Dear Editor, I am writing to you in regards to the Letter to the Editor from the Feb. 28 edition about the political cartoon that was published in the Feb. 24 issue of the East Tennessean.
First of all, I am appalled that Joshua Hammitt would take something such as an editorial cartoon so personally that he would request an apology from the East Tennessean.
I too am a veteran, though I am not so proud, and I served in Kuwait while the missiles were flying overhead in 2003.
I, and many others, believe that cartoon to be a depiction of the policy of the current administration and that it in no way depicted anti-Americanism or an anti-U.S. service members attitude.
It was a cartoon about the policy with which our administration seems to run itself – flooding the Middle East with American troops sent out to die.
I do not stand by Hammitt whatsoever, and I can clearly state that most of my fellow unit members would feel the same way.
As well, I know for a fact that the editor of the Viewpoint section did not print the cartoon to disrespect service members (as Hammitt seems to believe) as she herself is the daughter of a retired Air Force Chief and is engaged to a soldier who has been to war.
I hope in the future Joshua Hammitt will take pause before he assumes his offended pride is shared by all military service members and will refrain from speaking for me or my colleagues.
Christopher Haxton

Author