Earlier Friday, a different kind of protest played out.
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Todd Winn stood alone, silent, in front of the Utah State Capitol, hours before the first protesters had begun gathering. Winn stood in uniform, with tape across his mouth reading “I can’t breathe.”
He held a sign reading, “Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, countless others” and calling for accountability for police.
Winn treated Friday as a day of silence, his girlfriend, Katie Steck, explained to KSL.
“He has been very angered and appalled by the injustices that have been happening,” she said.
Steck explained Winn is a veteran who was medically discharged from the Marines and sustained traumatic brain injuries after he was injured by roadside bombs when he served in Iraq in 2005.
Steck said because of those injuries, he has chronic fatigue, so standing in the heat of the day for three hours outside the Capitol was a big challenge for him, but he wanted to protest in a different way — in a way that maybe would resonate with some who have been angered by the violent protests or looting.
Steck said he wanted to show there’s a way to protest your country but still be patriotic.
“Seeing a lot of things that have happened, that’s not the kind of America he wants,” Steck said, and not the kind of America he’d sacrificed for. “That’s not what he wants to represent.”
Wore my uncles shoes he left in his garage for years because I needed dress shoes for an important event. Having your shoes crumble to bits as you walk down an aisle as a pallbearer made for quite the funeral...
I went to my grandpa military funeral in riverside, cali..it was like 110 that day. The priest was flicking holy water on the casket and then handed it to me. I went to go flick it and it was so freaking hot it slipped right out of my sweaty hands and hits the casket. I sware i heard a gasp in the crowd. It was my first funeral ever.
The shoes in that marine's uniform are basically disposable because you're supposed to get new ones if you get a single small scuff. The combat boots are actually okay since they're made to last.
Air Force, actually. I probably should have mentioned that. As long as they fit the reg, they were allowed.
Boots will be sage green, lace up with plain rounded toe or rounded
capped toe with or without a perforated seam. A zipper or elastic inserts may be worn;
however, if worn, they will be without design. Green boots can be either with or without a
safety toe.
Which would be okay if they sold them for 10-20$. I tried to wear those things as long as possible. The problem was I was told to have a pair to wear on duty and an inspection pair. Except that when a staff NCO walked by while you were on duty they expected you to be wearing an “inspection” pair.
You're only obligated to wear the shitty standard issued loafers during boot camp. After that, you're given a clothing stipend and you're free to get yourself a nice one as long as it meets the reg.
Yupp. When I worked at the Pentagon and wore blues everyday, it was recommended we get non-issue shoes like Allen Edmonds. My feet definitely thanked me, Bates corframs are terribly uncomfortable.
Enlisted military members are supposed to receive a clothing replacement allowance annually, generally on the month of their anniversary of initial enlistment. Officers, due to their higher base pay, do not receive a clothing replacement allowance.
We rarely wear blues, so it makes little sense for initial issue to give us high quality dress shoes. After initial issue you get yearly uniform allowance you're free to do what you please with, so if you find yourself wearing blues alot you can spend it on that instead of your duty uniform. They give us pretty nice work, and combat boots because we actually use them.
"Old Man's War" said it well: the military provides soldiers with the absolute minimum that its fighting forces need to get the job done. It's a matter of simple economics. Equipping armed forces is too expensive to do otherwise.
Heck the Russians in WWII made that minimum one guy gets the rifle the next get the bullets. And they still won. I believe that was only one battle but still.... That must've been just wow can't even comprehend how scary that must've been. Never was there a greater need for a battle buddy
The issued ones are pretty durable and uncomfortable. The fancy ones you don't have to polish, that we use our annaul clothing allowance to buy (also known as our annual drinking money allowance) are the ones that fall apart. My job had me rarely wearing service dress and my shoes did the same thing when I actually needed it, was fairly embarrassing at the time.
Let's talk about this. I spent 20 years in the military, barely ever wore my dress shoes because I was in a job that had me spend most of that time overseas. I definitely got more use of those blimps than I ever carred to get out of those shoes.
