Francisco Juarez - Quitter

I was watching Canada AM this morning before work and Marcie Ien interviewed Francisco Juarez, an individual who claims he left the army because he didn't 'believe' in the war in Afghanistan. I listened to him go on and on saying things that sounded like NDP sound bites and wondered if he wasn't just a politician in training.

As a supporter of the mission in Afghanistan I was ready to let him have it in this blog and attempt to refute what he said. The only problem is after hearing him, I don't think he has a clue.

If Mr. Juarez had spent a fair amount of time in the military I would have more respect. If Mr Juarez had spent time in Afghanistan and then left I might listen to him, but here are the facts;

Mr Juarez joined the Navy waaaaaaaaay back in 2002 and then quit and joined the reserves to make more time for school. He then quit the Navy altogether and joined the Army reserve and after a daunting single week of training refused to do the obstacle course and was dishonourably discharged and fined 500 bucks. I don't think his 'objection to the mission in Afghanistan' reared it's ugly head until he realized he was going to fail or that he wasn't capable and used the 'objection' as an excuse to mask his failure.

He has since been fawned over and treated like a celebrity by the Naive Disrespectful Pacifists (NDP) and was trotted out at their annual convention as some kind of 'expert' that knew the real story about our military.

"Look at Mr Juarez! He was in the military and quit because he didn't feel the mission was right! Good for him. How courageous! I bet there are many more just like him that will now have the courage to come forward."

...what a load.

I hope when and if I fail at something I have the courage to say I gave it my best and came up short or even that my heart wasn't in it, instead of becoming Jack Layton's sock puppet.

It just shows you a little bit about Mr. Juarez's character and I don't see anything courageous in that.