even when they are condemned for it. But what I find truly amazing is looking at those people who tend to be the first to condemn them.

Most of them claim to support the troops. Most of them have not served themselves, but claim to enthusiastically support those that do. Yet when they see a soldier speaking out, legally and rightfully, against abuses they see or have seen, or speaking out their own personal political feelings on the war, somehow they become enraged. They call us traitors, and sometimes cowards. I have a buddy with more shrapnel in him than any airport metal detector will accept, yet somehow that man is a coward if he believes this war is wrong. How does this happen? How is this accepted?

Just like soldiers come in all races, both sexes, all sizes and ages, soldiers also come in all political brands. Many soldiers want to end this war. Some soldiers believe we were tricked into this war, but we may as well end it while we're there. There are even a few who believe in it-but I don't discount their service just because they hold an opinion different than mine.

A lot of these chickenhawks, who have not served but yet want to accuse those who have of not being patriotic enough, like to quote a familiar saying. "Freedom isn't free." That's right, it's not. Freedom is guaranteed by soldiers-but not this war, not this time. And it was not guaranteed by the soldiers who laid down their lives in wars previously so that their successors would be unable to enjoy it. They wished everyone to rejoice in the freedom that America offered-that America is a strong enough country to listen to all views by all people, and consider them reasonably.

So try, for once, really supporting the troops. Don't bother readjusting your magnetic yellow ribbon one more time, or attending another Gathering of Eagles rally, or watching your TV and calling out to your spouse how those dirty, un-American freaks should just leave if they don't like it here. Because we love it here. We love America. We loved America enough to sign our name on the dotted line and defend it. Try supporting us with understanding, or listening. Try supporting us by accepting that you may disagree with someone's opinion, but that doesn't call their service into question. Try supporting us by understanding that the people who have sacrificed for something have a unique perspective no one will ever know, and that they are giving you a precious gift when they share that perspective with you.

Or at least have the courage to admit that you don't support the troops, take that yellow sticker off, and say it aloud. We're not the ones who hate America and what it stands for. You are.