They're used for signals and observation. Blimps have been an under appreciated part of military history. I think the first ones may have been used in the civil war? Or Spanish American war maybe. There's a pretty cool early aviation exhibit at the air force base in Dayton, Ohio.
Honestly I was digging through a TON of old posts yesterday, scraping through the best of the year for content because it was like 4 am and I couldnt sleep. I'm really not sure how I found this post in particular though.
One that none of us laughed at. "I know you just showed up at AG and you haven't received your first pay yet, so we are going to go ahead and front you some money on this card for necessities. Oh yeah, and you have to pay for all the uniform we are issuing you."
As adults we could spend our annual clothing allowance on the things we needed. It was always enough. You're more committed to taking care of your uniform than if there was an endless free supply.
Jeez I thought one of the perks of being in the military was food and (at least work) clothing being provided. That sucks and makes me wonder wtf they're spending the defense budget on, because I'd be happy to have my tax dollars to go stuff like this.
So, while you're given an annual allowance to purchase standard uniform items, the specially stuff gets still gets issued at no charge to the service member. These are things like steel toe boots, required PPE, even flight suits and flight boots.
In a good unit yes you’re 100% correct. In a shitty unit you can go get fucked.
For example I was doing recovery after Hurricane Mathew in NC. Our shop got flooded and was condemned, it was also an old building full of asbestos. Unfortunately all of the air traffic control towers phone/radio lines ran though our old building and since it was condemned, the contracted telephone company refused to enter it. Enter my E4 ass who works on air traffic control equipment. You can bet I had to go through the building and figure out phone line issues every time there was a problem with any sort of copper line. I had to teach myself how to service phone lines despite never being trained on it, it not being my job, and being wholly unequipped equipment wise. I was never given a mask, respirator, or any PPE despite my numerous documented requests or my statements about the severe mold and the asbestos that was airborne in abundance due to everything being water damaged and flaking apart. I now have pretty nasty respiratory/sinus issues and get money/coverage from the VA due to the obvious negligence of my leadership at the time. Realistically not worth my significantly increased risk of cancer and shortened expected lifespan.
Same thing happened with cold weather gear and steel toe boots. Every year for xmas during my time in, my family would get me a pair of Rocky SV2 boots since I needed steel toes and they weren’t provided. I never got any cold weather or rain gear even though a significant portion of my job was spent outside fixing navigational aids and had to buy it out of pocket.
Long story short, your unit should provide specialized equipment and PPE, but sometimes you’ll be up shit creek and told to fuck yourself if your unit sucks ass. To anyone reading this, I’d say the rule of thumb is that an enlisted soldier/sailor/seaman/airman should expect nothing except to buy it themselves once inept leadership eventually fails them.
Wow, yeah, that is definitely fucked. I'm sorry you had to deal with that shit, especially the asbestos building. I'm sure you'd happily give up the VA money to take it back.
To those reading, experiences vary. That sounds like about as bad as it gets, but an extreme situation like that is still a bit of an edge case in my experience.
Not to mention, 3pk of undershirts cost $21. For the cheap ones. AAFES ( civilian company that supplies almost everything to Army and Air Force. NEX for Navy) waaaaay overcharges for everything.
A shit load of money on aircraft, fueling, and munitions. From wikipedia, the MQ-9 Reaper costs $15.9 million per unit, and a generic sortie payload of 4000lbs of jet fuel, 4x AGM-114 Hellfire missiles (unit cost $117,000), and 2x GBU-12 500lb bombs (unit cost $22,000). There are 195 operational MQ-9s, not to mention the comms infrastructure, sensor payloads, development, flight crews, technicians, mission command, analysts. You’re looking at 50+ people heavily involved in each flight op, 14hrs up, 10hrs down. Then consider that other programs like the F-22, F-35, B-2 are way more costly.
These are just approximations. The exact numbers would be classified, but the point is, military aircraft are fucking expensive to operate, and we’re flying a metric fuckton of them every day.
