In the old days, as I remember them, there was actual burning going on. Of flags. The Vietnam War era was harsh. Protestors shot by the National Guard. Military spit on coming home from war.

I joined in ’77. Even as late as the 80’s in San Diego, where I was stationed, single males in the military didn’t get laid—unless paid in full in advance. We were war mongers to many of the local females, and our short hair gave us away. Nobody—of any age—had yellow ribbon bumper stickers on their cars. We didn’t get thanked for our service anywhere we went. Hell, we got kicked out of bars and clubs at the drop of a hat. They didn’t want us there! They didn’t want our money. (Probably because we usually didn’t have much money, and when we did there was a high probability it would all get spent on drink, and then things could get ugly! Understandable, but frustrating.)

San Diego, btw, is a Republican bastion of California. Military is everywhere there, and has been for many years.

The mistake too often made by too many of us is to think that people on the other ‘side’ don’t love their country like we do.

But, even those collegiate flag burners loved their country. That’s why they did it. They (stupidly, yes—but ‘young’ and ‘stupid’ do tend to go together) thought it was their patriotic duty to burn the flag as a wake-up, as a way of broadcasting their conviction that something was deeply, deeply wrong. They hated that the country they loved was at war in Vietnam!

Give people their due. Most of us work hard. Most of us want to do the right thing. All of us have different views on what the ‘right thing’ is. That’s why we vote.

"Submarines once! Submarines twice, Holy f...ing Jesus Christ! We go up and we go down..." (You don't want to know the rest...Go Navy!)

(Probably the third drunkest I ever got was with two fresh-faced marines right out of boot camp, at a strip joint in SD. They kept buying me tequilas, and I was duty-bound to keep up with them, drink for drink. It had to be done....)

(The second drunkest I ever got was in a similar situation at a rock and roll club in Honolulu, this time with three guys off a New Zealand destroyer. Tequila again. Boy those guys could f...ing drink!)