Play-soldiers and war groupies burn football jersies and swear off binge-watching NFL while binge-boozing in VFW bar; hangers-on want money extorted from athletes to benefit themselves

From the Lincoln (NC) Times-News:

A group of associate and auxiliary members of VFW Post 1706 in Lincolnton were offended when Pittsburgh Steelers players didn’t come out of the locker room for the national anthem before a recent game against the Chicago Bears. In a protest of their own, several local men decided to burn National Football League memorabilia on the front lawn of the Lincolnton VFW on Saturday.

“They started promoting it to just burn Steelers stuff but we’ve got people here who are going to burn anybody that disrespects the flag,” William Chandler, post commander for VFW Post 1706, said. “They decided to stand up for the veterans here because they felt it needed to be done.”

VFW Post 1706 is joining the growing list of VFW posts across the country that will not be showing NFL football games in their canteens, according to canteen manager Mark Sain.

When the burning occurred on Saturday at around 12:30 p.m., perhaps 25 people were in the VFW watching a college football game. Of those 25, only three were veterans, the rest were associate and auxiliary members, according to Chandler.

“These members are the ones that support the veterans of foreign wars,” he said. “Anything that we need they’ll do for us. This is an idea they came up with strictly on their own.”

“We honor our veterans,” Burnell Tipton said. “What I think is a disgrace is that veterans have died for our country and we’ve got people who don’t respect our national anthem, our country and our veterans. They’re making all this money and turning their backs on the national anthem.”

Tipton said he formerly was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and has hundreds of dollars tied up in Steelers jerseys, coats and other items.

“When I saw that (Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius) Peppers sat out last Sunday, I threw (the jersey) out the back door and it hasn’t been back in my house since,” Chad Houk said. “I paid $100 for it but I’m burning it today. Anybody that can’t support our country or acknowledge the national anthem I’m not going to support them.”

Tipton said he believes the players who don’t properly acknowledge the anthem at games should be fined and that money should be donated to veterans.

“I understand their beliefs but people go to a game to have a good time and escape from the reality that’s going on every day,” Marshall Atkinson, a Vietnam War veteran, said. “Every place has its own avenue to go down and I don’t feel that it’s correct or proper. In fact, I stand when it’s on when I’m sitting in my living room, it’s just a force of habit.”

All three veterans at Post 1706 said they felt disrespected by the displays at football games and in addition, Atkinson said he didn’t like what he felt was the contempt being shown to President Donald Trump.

“He’s still the president of the United States, he’s commander in chief of the military,” Atkinson said. “Maybe his wording wasn’t appropriate but I think he just said what a lot of people were thinking. There’s other ways they could protest.”