In 1971 I entered the military. During my basic training I was taught many things one of the things I was taught was what is now called taking a knee.  It is an Army procedure when on patrol to have the leader give a hand signal and everyone following its down on one knee. The position is critical because if there is something going on that requires immediate response from one knee you can spring into action instantly. In basic training we were told this was an act of reverence. When a comrade has been killed and passes by in a combat zone you take a knee.  In the Catholic Church it is called genuflect but it is the same thing you face that which you are honoring on one knee. Colin Kaepernick was told by a Green Beret that this way he could honor the flag and still do a protest. He has paid dearly for that protest.

When I entered the military I took an oath, the same oath as my father, my son, my uncles, my cousins, my nephew, and several in-laws. That oath says I will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same“. These are very important words it does not say I will defend the United States, or I will defend the flag, or I will defend the president of the United States. It says I will defend the Constitution. Back in 1789 to get the Constitution ratified they proposed 13 amendments to the Constitution. 10 were approved and have been known as the Bill of Rights. The very first amendment “prohibits … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people to peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances“.  This is in essence what Mr. Kaepernick was doing as a citizen, and he should not be reviled for this.

The NFL in its newly released ruling on taking a knee violates that very first amendment that I swore an oath to defend that everyone will die and we honor this Memorial Day weekend died to defend that amendment. It is important that this is the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. I want to know how I can fight the NFL who is acting counter tothe Constitution of the United States.