Marine Dad set's Lebron Straight

[USNAviator]

Marine Dad to Lebron: You’re not in combat

By Brian Shane - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Mar 27, 2011 9:28:14 EDT
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Pro basketball superstar LeBron James used his @KingJames Twitter account to pump himself up for the remainder of the NBA season.
</form> “20+ games left in phase 2,” he tweeted March 2. “I’m ReFOCUSED! No prisoners, I have no friends when at WAR besides my Soldiers.”

That sentiment didn’t sit well with South Florida Sun-Sentinel sports editor Joe Schwerdt, who has two sons in the Marine Corps, one in the Reserves and the other deployed to Afghanistan.
Schwerdt saw the tweet while at work and it “just struck a nerve.” He immediately began to write.

“Dear LeBron,” Schwerdt wrote. “Just wanted to let you know: You are not at war. You are not a soldier. …(W)hat you do and who you are is not even close to what they do and who they are.

“You are probably a nice guy,” he continued. “And you are not the first athlete to compare sports to war; athletes to warriors; games to battle. I don’t mean to single you out. But it is time to stop those comparisons.”

“People die in wars. They rarely die playing the games you play. If they do, it is not because they are attacked or shot at or booby trapped by an enemy. People lose limbs in war. Their bodies are torn apart by IEDs. Their legs and arms are ripped through by bullets and rockets,” he wrote.

Schwerdt goes on to say that James — and by extension, pro athletes like him — go to work in cozy arenas before throngs of adoring fans. Marines, on the other hand, go to work patrolling village streets, unaware of who the enemy is or what might be lurking around a corner.

[Tennessee Top]

Right on!

[Osotogary]

I just recently saw a "motivation speech" given to a group of young men by their coach on You Tube. Boy, he sure sounded strong and his body language showed extreme effort on his part to get his listening audience to think of themselves as champions. Okay, okay, I got into the enthusiasm myself until the coach started using combat descriptions, never quit , never let the enemy beat you, I would die for you, no one can change me or how I think because I am a champion and I am at war (or something like that).
Anyhow, as the video was winding down, I was asked by the Recruiter what I thought of the "motivational speech". I asked if the speaker had ever been in combat, or if the speaker was addressing a group of Marines. The recruiter said, no, the speaker was a coach addressing his football team before a game. That blew my mind. Although never having been in combat/war myself, I feel rather strongly about such references being used for recreation purposes. That could have been me writing LeBron except that I don't do Twitter but I do live in South Florida. Good for you, Marine Dad (Mr. Schwerdt)