Since we're fighting for medals and honors....let's have a world wide.....military olympics! The country with the most medals, at the end of competition, gets the country of their choosing. No one dies, no one gets hurt. How's THAT for an idea? It could be just like the summer/winter olympics...with the grand finale being a LIVE war game...using PAINT BALLS.

"It's not for you and it's not for the people, it for the state" - protestor

So let me get something straight here, because I'm a bit confused and the video wasn't exactly clear about it...

Those protestors who were hiding their faces were protesting the anti-NATO rally... correct?

I assume that is the case judging by what that protestor said, which was basically "screw the people, the state is supreme"... or am I getting this all wrong?

Those military veterans throwing away their medals are American Heroes!

I'm proud of them. Like many said. They weren't disrespecting their brothers and sisters overseas right now, they are mad at the lies and the government that caused the war.
I've been listening to a song lately, I love it. I've been around military people a LOT and they've Always opened up to me about stuff. So this song, I feel, describes how a lot of them feel, especially the ones that threw away their medals. (I'm nt claiming I KNOW how they feel, I've never been through it, but I think this describes the pain they go through.)

It's a really sad song, basically about the disillusionment of a soldier throughout his training and deployment.

In the beginning he gets recruited and thinks.
"a hero of war. Yeah that's what I'll be.
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me.
I'll carry this flag to the grave if I must.
Cause it's a flag that I love
A flag that I trust."

He ends up shooting a woman with a white flag of surrender in her hand and he comes to realization that the cause of the war has been glorified and he feels like a monster, that people should not think of him as a "hero."
Remember, right after 9/11, many were deeply affected by an attack on US soil. It's practically unheard of (except for pearl harbor.) they fought to protect the PEOPLE and the COUNTRY that they so dearly love.
Many were in the dark about the truth of the war and the lies that were told.
He says.

"a hero of war, is that what they see?
Just medals and scars.
So damn proud of me.
And I brought home that flag, now it gathers dust.
But it's a flag that I love, it's the only flag I trust."

It's honestly a heartbreaking song. Especially since so many soldiers that I know have told me that they have felt this way. (I'm not saying that all do, nor am I saying that they SHOULD, this is just what te symbolic throwing of the medals reminded me of.)
I for one will support the soldiers no matter what, I may not agree with the WAR sometimes, but I will ALWAYS support the men and women fighting for me, every other US citizen, and our country.

This was a very moving ceremony! I remember my dad use to be up late some nights sitting in the basement crying because he was drinking and rehashing his 8 month time in Vietnam, He always told me it just was not worth it! He is now a recluse and has not spoken to any of our family in over 20 yrs. His 8 months of horror and killing of innocent people ruined any chance of him having a "normal" life when he returned to the USA. He was used by our government and discarded when they were through with him.