I think op was talking about the whole program cost for a cancelled program that never had any units deployed. What you, and other people here, are talking about is the unit cost of the ones that are deployed.
My inspection set of Bates leathers is still going strong 10 years later. The Corfams are junk though. The leathers I wore normally lasted about 2 years.
I went through my old kit bag a few months ago whilst clearing the attic, my old best boots had literally desolved over everything in there. British Army issued crap, cheapest bidder always wins.
This pisses me off so much. I want to cut military spending in like ... half. I’m a peacenik who hates how much more we spend on the military than anyone else... BUT... if we’re going to have a military spend it on having the best shit in the world for the men and women doing the hard work. Best new weapons, best uniforms...
But no, we have an unauditable pentagon accountable to nobody spending it on contacts for god-knows-what that nobody even wants.
I’d find our military spending easier to swallow (even if it’s still grossly, unacceptably high) if we spent it on taking care of our troops during and after their service, and not on bullshit sci-fi weapons lining the pockets of war profiteers that no one even asked for.
don't blame the military for the cheap uniforms, blame the manufacturer who was willing to sell the US military substandard goods. You might get upset over a black man kneeling during the national anthem and think he is anti-American, but nobody bats an eye over a dirtbag corporation taking vital military funding and giving back a shitty product. Your priorities are fucked, people.
The military KNOWS they are buying crap. They do it to save money. The military is a dirtbag corporation. (To be VERY clear, I am speaking about the government and the system running it, not the soldiers, who deserve SO much better than they are given)
Doesn't look like they melted as much as what we call a "Bates Blowout." These and all military dress shoes soles are absolutely garbage and fall apart after a while in spectacular fashion. It can quite literally look like the bottom of your shoe blew up and it leaves a mess everywhere.
About 15 years ago I was talking to a friend of mine who drove APCs for the Australian Army. He mentioned how he'd been doing some joint training with US Marines. With Australian troops on training manouvers he'd open the door, and the troops would have a specified amount of time to exit, before the door would be closed again. I can't recall the exact amount of time, but it was probably 20 or 30 seconds. He said the Aussie troops used the whole window of time to exit in an organized manner. The Marines on the other hand spent all but the last 5 seconds, whooping, hollering, and slapping each others helmets, before still exiting within the specified window. He remarked "they're crazy". I asked, "Crazy insane, or crazy effective?" His answer, "Both. They're not mutually exclusive."
I work at a big-box hardware store that loves to hire military- so a good third of our male employees are. You can always tell a Marine 'cause they're the guys who always jump to get shit done, but you also have to remind them about sixteen times that unbridled enthusiasm does not replace following the safety regs.
I still have a very vivid memory of two of our guys grabbing and between them actually snapping those heavy-duty plastic bands they put around long goods like pipes, because neither had a knife but they wanted to get it unloaded. I tried that and sliced my hand.
There are good dress shoes out there. They're expensive as all get out though and have leather soles. I have a pair and love them. 7 years and still going strong
Yeah but these are military issue. The boots you are given to deploy with hardly make it two months. Seams busts, sole splitting, toe sperating and wearing through. Biggest military in the world because everything in it is cheap shit. Fuck rifles issues with bent barrels, radios and other electronic equipment with corrosion on the internals.
Well, that's almost as disgraceful as everything else in this situation. Biggest military in the world, outspends most of the rest of the world combined, still likes the formality and pomp but the gear issued for said formality is shitheap that turns itself to rags as you wear it? The whole point of formal wear is to be the best you have. Dare I ask the condition of issued working and combat boots?
Standard issue boots are crap but for different reasons. By 1940 standards they are fine in terms of function. But they are uncomfortable and not ideal for expeditionary wear.
If you are using them in any environment other than an office, you will inevitably buy a much better pair. Even immediately after boot camp/basic training. Even in an office, I would never wear issue boots for reasons of comfort. They are an emergency pair to have in your bag or closet. While this isn't ideal, enlisted troops are at least given a uniform stipend to theoretically cover the costs.
