Salute the Red Bulls!
The Red Bulls, 1/34 Minnesota National Guard, sent a message to John Kerry that has reverberated around the nation. This picture [click on pic for large version] has been seen by millions on-line and on television.
Staff Sgt. Erik Holtan, a member of the Minnesota National Guard, says he saw the picture and recognized the insignia as that of his fellow Minnesota guardsmen – and he immediately put it up on his own blog site. “It’s awesome,” he told The Post. “The troops over there have to be livid because of what [Kerry] said. I don’t know why he would say that.”
Holtan, who works at Guard headquarters, said he believes the troops behind the Kerry sign are in Iraq, since all the members of the unit in the shot – the 1/34 Brigade Troops Battalion – have been deployed. He said he can see a unit insignia on one of the vehicles in the background and those vehicles have also gone to Iraq.
Fox News Channel quoted Army officials saying that the picture looked authentic and appeared to be taken in Iraq. “We are always amazed at the creativity of our troops,” one Army official told Fox.
Without citing sources, ABC News in Washington said the photograph was taken in Talil, several hundred miles south of Baghdad, where members of the unit are located.
The Powerline crew has several posts.
Victor Davis Hanson, in NRO’s Corner points out that this is classicly American.
One of the things I love about America is the spontaneous brilliance and humor that undermine all pretension. No better example was that wonderful banner from our brave and ingenious soldiers in Iraq, blaring:
“HALP US JON CARRY-WE R STUCK [backwards k] HEAR N IRAK.”
