Veterans Day 2017: Vets Plan To Boycott NFL Games On Sunday

(by Alexandra Gallo, CNN Wire, posted at CBS News local Denver)  SCRANTON. PA – While many professional athletes are taking a knee, many veterans are taking a stand.

One group of veterans released a statement last month about NFL players protesting during the National Anthem. They are condemning those actions.

“We’re the people that fought and defended the freedom to protest. There is a time and a place to protest,” said Lackawanna County Council of Veterans Commander Joe Albert.

The Council of Veterans say they are not condemning athletes using their platforms to protest, but as soldiers who have served active duty, they feel protesting the flag and the National Anthem is disrespecting the country they have fought for.

Now, many veterans say they have turned the games off, and that they will take part in a national boycott of all NFL games on Sunday, Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day.

“[NFL players] have so much power. It is wrong for them to abuse their power,” said Ed Faatz, the president of Friends of the Forgotten.

The Lackawanna County Veterans say protesting while in uniform is abusing that power, and that they should be doing it on their own time.

“It’s very disappointing because these are idols of society and it’s trickling down. It’s when the high school players start to do it. The college kids start to do it. Their coaches don’t tolerate it,” Albert said.

The news brief above was posted at CBS News local Denver on Nov. 6, from CNN Wire. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.

Watch a Pennsylvania local news report on this topic:

VETERANS DAY

In 2010, Marine Lieutenant General John F. Kelly (who is currently the White House Chief of Staff) said in a Veterans Day speech:

Those with less of a sense of service to the nation never understand it when men and women of character step forward to look danger and adversity straight in the eye, refusing to blink, or give ground, even to their own deaths. The protected can’t begin to understand the price paid so they and their families can sleep safe and free at night. No, they are not victims, but are warriors, your warriors, and warriors are never victims, regardless of how and where they fall. Death, or fear of death, has no power over them. Their paths are paved by sacrifice, sacrifices they gladly make for you.

Like those who went before them in uniform, we owe them everything. We owe them our safety. We owe them our prosperity. We owe them our freedom. We owe them our lives. Any one of them could have done something more self-serving with their lives as the vast majority of their age group elected to do after high school and college, but no, they chose to serve knowing full well a brutal war was in their future. They did not avoid the basic and cherished responsibility of a citizen—the defense of country—they welcomed it. They are the very best this country produces, and have put every one of us ahead of themselves. All are heroes for simply stepping forward, and we as a people owe a debt we can never fully pay.

In his speech, Lt. Gen. Kelly tells the story of the bravery of two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter in Ramadi, Iraq.  Read the speech (and find links to the video) at:  whatsoproudlywehail.org