A long time friend of mine, whom I served with and whom is still active duty and is now a W-4, rotary wing pilot, came to visit while on leave. His next stop is the Gulf. Yesterday we decided to go to the local pub, shoot some pool, and have a few cold ones. This youngster and two of his young friends entered the bar and began talking shit about Bush (I don't really mind that as I am not a fan of Bush) and then began talking shit about our boys in uniform as being Nazis, baby killers, rapists, legal muderers, etc. I told them to shut the fuck up. The biggest one of the group asked me what I intended to do about it and I assured him that I would shut him up if he and they continued with their shit talking. He then decided to shut me up and threw a punch and that is when the shit hit the fan.
I know the owner of the bar, so I went up this morning to talk with her and see what and if any damages were done. I paid for some minor damage. I also learned that her bartender had called the police last night (when they showed up at the hospital I thought the hospital had called them). The guys friends left when they heard the bartender call the cops (good friends). My friend was going to drive me to the emergency room as I had hurt, my already injured back, to have some X-rays taken. My friend could see that the guy I had the confrontation with had an injured shoulder so he offered the guy a ride to the hospital. The guy has a dislocated shoulder and a broken finger. My X-rays will be sent to my regular doctor and he will compare them to older X-rays and see if any more damage has been done to my back and if so he will call me. I told the guy last night to forward any medical bills on to me and any loss of wages (it turns out that he is not employed).
I will repeat that under the same circumstances, I would react the same way. For those that don't approve of me or my actions you have the consolation of knowing that today I can barely walk and the pain in my back is level 10. So
