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Honest Thoughts From a Veteran About Gun Control and Mental Health
‘Common sense gun laws,’ a lost generation, and realistic solutions about what needs to change
“What the hell do you need that weapon for?”
I whistled low through my teeth, feeling the tension mount as the comment lingered in the air. Each of us were desperate for someone to point out the obvious, yet when it happened I wanted to crawl under a table, eat popcorn, and watch from afar. I thought my fellow soldier’s comment would provoke a war of words but he doubled down and used a scorched-earth tactic.
“Is it so you can look cool in your office while jerking it to PowerPoint slides while we’re the ones left to catch bullets?”
The staff officer was visibly shocked and then turned a fury red.
“Get ahold of your soldier, first sergeant!” He roared.
While the rest of us tried to suppress giggles, our first sergeant clapped the insult-lobbing platoon sergeant on the neck and hurried him away.
The whole incident started when my Army unit discovered that the staff officers from our command were trying to commandeer our M4 carbine rifles. They planned to leave us with older M16 models that lacked optics and night vision…
