On June 28th, 2005, Danny Dietz, a 25-year old Navy SEAL and three other SEALs were ambushed by Al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan. Dietz was severely wounded, yet stayed and fought for 45 minutes, allowing one of his teammates to escape. For his deeds, Dietz was awarded the Navy Cross.

Dietz’s body was found on a mountainside on July 4th. He had died trying to defend his three other SEAL teammates.

To honor Dietz, a memorial has been erected and dedicated in his home town of Littleton, Colorado. The dedication took place this past July 4th, two years after his body had been found on that mountainside in Afghanistan.

However, what should be a solemn tribute to a fallen hero turned into a controversial issue in the city as a group of parents took issue with the memorial statue because it featured Dietz holding a rifle.

In one argument, the parents complained that the statue was too close to area schools and playgrounds. To further that argument, they complain that the statue presents the wrong image. One of the mothers, Emily Cassidy, said:

“I don’t think young children should be exposed to that in that way - unsupervised by their parents or any adults.”

And Linda Cuesta, a mother who’s child was at Columbine high school during the shooting there, said:

“As much as it breaks my heart to do this, we have to weigh the effect of the statue in this particular place against the family’s feelings. Who wins here? It’s a tough situation.”

I’m sure it does break her heart, but that’s because she’s a WUSSY! They’re all a bunch of spineless wussies. The nerve of people in this day and age is atrocious and disgusting. Danny Dietz’s father, Dan Dietz, retorted to this by saying:

“It broke our hearts. My son was fighting for her freedom to do exactly what she is doing. She put my son in the same category as Columbine. How does she have the audacity to do that?”

I agree. How would anybody have the audacity to do something like that. It is absolutely revolting that people like Cassidy and Cuesta have the nerve to protest a memorial to a fallen hero simply because they don’t think children should be exposed to it. Does that mean that these women will keep their children away from other war memorials around the country? Will they keep their children away from the television where guns and violence are frequently glorified? What is it exactly that these women are trying to protect? Is it their distaste for war and the military that is driving this?

Allen Stone of the Littleton VFW said it best:

“The people who have never served in the armed forces are always the ones who speak the loudest against what the armed forces have done.”

I think that is entirely true. As a veteran, I have had the most lively and frustrating arguments with people who have never - and would never - serve in the armed forces, yet they think that their opinion carries more weight because it comes from their feelings rather than their experiences. Sounds pretty backwards to me, but it seems to be what I have to deal with more often than not.

Getting back to the wussy parents though, when it comes to the facts, they seem to think they have the answers. When presented with the fact that war memorials around the world feature rifles, swords, cannons etc, Cuesta simply said “trends are changing.”

Are they now? Or is simply that people like her are not willing to accept the fact that there are things that the armed forces do that need to be done. She claims to be an advocate of gun control, so is it her opinion that all guns are bad - even those in the hands of soldiers who fight off bad guys to save their friends? I would certainly seem that is what is being said… But I guess I could be putting words into her mouth.

Cindy Dietz, Danny’s mother, also had some words of wisdom to say, which I feel carry much more weight than the whose of the wussy parents:

“Our son attended those schools. Without us parents teaching children what our heroes are doing for us … you can’t shelter them from that.”

I agree. There is no reason to shelter children from something like this. Children should understand what it means to be a hero. They should not have the “dumbed down, friendly, politically correct” version of what happens in this world. They should know that a soldier carries a gun to defend their freedom and their country. It should not be up to the wussy parents to tell the story as they see fit. It may not be a warm and fuzzy view of reality, but it is the truth.

Regarding the statue itself and the fact that Danny Dietz is holding his gun at rest, his father simply said:

“What we thought of was to portray the courage and bravery of the young men who are protecting our freedoms.”

and his mother says of the children who would see the statue:

“I would hope they’d gaze into the face of that hero.”

I can’t imagine the pain that the Dietz family went through. Their son was a hero and died doing what he did best. He deserves this memorial and people, including children, deserve to know the plain truth about this hero. He was a soldier who served his country and his friends with distinction.

This post is in honor of Danny Dietz and his family.

Thanks to Euphoric Reality for bringing this to my attention

Quotes and pictures from the Denver Post

cross posted from A [sometimes] logical view of the illogical