On the “ARC – Steadyhand” shitshow thread I have a few comments

1. I aired a bad attitude. It’s because I have one.

a. I am convinced the Dems will shove every one of their bills down our throat

b. I truly didn’t know SF was a such a protected place that grown men/women required shielding from negativity, because that sounds totally like a DEMOCRAT environment to me…you know which one I mean…the snow flake kind

c. I admit the bad attitude…do the same if you can’t stomach it due to a terrible bout of snowflakiness

2. I didn’t use my service, family sacrifices and full-house body damage as a shield to excuse my ‘crankiness’

a. I brought it up after a SF member called me a “bullshit” ‘coward’

b. I am nobody’s coward (bullshit, maybe), and if my service cannot convey that, then you must not like or even know veterans very much…perhaps you even have contempt for veterans?

3. I moved my family from MA to Virginia, because my wife’s cortisol was consistently elevated to life-threatening levels – unlike my wife, I was physically there only 3 months out of 18 in 2002/03, because I was deployed twice out on the big blue…

a. I remained attached to counter-surveillance group at Hanscomb AFB in MA for several years after my family moved to VA

b. My wife healed nicely in VA – the stress of MA was literally killing her (she’s from MO)

c. Healing my wife isn’t a cowardly move

Again, I am nobody’s coward. My service was expressed to provide some recognizable evidence I do not cut/run – I flew into danger, over and over and over again. Time will prove me correct about the outcome in Virginia.

Short of coming to my front door and seeing if I am any sort of coward, just accept that 30yrs of service should stand as said proof. However, I suggest you try Jesus before you try me.

Signed - bitter, angry f-kin veteran

(BTW, I am a veteran whose ongoing V.A. PTSD treatments will now subject me to direct/immediate gun confiscation – look it up) – enjoy your self-defense, the new RED FLAG law means I bitterly divest my weapons or disavow and discontinue my PTSD therapies.

I personally don't care what kind of military vet you are (AF, Navy, MC, Army, CG) -- you are a VET and have my respect and admiration.

I did read the shit storm and didn't get involved and wouldn't until all the facts were presented -- you did that and thanks for that.

Take care and be safe.

Tinyman (USAF 24+)

As a fellow veteran, though certainly with nowhere even remotely close to your life's commitment, I salute you, sir!

That being said: While I feel some of the shots taken at you were uncalled-for, you were essentially shitting in an otherwise celebratory thread--something site management has clearly, repeatedly cautioned members not to do.

You can be forgiven for not having known that, at least IMHO. The proper response, particularly from a moderator, would have been to point out management's policy and telling you to put a sock in it.

And peace be to you.

quote:

Originally posted by SteadyHand:

1. I aired a bad attitude. It’s because I have one.

Been there, doing that. You don't owe anyone an apology/explanation.

I will say this, as a civilian nobody with no credentials: I respect your background and your service. I respect that you've had to make decisions you didn't want to have to make. Life is complicated, and without knowing everything about someone, it's not intellectually honest to call someone a coward because you disagree with what they've done.

I will be leaving Washington state for many of the same reasons you left Massachusetts, and will likely leave Virginia. I brought it up in a recent thread and got sideways with a few members I like and I feel bad about it, but the fact is, I don't want to play musical chairs with gun laws, and they sure aren't going to fucking stop here, and I'm not going to be the guy left without a chair when the music stops.

If anyone wants to call me a coward for leaving, that's fine. I take a different approach than you have, however. I simply don't give a fuck. I've got to do what's right for my family, and myself. And getting goaded into a fight over something as stupid as being labeled a coward doesn't even rank on my "give a shit" meter. I see it all the time on the local gun forums about how people who moved into Washington and are ready to leave over these changes should just "get the fuck out already, we don't want or need you. If you're such a coward that you won't fight this WHICH IS COMING TO EVERY CORNER OF THE COUNTRY!!!! then we don't need you." Nah, I think it's bullshit and some places are simply fucked. I lived in New York. I'm not doing that again.

