This support the troops photo bothers me.

<p>How do you know this isn't the altered one? Is this real? Which pill did you take? The Red or the Blue? Is this the Matrix or is it real?</p><p><br></p><p>I don't believe any sign on any picture posted to the internet.&nbsp;All signs can me altered to read whatever you want it to read.</p>

Exactly and that’s scary and according to content it could be a career ender.

I know what I would have did to a Marine that ever thought he or she should or would have posted something like that on social media. Unfortunately, I know I couldn’t do it in todays politically correct military and I honestly don’t know how you guys deal with some of these Troops today. Politics and Military service have never mix well and that’s exactly why I’m glad I’m retired when you could correct a Marine without totally destroying their careers. I also agree with you CSM Uhlig and if one of my Marines were every caught with either of those signs in his or her hands, an especially that second one about not getting paid and dying, they would have had a serious problem and some very sore muscles. I can assure you that Marine would have also been quickly posting another sign saying, I was a misinformed and idiot about not getting paid but their is a possibility that I could die serving my country but that’s a chance I’m willing to take to be a United States Marine. I clearly understand the errors of my way and have been provided both spiritual counseling and a corrective adjustment on my head space timing and I can ensure everyone I’ll never let a moment of ignorance, cloud my good judgement and the love of our Corps and the pleasure to serve our great country, even without pay. Semper Fi.

I know that can’t be done in todays military but I know us old guys remember those days when we did something stupid but not illegal and had options provided, office hours or a little thrashing and sore muscles was better than a half months pay and restriction to the barracks. I know I learned by hands on leadership, not mistreatment but, there’s nothing wrong with helping a young Marine reduce his stress with some good old fashion Marine Corps PT because I’ve seen Marines taken to officer hours for being stupid and rolling their eyes which, is punishable by the UCMJ if it’s seen as disrespect and not ignorance. I’ve know many good Marines that just made a stupid mistake will learn better from hands physical training than getting office hours. I also know from years of experience they’ll respect you even more and will attack any hill for you, when they know you could but choose not to put pen to paper just to get their attention, sadly because of poor leadership, I’ve seen Marines go to officer hours just for rolling their eyes and yes that could be disrespect but that also could be because of poor leadership. Now of course if they broke the laws under the UCMJ, I certainly supported the use of the UCMJ if necessary in those rare cases to ensure the good morale, welfare and discipline of the unit always comes first.

I'll grant you that the cardboard written sign slightly resembles a pan handler. I will say that the message written on the cardboard in no way resembles what a pan handler scrawls on their sign. I'm not justifying the image or the action behind it, but I can clearly discern between the message of a pan handler begging for money and this soldier asking for virtual support. I'm not trying to justify what is going on, I'm merely trying to give perspective to the view. I'm sure I could search and find several dozen images similar to this in a 15 minute search. It does not make it right, but it does not make it wrong. If, on the surface, I can't find a violation of regulation or protocol do I need to dig until I find something or let it blow off it's steam?

I think there’s a lot of speculation about the content on this sign that makes us question its validity, plus it doesn’t send a positive message about the state of out troops well-being. I myself wouldn’t be to quick to judge its validity because, the same solider is standing in the exact same position in both photos. I also agree that something does look strange about the way he’s holding his left and right hand. We all agree the photo appears to have been altered and it doesn’t take an expert, especially with photo shop and all other the apps that are out there online today, It is scary because you can almost do anything with a photo and according to what it’s content is, it could end someone career. It could also be as innocent as he was wishing us all a Happy New Years, or he could have been holding his weapon or unit guidon when you look at the position of his arms and hands. I guess we’ll never know unless someone knows who he is and will simply ask him or whoever took the original photo if it’s real and why they choose the poor content it portrays on our military. The only thing we know is it’s the same solider, he’s holding the same sign with a different message on the same cardboard a therefore. it would leads me to believe the sign has been altered. There are too many indicators to prove it’s been altered, especially when you look at the three TAPE marks, they are all identical in shape, shade of color and are in the exact the same location on both photos and those tape marks or to perfect, so it is definitely the same piece of cardboard so we can conclude with a great deal of confidence it has been photoshopped plus, the handwriting and type of print doesn’t appear to me to have been written by the same person, that’s just humble opinion but I’m not an expert lol. I hope someone gets to the bottom of this photo so we can all rest easy. Semper Fi my brothers and sisters