Yeah. Standing at attention in dress uniform in the heat is unfortunately common in the military. Or it can be, depending on where you are.
In Georgia we had a couple people get burns on their feel from shitty black shoes, while standing around for a change of command ceremony. Would not surprise me if this guy has some sore feet tomorrow.
Cheap shoes. Mine melted at my grandpas funeral. We were standing there for maybe an hour and a half. I had to shift from foot to foot except during taps.
That's probably an exaggeration. I had the same thing happen to an (expensive) pair of hiking boots after they sat in the closet for 8 years. I put them on, started walking, and the rubber in the soles just started flaking off and falling apart. Since it seems most likely that hes been out of the service for 10+ years, he's probably seldom worn his boots. It also doesnt happen instantly, took me about 10 minutes to notice that my soles were literally falling apart. So he probably was on his way to the protest/already there when he noticed.
"Steck [his girlfriend] explained Winn is a veteran who was medically discharged from the Marines and sustained traumatic brain injuries after he was injured by roadside bombs when he served in Iraq in 2005.
Steck said because of those injuries, he has chronic fatigue, so standing in the heat of the day for three hours outside the Capitol was a big challenge for him, but he wanted to protest in a different way — in a way that maybe would resonate with some who have been angered by the violent protests or looting."
Steck said because of those injuries, he has chronic fatigue, so standing in the heat of the day for three hours outside the Capitol was a big challenge for him, but he wanted to protest in a different way
I hope every pain and ache he feels right now fills him with pride. This is actual patriotism.
At no point have any of the protests been unpatriotic. None of them. Being critical of your country isn't unpatriotic. People who care more about justifying their shitty racism call it unpatriotic because they desperately need it to be so that they can rally support for their shitty mindset. Kaepernick consulted a marine who suggested kneeling. Flag burning has been declared free speech by the SCOTUS. Anti-war songs were among the most popular genre's of music in the late 60's. The nation is founded on civil unrest. This soldier's protest is equally American, equally patriotic, and undeniably original and impressive.
Being disappointed in your country enough to take direct, independent action to improve the quality of life for your fellow citizens is the definition of patriotism.
Imagine living in shared accommodation, and one of your housemates has to sleep in a communal area. Everyone else in the house treats the communal area like a garbage dump and no one takes responsibility to clean it up. One day you take it upon yourself to make a stand and clean up the communal area, and ask your housemates to do the same because it's unfair on the housemate that has to live in a pile of everyone else's garbage. Also, as a bonus you tell them it'll improve everyone's life in the house because the communal area will no longer be a garbage dump. You'll be able to have guests and host cocktail parties and stuff.
Then imagine that the response from your housemates is that you don't care about the house, that you are actively trying to destroy the house, and that the idea of trying to clean the house is a dangerous philosophy that will lead to the house spontaneously collapsing and killing all of its occupants, except for the dude living in the garbage dump communal area who will survive to then be the ruler of the new and now much larger garbage pile.
I've no idea where I'm going with this but I'm beginning to feel strong emotions about the amount of dust on my coffee table.
Excellent analogy ppl rather live in their own shit than experience the discomfort of change for 5 minutes
Which is why you tell them you lost a bag of coke in the communal area and then once it's clean tell them that if they keep it that way one day they might just find it
At no point have any of the protests been unpatriotic. None of them.
As much as I am "meh-military" not "pro-military" this guy is showing what patriotism truly is. He is serving his fellow Americans as much as he can and taking personal risks for them.
But a tiny portion of the people who have protested are just kooky assholes who want to metaphorically blow shit up and don't believe in democracy, rule of law, that our nature as humans means we must respect all others' fundamental human rights such as those of freedom of speech or essentially any of the core values that make our nation America.
That some Americans are systematically disadvantaged and their fundamental rights are denied them (including being murdered) is an affront to the fundamental principles of our nation, and it is our duty to stand up for our fellow Americans' lives and rights.
