Mistakes, Bad Judgement , Consequences, and Mercy

Sir,

Unfortunately with Social Media, cell phone cameras, personal drones etc you have to do the best you can not to do idiotic things...You must think before you act. Your life and history is on-line. People can dig up anything anytime on anyone and destroy your reputation and image. You make a bad decision today you have to live with it......forever.

Hi, Colonel.

I assume the post to which you are referring is the one of the lady at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier standing next to a sign that reminded people to be quiet and respectful, and acting as if she’s screaming and flipping off the guard. That was just ridiculously offensive, but I don’t think she should have lost her job over it.

We are a large populace of veterans and uniformed personnel, and we are still reeling from Jane Fonda. As such, our civilian counterparts will trip over themselves to afford us a proper level of respect. I appreciate that, but let’s not demonize someone for being stupid.

I don’t believe our honor, courage, strength, and commitment are contingent on the actions of a 25 year old girl on vacation. She screwed up, massively. We should let it go.

Sir, it depends on the act.

In the case of the person you mention, she was foolish enough to document the instance, and the "promulgate" it via social media. The internet has a long long memory.

Our actions are like a shovel and a hole. A bad action digs a hole. A good action has the potential to fill it in. The more people the know about it, the deeper that hole is...