By Brian A. Gray, Sr. U.S. Army U.S. Air Force Retired
Deputy District Attorney Darren Levine’s use of the word “soldiers” to describe the two killers on trial in the pier shooting on July 4, 2000, shows the stupidity of the unknowing (SMDP, March 11, page 1). To compare these two individuals to the “soldiers” that I was and worked with in the service is irresponsible and stupid. I was a combat engineer and I killed very few people, and only after they had fired at me. I did, on the other hand, build bridges to cross rivers, hospitals to treat the sick and homes to shelter the needy. No “soldier” wants to kill unless he has to. To call these two persons “soldiers” is a remark only an unknowing person would make. One that is a slap in the face of veterans everywhere.
Please, check your facts, Mr. Levine, before you make such a statement again.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 16, 2005. Read the original PDF.