You spent 30 years serving our country and saw combat. You aren't a coward and you really shouldn't even pay attention to someone who says you are. What you might oughta do is stop giving a shit what others think. Handle your business and let it roll off your man-shoulders. I don't owe anybody anything, least of all an explanation for my "cowardly actions" and you sure as hell don't either. Buck up, cowboy.

Thank you for service. Tough not to be pissed off at the current level of stupid and criminal acts of elected idiots. I left Washington state after spending 18 years in West Seattle. It's been 25 years since returning to the state I grew up in and the liberal disease here is making it difficult to remain civil.

As a Christian all this appears to be more of what societies of the past experienced, evil people with evil support from stupid people who have no clue what they are a part of. Sad, but apparently man has not changed or learned much from history.

Vets are still people. People fuck up and do things you don't agree with. It's not a halo.

Many folks seem to be endorsing a "zero tolerance" policy on giving a vet crap for anything. Not only is this nonsensical, but I highly doubt these same folks would feel the same way if they had a first person problem with someone who just happened to be a vet.

Unless an issue at hand directly involves someones military service, I don't see why that can't be a separate issue. It seems like it has to get intertwined into everything these days.

Thank you for your service.
You seem like a great person who has a lot to offer this forum and I hope cooler heads prevail.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Vets are still people. People fuck up and do things you don't agree with. It's not a halo.

Many folks seem to be endorsing a "zero tolerance" policy on giving a vet crap for anything. Not only is this nonsensical, but I highly doubt these same folks would feel the same way if they had a first person problem with someone who just happened to be a vet.

Unless an issue at hand directly involves someones military service, I don't see why that can't be a separate issue. It seems like it has to get intertwined into everything these days.

I both agree and disagree. I don't think anyone who served deserves a "halo." There's a couple of very proud Marines I got to be friends with in the last few years who won't miss a chance to shit all over Trump, and as a result, I simply don't talk to them anymore. It's easier than trying to calmly argue with guys who, between the two of them, have killed enemy insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan spanning a good 25 years or so.

But, while I don't give them a free pass on everything, and certainly don't like their politics, I would never, ever call either of those men cowards. Not online, not to their face. I'd simply say "I don't agree, but let's move on." Which worked, until it didn't.

That said, I appreciate the OP's frustration as originally posted in that thread, but at the same time, feel like it was posted in poor taste. With the whole country seemingly on the march against us gun owners, a small moment of victory was at hand and being celebrated and frankly, dude, you took a dump in the punch bowl. It wasn't warranted, it wasn't needed. I get your frustration and exasperation, but you also did take the wind out of a lot of sails that needed wind and then you made it all about you. You're persisting with it with this thread. It's not about you. Can you see that?

If this is eating you up, I'm sorry to learn of it. Get to a good place, man. Don't flame out over something as minor as this. You disagreed with a mod. You survived combat. Which event should be more stressful?

Trying to make peace while calling people snowflakes is counterproductive.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
If anyone wants to call me a coward for leaving, that's fine. I take a different approach than you have, however. I simply don't give a fuck. I've got to do what's right for my family, and myself.

Yeah, I have heard all of this stuff since moving from CA to Texas. Not here on this forum directly, but on another CA based forum. The words coward, cut-and-run, quitter are the usual ones. It is actually quite amusing since the folks who throw these names out have no idea what I, and others like me, are all about.

Since the beginning, humans have migrated, moved, and relocated throughout Earth's history. To find more food and game, to find more water, to escape tyranny and corruption, to find a better life for themselves and family. My wife and I did this two years ago, and to say we live better lives is an extreme understatement. For the last 5 years in CA, we were both stressed and pissed off every almost single day because of living in CA. Our kind was hated and despised; when Trump took office, eventually some friends and family decided to stop calling us.

