To whom it may concern,
I have a comment about your new Memorial Day t-shirt.  I would first like to say that I have bought several shirts from you, and greatly appreciate your work for soldiers and their families.  I am an Army spouse, my husband is a Captain and he is currently deployed to Iraq.  I was so excited to see a new Memorial Day shirt, and I really loved the graphic on the front, but it was the quote on the back that made my heart sink.  I am Pro-War, I believe in all the wonderful things that my husband is doing in Iraq today, and all the wonderful things that have been done since we’ve been there.  I feel like wearing a t-shirt that says “Pro Troop Doesn’t Mean Pro War” conveys the feeling that this war is pointless, fruitless, and a waste.  I have a hard time with that because first of all it is completely not true, and secondly if that were true than my husband missed the birth of our first child for nothing, and his missed the first year of his life for nothing, and the sacrifice all three of us have made was all for not.  I implore you to re-think adding that quote to the back of the shirt, or provide an option without the quote for those of us who are in support of this war.  Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Katie

__________________ 

Katie,

Thanks for taking the time to email us.  I have the utmost respect and gratefulness for what your husband and everyone he serves with in the military is doing, as well for you, your family and all military families.  I’m sorry that the quote on the back of the Memorial Day shirt bothered you - but I hope you’ll hear out my explanation for what that quote means to me.

The goal of the quote is to challenge presumptions.  Many people think if you do something to express that you are pro-troop that you are secretly pro war.  Or that if you say you are pro peace - this is really a cheap shot made at the expense of the troops.  This is worst type of logic for a number of reasons:

 1.  On the most basic level, no one wants war.  People can certainly disagree about whether we should be at war, but no one wishes for war.  People who are today called pro war are of course actually pro peace, they just differ with the pro withdrawal people about how to best achieve peace.

 2.  It’s an awful state of affairs when the act of doing something good and showing you care about people who protect your country is vilified as a political statement. We believe that there are people of good conscience and intentions who believe the best course of action is to continue US military operations in Iraq, and people of good conscience and intentions who believe the best course of action is to withdraw.  The goal of this shirt and that quote is to make clear that whatever your belief regarding what to do next in Iraq, that you can and should support the troops no matter what your politics.

 3.  I don’t have to tell you, but no one wants peace more than the troops and their families. Americans are dying everyday in Iraq to try to bring about that peace.  Somehow though the act of expressing that you are pro peace has come to stand for being against the war [and in the minds of some, by extension, against the troops].  This too is insidious logic.  Advocating peace should never have a hurtful component to it, just as expressing care about people should never be looked upon with anything but approval.

 There have been people on both sides who have intentionally tainted these messages so that doing good things have come to have clouds over them.   We see helping people to feel comfortable with doing the right thing as one of our core missions.  This quote is part of our strategy.

 I hope that helps.  Please send our thanks to your husband - I believe he is doing something truly heroic.  If you still don’t like the quote but like the shirt, I can have one specially made for you with nothing on the back.

All the best,
Patrick Gray
TakePride