Comrades-in-arms hurried the wounded Royal Airforce Sergeant into the Margate hospital east of London, his eyes burning from a chemical fire extinguisher cloud.
Hospital workers quickly ushered him to an empty corner of a waiting room, explaining they didn’t want his RAF camouflage fatigues to “offend” anyone.
“Offend anyone?”
Who might be offended by the work uniform of a British air force sergeant?
No time to ponder the question, Sarge. Here comes another hospital employee who decides the offensive uniform is still visible to anyone who might come around the corner, so he’s moved yet again, this time to a more discreet corner.
The Sun newspaper in the United Kingdom reports, “They said they didn’t want to upset people in the hospital. The words they used were, ‘We’ve lots of different cultures’ coming in.’”
Different cultures are apparently offended to see the country in which they reside has a military, and that they wear uniforms and protect their country.
We can’t have that.
Sergeant Marl Prendeville served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That must be terribly offensive to radical Muslims and so the hometown soldiers must be hidden from view.
One of the British Army’s most highly decorated soldiers while in service, Andy McNab, said: “We live in a liberal society where people have the right to be offended thanks to people like this bloke who stick on a uniform and defend those rights. Let people get offended - then back the bloke in a uniform.”
Except for the word, “bloke,” that sounds not unlike an American refrain.
Sadly, we are experiencing a similar problem in this country.
Just a year ago, Lt. Colonel Sherwood Baker was stopped by a security guard at the door of his daughter’s high school.
He explained he was there for an appointment with the school counselor to ensure his daughter was enrolled properly.
The security guard was soon joined by three more security contractors who announced to the Lt. Colonel that he was not permitted to enter Rochester Adams High School because his uniform might upset a student.
There don’t seem to be any reports of who this student might be and, sadly, no public reporting of the names of the security officers or the company they work for.
Principal Brian Pickering refused to allow 18 year-old Brandon Garabrant to wear his newly earned Marine uniform to his 2013 graduation from ConVal Regional High School in Peterborough, N.H., the same high school where the town held his funeral a year later. He was killed by an I.E.D. in Afghanistan.
We need to understand what these people were thinking when they made such egregious decisions. No one, certainly not reporters, seems to be asking. We should be concerned if such behavior becomes a trend.
There have been instances in England, France and here in these United States in which military officials choose to ban the wearing of uniforms off military installations.
It’s supposed to be a defensive measure to protect troops from being murdered by Islamic radicals, as though the tactic for fighting murderous jihadis is for military to wear civilian clothes.
It happened in the U.S. following the murders of four Marines and a sailor by a young American jihadi in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This, as opposed to allowing trained military to carry weapons to defend themselves and others.
Fortunately, officials in both the hospital and Rochester Adams High School instances have apologized and sworn such abuse of our men and women in uniform will never again occur at their institutions.
Unfortunately, there are thousands more institutions in this country and the U.K. for ignorantly “politically correct” functionaries to again blame the wrong people for ill will.
Rick Jensen is Delaware’s award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL, streaming live on WDEL.com from 1pm - 4pm EST. Contact Rick at rick@wdel.com, or follow him on Twitter @Jensen1150WDEL