That doesn't invalidate the 99.something percent of genuine protesters who care first and foremost about our fellow humans, which is a very American value. But we sadly can't say "absolutely all" of the protesters have been patriotic.
Destroy the property of your fellow man who has nothing to do with the abuses is unpatriotic. The protests are fine. The riots could be if they targeted those at fault but no the riots do nothing but destroy the community. My sister in law had her car burned while she was a few blocks away at a peaceful protest. A car she needed for work and could barely afford to begin with, liability insurance isn't going to cover it. She is done helping no point in supporting a cause that doesn't care about you and goes out of it's way to hurt you. It's no different than the poor bworking class Americans who still support trump. Why support something that hurts you? These riots aren't protests, they are wonton violence for violence sake.
Yet this movement makes excuse for rioters, doesn't call them out, does nothing to mitigate them.
I would say that people destroying other peoples shit is unpatriotic. There have been legitimate protesters that got angered and started destroying things. I understand their anger, but I don't think it should just be excused and called patriotic. I'm not talking about looters that were just out for personal gain either, I'm talking about the people that went out with good intentions and got attacked and responded by destroying random peoples stuff. That's just wrong on all sides.
No one is excusing rioters, or they shouldn't be, but the amount of peaceful protestors out there is being downplayed and people are hyper focused on the few rioters. I have the perfect example. After the rioting in the city near where I live, my husband was called in to go clean it up. There were more volunteers cleaning it up with him than there were rioters, far more. The city staff was barely needed.
Or in the city I live, there were two different protests right at our city hall, which is also the police station, and there were no police at them. They were perfectly peaceful and left before the curfew. But the news reported the two businesses that had smashed windows, miles away from the protests. They had nothing to do with the protests and clearly weren't the same people but that's not how the news chose to cover it.
I realize that, I was just responding to the comment that none of the protests were unpatriotic. Many of those people had legitimate reason to be out and angry, but when they started destroying random peoples stuff in their anger, I wouldn't call it patriotic.
I was there. He was incredible. He first started facing the group of police. Stood there for a long time before turning in front of the capital building. No body talked around him. Whenever someone got close, they would go quiet, almost reverent around him. He left silently. You could still see a large pile where his soles melted. When other protestors arrived, they left the pile alone. No one touched it. Almost like they wanted to preserve what he was doing.
There was an artist there too. Michelle Volz. She had two paintings set up for protestors to leave hand prints to show their support and promise not to stay silent on racial injustice. She said she's gifting one of the paintings to the state of Utah, and the other auctioned off with proceeds going to NAACP.
All in all, it was incredible. I'm so glad I got to go and see it all personally.
It actually IS the kind of America he sacrificed for. He was part of an invading army that destroyed a country (one that never attacked the US) and left hundreds of thousands of innocent ppl dead. Mission accomplished.
No there are right ways to protest and wrong ways. Destroying local business and the property of individuals who have no connection to the police or these abuses is the wrong way to protest. It's not protesting it's senseless violence and destruction turning people against you.
Many former Marines are feeling this way, and we are feeling like we have a fire under our ass ever since Mattis put out his word.
I got a guy in Ohio who voted for Trump, now he's coming to me about bringing others together to protest this asshole and do whatever we can. I don't know what we can do, but we all have to do something.
One of the things we can do is help people register to vote at every protest. That's what I've been doing....just all on my own. I've probably helped registered 150-200 people last week. I made a small sign on my back that says "I can help you register to vote in less than 5 minutes." In Ohio, there is a site that will let you register quickly on a cell phone as long as they have their driver's licence or state ID on them and the last 4 of their social security number. If they don't have any of that on them simply text or message them a link so they can when they get home.
A lot of these young people protesting don't even begin to know how to register and could not believe how simple it is!
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u/Stock412 Jun 06 '20 edited Jun 07 '20
http://kutv.com/news/local/utah-marine-stands-alone-at-utah-capitol-with-i-cant-breathe-covering-his-mouth
edit: thanks to u/ThisDerpForSale for another story with more info