A pair of soldiers shopping at a Houston area Walmart are being hailed for keeping their cool despite being verbally attacked for their service.
Staff Sgt. Santevius Davis and Staff Sgt. Linda Bates were walking around the store when an unhinged man dressed in a neon yellow shirt, green hat, and sunglasses approached them.
Apparently wearing their Army fatigues in the store set the man off.
He proceeded to berate them and the American military in general for their service and missions overseas, likening them to “killers.”
“Y’all are over there in other folks’ business and Y’all don’t have any rights, Y’all ain’t nothing but killers!” the man is heard shouting in video captured by a concerned customer.
Davis’ response in the video is exactly what you would expect from our fighting men and women – he said it was the man’s right to express his viewpoint, that is why they serve, to give that man the right.
Soldiers verbally attacked inside Galleria-area Walmart https://t.co/EB3RHPAjIj #kprc2 #HouNews pic.twitter.com/jwzu3YzZJ9
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) April 27, 2018
“If you do feel like America is not the country for you or whatever, then that’s your right, your prerogative, you can do whatever you want, that’s (why) I put my uniform on,” Davis said.
In other words, that man has the right to act like a jacka** toward these soldiers specifically because of what these soldiers do, and represent. We’re sure the irony was lost on this guy.
PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS! Two Soldiers were verbally attacked while shopping at a Walmart in Houston and called “Killers”. #SupportTheTroops 🇺🇸 💙 ❤ 💙 🙏🏻 https://t.co/Fm5gziN7My
— John 8:32 The Truth (@John832TheTruth) April 30, 2018
Another gentleman at the end of the clip comes up to the soldiers and thanks them for their service, showing that not everybody is a loathsome, uneducated, unappreciative jerk.
The verbally abusive individual in the video harassed the two soldiers all the way back to their vehicle.
Davis would later remind the man in an interview with Click 2 Houston that not everybody would have been so patient about seeing somebody disrespect the military in such a manner.
“There are a lot of places where half the stuff he said, you wouldn’t even be able to get it out before bad things happen to you, but this is why we do what we do, and for him to come up and disparage us like that, so he can exercise his First Amendment right, it’s just funny,” he said.
“I serve so that all Americans can have freedom and express themselves and I too am a regular American that chose to serve,” Bates added.
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Source: CW 39
