Loved ones gathered in Chinatown yesterday to remember Danny Chen, a 19-year old Army private, killed in Afghanistan. They came to a memorial service at the Wah Wing Sang funeral home on Mulberry Street, not far from where Chen grew up. A funeral is scheduled for Thursday, after his body is returned from overseas.
Chen was based in Wainwright, Alaska. He was killed in the Kandahar Provence but military officials have not released any details about the circumstances leading to Chen’s death. “On behalf of all New Yorkers, I send my profound sympathies to the family, friends, and fellow soldiers of Private Chen,” Gov. Cuomo said in a statement. “We will remember the service and mourn the loss of this New York soldier.”
Alright, this one goes out to all the desk jockeys and the racist a$$holes in the military. I am a former U.S. Marine of Asian descent. I am a combat veteran attached with First Marine Division and stationed overseas at Camp “Korean Village”, Camp Mudyasis, and Al Taqaddum (TQ) Airbase in 2004. Throughout my stint in the Corps, I experienced a lot of racism from all races; whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Most taunts came from whites because they were the majority. In boot camp the drill instructors would yell, “We don’t serve that pork fried rice bullshit in this chow line!” I was always tasked with doing the crappy stuff that no one wanted to do. Hazing was a daily thing if you are a minority. The leaders turn a blind eye because they don’t want to get involved. In my unit, if a marine was caught asleep on post, he would be demoted, receive a written reprimand, or receive extra duties to motivate him to stay up. It goes too far when you are pushing, kicking, punching, or tormenting a fellow marine. Hazing brings anger, anger brings discontent, and discontent brings vengeance. No wonder so many SNCOs and officers were shot and killed by their own men in Vietnam. We were taught that marines do not recognize racial color because we are all “green” in uniform. There goes a great lie! While on a patrol, my Staff Sergeant ordered me to go through a mine field because he was too lazy to get to get a metal detector to sweep the area. I told him he could go to hell because I had been “voluntold” to do everything so far. He pulled out his Beretta and said he would shoot me for disobeying a direct order. I already had my M-16 pointed at him, with my finger on the trigger, 27 rounds in the magazine, and had it on 3 round burst. I told him to shoot me but he had better kill me. All I need to do is squeeze the trigger, and he’d be filled with holes. From that day on, no one wanted to test me. He later apologized to me in private. He said he was glad I didn’t pull the trigger. He had a wife and 3 little girls at home. What a coward! I was ready to die but he wasn’t. I was honorably discharged in 2005 and now I am in law enforcement. Scary huh? I wish the 3 punks had hazed me, it would have been a different story. I want Asians in the military to stop being weaklings and stand up for themselves. If they are treated badly, protect themselves by any means necessary. I guess the Virginia Tech incident didn’t teach these airheads anything. Do not commit suicide, it is a coward’s way out. If it is a last resort, take a few with you