I’VE PUBLISHED EMAILS FROM 1ST LT DAVID LUCAS before, but now he’s got an oped in the News-Sentinel that’s worth reading. Excerpt:

“Let’s support our troops. Bring them home.” Please don’t ever say those words again. Nothing is so disheartening to our troops who are in harm’s way than to hear our own citizens say things like that.

I know that the war my men and I fought is a totally different war than the one I see being reported by almost the entire media. There are a few exceptions to this, but they are generally overwhelmed by the massive anti-war/anti-Bush crowd. . . .

I will wrap this up by saying that you are entitled to your beliefs, and you should believe in whatever you want, but don’t pretend to know what you are talking about just because you have watched 30 minutes of CNN the night before. Go and talk to the people who have been there — not the people who make assumptions from a TV studio — and then form your opinion based on facts.

Don’t pretend to support troops by trying to undercut their efforts at the same time. Just go to bed at night and pray for their safety and thank God that they are there to protect you and your family, no matter your beliefs.

Read the whole thing. And here’s a report on Lucas’s Bronze Star.

UPDATE: Of course, some people don’t even pretend to support the troops:

Not even 24-hours after Private First Class Tim Hines’s wife and family said goodbye at his funeral, American flags that had adorned their Fairfield yard were piled beneath a car and burned. . . .

As firefighters brought the fire under control they discovered a pile of around 20 American flags underneath the car.

Neighbors say Hines’ wife’s family had flags line their front yard and on the porch.

Those were taken as well as flags in neighboring yards.

Not nice at all.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More here.