Former Marine's injury spurs vets to join Occupy movement

[Better Believe It]

Former Marine's injury spurs vets to join Occupy movement
By Gary Strauss and Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
November 2, 2011

Spurred by an injury to one of their own, military veterans are mobilizing to increase their presence and profile in the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Although they've been participating in Occupy protests throughout the country, vets say their ranks have been swelling since last week, when former Marine and Iraq War vet Scott Olsen sustained a skull fracture when he was hit by a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest . Although still hospitalized, Olsen, 24, is expected to make a full recovery.

"His injury has definitely galvanized veterans,'' says University of Illinois senior Scott Kimball, who served in Iraq as an Army specialist. He'll be helping coordinate today's New York City event, which begins with an 11 a.m. march from Vietnam Veterans Plaza to Liberty Square.

"We're getting calls from veterans across the country who are extremely angry and appalled that someone who served two tours in Iraq got injured as a well-behaved protester,'' says Kimball, 27. "It's rallying vets across the country. We're just seeing the beginning of it."

Read the full article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-01/occupy-wall-street-veterans/51031852/1

[Kingofalldems]

1. Kick and Rec for the 'mock and undermine' crowd

[DCKit]

6. I haven't been around that much lately.... have the spammers really been that bad?

My usual beefs are with the pro-nuke crowd and the subtle hints that we get from "some people" that Wall St. and the Bankers are working for the peoples.

I think, if anything, they got their PR firms onto OWS too late to do much damage to the honest view of what's really going on. It's gone populist, and it's too damn late to stop it.

[Fumesucker]

2. Tactical error on the part of TPTB..

Ubiquitous video makes a whole new ball game, this incident would have been fluffed and denied with zero consequences had there not been video of it.

It's not your father's media world..

[me b zola]

3. K&R

[Frustratedlady]

4. That will surely stop a lot of this police action. What would you do with a wall of Marines?

Very intimidating. The Marines will make a statement by their presence that even Wall Street won't argue with.

Bless their hearts!

Semper Fi!

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Better Believe It.

[burrowowl]

7. K&R

The Veterans are waking up! This could be BIG!

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. K&R!