We decided enough was enough. Gun laws did not even make it in our Top 5 Reasons of leaving CA. And moving to another state took guts, it was much more difficult than staying, trust me.

Steadyhand, you're not a coward. You did what billions of others have done in human history, you moved to a better life for you and your loved ones.

I do not know Mr. Hand. I do not know if he is or is not a coward, and honestly I don't care. I can tell from reading what he has written that he is struggling and I hope he is able to sort things out. I often find that art can improve my spirits. I hope that this video will help people get rid of the poopy pants that are bringing them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDWgqDBNXA

You’re no coward, Steadyhand. There’s a time to fight and a time to move. Where you came from (MA) is a lost cause. Demographics prove it.

It’s easy to have a bad attitude when you see some of the POS’s being elected in this country like governor blackface in Virginia. It’s boggles the minds of decent people how even one person could vote for a POS like him.

Don’t let it get you down.

It's a shame that you took crap from anyone in that thread for deciding what's best for your family and yourself. Thank you for your years of service.

My niece retired as a Colonel in the USAF. She was on the short list for General, but passed over under Obama. So she retired from her last assignment, took her pension, and now does the same job for the USAF as a civilian. We couldn't be more proud of her.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Trying to make peace while calling people snowflakes is counterproductive.

Sometime people need to STFU. Now might be one of those times. So I will maybe you should too.

“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

quote:

It's a shame that you took crap from anyone in that thread for deciding what's best for your family and yourself.

Steadyhand took crap for having a defeatist attitude in the face of a successful rally. It's been asked numerous times on this forum to let people celebrate a success for at least a few days. I remember before Trump was elected forum members being told to knock off the defeatist BS and hand wringing. It's nothing new here. Some people are just never happy.

I'm not sure why my name needs to be in caps. What was said in the other thread seemed more than adequate, but so be it. The situation was this:

In a thread about impending legislation in VA, on the lead-up to a rally with an as yet unknown outcome, the membership in VA needed positive support.

A member continued to post "VA has fallen" related sentiment, after being asked repeatedly to knock it off, in deference to other more optimistic people, and the desired non-defeatist direction of the board.

When members ignore things asked of them, it can get old, and particularly with the very quick turn to "give up," it's exasperating. Sometimes, language can get salty.

While Steadyhands posts regarding his service and situation may explain some things, they don't excuse his party-pooping in a thread meant to buoy members in VA towards an uncertain future. At issue was behavior, years of service in the military and other factors have nothing to do with it. That is what "irrelevant" meant.

Perhaps in the future if people do what is asked, like stop darkening a thread, no ones feelings will get hurt. I do my best, but I'm just a guy. When you say "I left MA, and now I have to leave VA," I'm going to take that in context and say what I think. Whether you served in the military or service portable toilets for a living.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Trying to make peace while calling people snowflakes is counterproductive.

Sometime people need to STFU. Now might be one of those times. So I will maybe you should too.

WTF?

IMO, Leemur is spot on. That one sentence was the same petty shit SteadyHand did when both members and moderators tried to get him to enjoy a day that was win after win after win or at least not rain on others' parade.

While I respect and admire his 3 decades of service, I agree with flesheatingvirus that being a veteran is not intertwined with every single topic.

Since Steadyhand rarely posts he likely missed 2015 & 2016 when a few but persistent Debbie Downers shit on practically every SF thread (thankfully Para gave 'em the boot, they left on their own, or got their head out of their dark place). Our economy was doomed forever, the unemployed were going to outnumber the employed, Republicans couldn't win, Republicans had no spine, we'll get 2 more liberal SCOTUS justices, yada, yada, yada. The last 3 years of the Trump presidency should be emboldening us instead of convincing us to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Trump was elected (i.e. Hillary lost), our economy is doing incredible, unemployment is the lowest it has been in decades, Republicans found their spine during the Kavanaugh confirmation, Kavanaugh has so far been the SCOTUS justice we had hoped for, and Republicans haven't lost their spine and continue to fight.