Grieving a Fallen Soldier: Prez’s Call to Gold-Star Wife
President Trump tried to do the right thing, but I think he got very bad advice on how to respond to the family of a soldier killed in Niger (“Kelly back to war,” Oct. 20) .
Only families with a strong military tradition are likely to be comforted by Trump’s comment that “he knew what he signed up for.”
People join the military for a variety of reasons. Only a soldier’s friends and family know how he felt about his service. Some soldiers become very disillusioned.
No one joins the military to die; they join to defend our country and come home victorious. Elizabeth Mulgrew Upper Darby, Pa.
This latest outrage directed at Trump is engineered by those who hate him beyond all reason.
By saying the soldier “knew what he signed up for,” Trump was admiring the soldier’s courage, not dismissing his loss.
This incessant politicization of every tragedy in order to denigrate Trump is sickening and does a disservice to all Americans. Robert Reeg Stony Point
Besides mischaracterizing Trump’s condolence call, Rep. Frederica Wilson blathered on about why there’s no outcry about the Niger deaths as there was for Benghazi.
In Benghazi, the State Department ignored pleas from the embassy for more security, and then the Obama administration lied about what happened when our diplomats were killed by terrorists.
In Niger, four soldiers were killed in an ambush while fighting terrorists. And yes, these brave Green Berets knew what they had signed up for.
Wilson politicized the situation to raise her profile. Unfortunately for her, that profile isn’t the least bit positive. Michael Quane South Hempstead
I suspect what Trump meant to convey to Myeshia Johnson, widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, was, “I really admire your husband because he knew what he was signing on for and he did it anyway.”
Unfortunately, our president is beyond tonedeaf. Judith Weizner Bronxville
If Trump doesn’t call a fallen soldier’s family, the media call him evil. If he does call the family, he’s still evil.
We get it: They think he is evil. For the sake of decency and decorum, please give the Gold Star families a pass. Leave them out of the diatribe. Deirdre Harvey Valley Stream
Trump’s fight over the death of an American soldier is totally unpresidential.
Perhaps in the future the president should just send a form letter written by Chief of Staff John Kelly to the immediate family of those killed in action.
All the good that Trump accomplished over the past week has been overridden by this story, which seems to be increasing in size.
I have to wonder how many in our military have now lost respect for the president and will cast their vote elsewhere come the next election. John Lemandri Williamsburg, Va.
The words “he knew what he signed up for” can be interpreted as an ultimate compliment to Sgt. Johnson. It all depends on how the words are heard.
Rep. Wilson was not the intended recipient of the call and clearly has a hatred for Trump. Gen. Kelly rightfully squashed her statements when he explained the full context of the call.
One has to consider the president’s intent. Does anyone truly believe he made this call to upset this young widow? The phrase may have not landed right, but he certainly didn’t mean to offend. Phil Serpico Queens
To even consider that the president would call a fallen soldier’s pregnant widow, who was on the way to receive his remains, in order to rub salt in her wounds is unfathomable. Who would think of such a thing?
I understand Rep. Wilson’s constituents might not support the president, but I hope they have the decency to end her time in office in 2018 for these vile opinions she has inflicted on all of us. Joe DellaCamera Staten Island