Tell me Aaron, why do you hate our troops, especially the nutty actor ones?

Dear Mr. Barnhart,

In your article on the Screen Actors Guilde award show dated 28 Jan 08, you ask: "And what were those medals Mickey Rooney was wearing- was he inducted into the French Foreign Legion?". I encourage you to dig a little deeper instead of simply casting stones.

As an Active Duty Army Officer with almost 20 years of service, I was pleased to see Mr. Rooney wearing the awards I believe he earned in World War II; a 30 second Internet search turned up multiple listings of Mr. Rooney's wartime service. I was equally pleased to see Mr. Rooney wearing the awards in accordance with Army regulations, which authorize award recipients to wear their awards on civilian formal attire provided their military service ended Honorably.

Perhaps if more of our entertainers served their country, as did Mr. Rooney, you would not have been so confused. I believe an apology is in order to Mr. Rooney, as well as a retraction. Tom Brokaw labeled Mr. Rooney and his peers our Greatest Generation. While I'm biased and feel the generation today that chooses to serve is pretty special, Mr. Rooney and his peers deserve our respect, gratitude and accolades, not mockery.

Sincerely,

Chip Bircher
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
Chip Bircher
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
Executive Officer