Vets take stand vs. NFL protests

Legion post near Detroit doesn’t air games

Because football players are taking a knee, American Legion Post 374 is taking a stand.

The Berkley, Mich., social club for military veterans is fed up with NFL players who refuse to stand during the national anthem, so the post officers are protesting the protesters.

The executive board passed a resolution — posted throughout the club room and on the exterior of the building — stating, “This post will not participate with any individual, group or organization that disrespects or knowing allows the disrespecting of our Constitution, United States or American Flag, or our National Anthem.”

That means the club won’t show televised games involving teams on which players have outwardly demonstrated during the anthem, specifically the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams.

The Detroit Lions are playing the Rams on Sunday. And Post 374 won’t show the game, though members realize they’ll likely lose business.

“We’ve watched customers walk out, and they’ll go down the street ( to a bar) where they can see a ballgame,” senior vice commander Buddy Wells said. “I don’t know what the right answer is. Maybe we don’t air the national anthem. Maybe they shouldn’t put ( protesting players) on TV.”

Post commander Tom Bustance, 74, who served for four years in the Vietnam War in a tactical wing with the Air Force, said, “We do take a hit, because people come in to our clubhouse to watch games. A lot of times, we’ll have food specials and stuff. We can’t do it right now. We’re all veterans. ... We fought for our country. We respect our flag and our Constitution.”

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who will start for the first time this season Sunday, started the movement and was singled out by Bustance.

“First, he was kneeling, then he was doing the fist up,” Bustance said. “I just thought it was disrespectful to our country, so I got with our executive committee members, and we decided that we weren’t going to show the games that those six teams play in. Unfortunately, it’s now spread to at least 12 teams and now college football, and it’s kind of put us in a bad situation that we’re not having many games to watch. But we took a position on it, and you’ve kind of got to live with your position.”

Last week, as the 49ers were playing the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football, patrons socialized while the post showed the baseball playoff game between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox instead.

Post 374 can barely afford to take any more financial hits. Last year, its building was nearly repossessed when it was determined that two former managers absconded with club funds. A gofundme. com campaign produced $ 88,000 — enough for the post to settle up its mortgage and water bill, although the club is working out a plan to settle taxes owed to the state.

“We’re doing a lot of fundraisers — Sunday breakfasts, on Friday night we do a steak fry,” Bustance said. “We’re working a lot to dig our way out, but I don’t think the NFL will send us a check for the money we’ve lost not airing their games.”

One of the core American Legion objectives is to “foster and perpetuate a 100% Americanism,” and Bustance says he realizes players are exercising their constitutional right to free speech. He just wishes they would find some other way to do it that doesn’t disrespect the national anthem and flag.

“I say you ( protest), but you don’t do it on the NFL stage where everyone has to watch it,” he said. “I thought, ‘ How disrespectful that is to our servicemen.’ What their cause seems to be is police brutality, which is not the armed forces; it’s the local police departments. Look how many Americans died on 9- 11 and how many first responders died going to save those people. I think that Kaepernick and every player deserves to have to stand, out of respect for those people who died.”

Said Wells, 45, who served four tours of duty in Iraq as an Army battalion commander: “I think they forget there’s still men and women serving in harm’s way, and we have nothing but support for those people. That’s what it’s all about.

“Without them, they wouldn’t be playing football for a living.”