WAR: NYC Kids Send Anti-War Letters to Soldier

A 20 year old U.S. soldier recently received anti war from sixth graders in Brooklyn, New York. The letter was part of a social science class in which the students wrote to Pfc. Rob Jacobs. When he opened the letters he found the letters filled with rhetoric, accusations of killing Iraqi civilians, and a prediction that U.S. troops would die in large numbers. The superintendent of the school will send the soldier a letter of apology.




You would have thought that the letters would have been reviewed prior to sending them overseas. Jacobs is stationed in South Korea, but may soon head to Iraq. Nothing wrong about expressing opinions mind you but hardly what 6th graders should be sending to a soldier overseas. While I don't agree sending it to the White House would have been more appropriate that to this poor Pfc.

As i said in the other thread i find this offensive- yes- even for a liberal.
Those men are there fighting for something they beleive in and are in harms way. I think its shocking that kids would send them something like this in the middle of a war. These kids need a kick in the ars by the parents and the teachers.

Who are these people? Where is their pride? I don't care if you dislike this war... The President... whatever! These men and women are fighting for freedom and for the protection of the world. Saddam may not of had weapons of mass destruction but he himself was one. That kid needs to visit Iraq and watch Americans fight for freedom. For him. God Bless them. God Bless America.

Thats pretty sad, whoever is teaching these kids. They should be held accountable.

Iys one thing, if the children, of their own voilition, wish to write letters of protest about the war. But they should not be sent to some low ranking poor grunt who has no control over the situation, the teacher should have had the kids send them off to the leaders who started this war.

What purpose could it possibly serve to rag on some soldier about a war he has no control over, other than to be mean, hurtful, and malicious?

Are these teachers the same low life trash who spit on returning soldiers from Vietnam? The same who chanted baby killer at a bunch of draftees who were already looking forward to a life of guilt and PTSD?

Really, if the teachers allowed and convinced the kids to do this, they should be tarred and feathered. Thats not teaching proper citizenship, thats indoctrination and poor education.

A good teacher would have encouraged students to write angry protest letters to the politicans and people in Washington who are running the thing, where the letters would have served a purpose. Not demoralize and cause stress to someone who cant do # about it.

This makes me sick to my stomach. I have a very close cousin in Iraq and I can't imagine how he'd feel if he recieved these letters. I know I and my family would be going after someone for it. How would you feel if you were about to be sent to a warzone and YOU recieved these letters. How did these kids even come up with all that hateful crap. Hmmm....

An incredible act of stupidity on the school's part. The letters should have been read first and possibly may have been. Its a shame no one is being reprimanded for this.

This is surely wrong but I give praise to those students for expressing their true opinions! They should have sent it to the white house though or somewhere else rather than to a soldier who will most likely be more scared to go to Iraq.

I was going to reply, but Nightwalker, Skadi_the_Evil_Elf and PlausibleDeniability have managed to sum up my feelings *VERY* well.

Was'nt there a thread on this, it may be wrong, but they have every right to do this.

Originally posted by iori_komei
Was'nt there a thread on this, it may be wrong, but they have every right to do this.

Yes the children have every right to express thier opinions, but to have them sent to a soldier in the field as it were is a bit much. Our troops should have a resonable expectation to do thier duty free of this type of harrasment.

That maybe so, but to tell someone what they can or can not say to someone by voicing there opinion is against our constitutional rights.
And to withhold the mail is tampering with mail is a federal offense, which can land you in jail/prison and I sizable fee.

I cant really see a solution to this, if it was addressed to multiple people, than one person could have read it and told the rest that it was putting them down, so they can read it if they want, but dont have to if they dont want to.

I'm curious, how did they find out this person was in the military, or where he was?

If I understand correctly this was like an adopt a soldier project that the class participated in.

I wonder how much influence the teacher had on the 6th graders, and why the teacher did not proof read the kids responces before sending. The teacher probaly coaxed the kids into this.

Hey dont go blaming the teacher! Some of the kids probably hear their parents talking about all the bad from the Iraq war and start to feel the same way. Nothing should be done about this but the kids should be advised to at least write on the envelope "Offensive Material"

There is no way these letters could have been sent without the teacher's approval. Ultimately, he is reponsible for these letters. He should be fired and banned from teaching after his testicles are traumatically amputated.

He should get a raise!!!!

Good for these kids.


Those devils fighting a false war in Iraq need to receive more letters like this.


And no; I'm no bitch-"liberal" either.

Tamahu you're an idiot. Irrespective of your opinion on the war in Iraq the soldiers are doing a job with their lives on the line. They can't exactly walk away and come home can they. If they tried they would be court martialled and end up in jail as a deserter. Attacking the a soldier for the policy of the government they work for is wrong. You attack the government instead.

Governments change flavour every now and then and you can't expect soldiers to enlist and unenlist with every change just because they disagree with the politics. That's as stupid as you.

By the way I think George Bush is an idiot so at least you have some company.

Discussion Choices

This story, as reported by the New York Post, is also being discussed here:

Soldier in Iraq gets "hate" mail from US school Kids

My Opinion

I would like to see some more facts before coming to any conclusions.

Specifically, I want to hear what Alex Kunhardt, the teacher in this case, has to say.

Without knowing that, I don't think I can give a properly-informed opinion.

Originally posted by malcr
Tamahu you're an idiot. Irrespective of your opinion on the war in Iraq the soldiers are doing a job with their lives on the line. They can't exactly walk away and come home can they. If they tried they would be court martialled and end up in jail as a deserter. Attacking the a soldier for the policy of the government they work for is wrong. You attack the government instead.

Governments change flavour every now and then and you can't expect soldiers to enlist and unenlist with every change just because they disagree with the politics. That's as stupid as you.

By the way I think George Bush is an idiot so at least you have some company.

Hey its not our fault they chose that regretful job! They should learn to deal with these remarks as they learn to deal with bullets and rockets flying over their heads! I have a cousin serving in Iraq and I still stand by my views and only support him as my cousin not as a soldier giving "freedom" to others.

[edit on 23-2-2005 by CmptrN3rd5]

True indeed^^^.