Anger & Regret over my Son's Death

If I could have spoken with my military son before he died,  I would have told him:

Don’t let Commissioned Commander Butthead Win.

We all know them, Low IQs who rise to a position of inflated power. They did not earn these positions by their own grit and grind. Corruption bought and paid for the Ivy/Military of their choice, paid for their grades/commissions. You read their bio; the words are fabricated. You speak with them and you realize there is nothing “up there” or in their heart. They have no integrity. Useless.

His first clash with authority occurred during the Pocono Mountain Wrestling Season of 1997. My son, a freshman, was 13.  If I could change the past, and if that would bring back the life that I miss, I would run down the bleachers and ream that referee a new one.

My son had red hair. He kept it neat, clean and tied back in a ponytail. It wasn’t the 60’s, for God’s sake, it was the LATE 90’s. His hair shouldn’t have been a referee's issue. The following incident foreshadowed another clash with “authority”. It pitted him with almost 20 years of exemplary service with the Air Forces against Commissioned Commander Butthead in (redacted). 

Commissioned Commander Butthead in 1997 was a referee who did not like my son’s ponytail. He stopped the match in Hazleton, PA, and instructed “a runner” to go down to the women’s locker room and obtain a swimming cap. The packed-to-standing gymnasium waited. Then, he ordered my son to wear it while he wrestled. The match was stopped several times when the cap popped up through the headgear. To my son’s credit, he maintained his composure with dignity. At the time, I remained in my bleacher seat unsure of what to do. This was not right, but if I ran down to the mat, and gave that ref a piece of my mind, it would embarrass my son further. His mother would be fighting his battles, so regrettably, I remained in my seat. Why his coaches did not object, I do not know.  I met him at the bus door after the meet. He looked at me and said. “If they don’t like me with hair, let us see how they like me with no hair.” I still have his ponytail. Tears will not reverse his absence.

He wasn’t playing your ego game Commissioned Commander Butthead. Guess you will have to find someone else that will. By the way, we are entering the Age of Aquarius. In the future people like you will shrivel up and die. Humanity is waking up and standing up to the useless butt-heads of this world. We’re not going to play the game according to your rules anymore. Just ‘cause you throw us a ball, doesn’t mean we have to catch it.