Hello to all of you on the site. I am currently working as a rural carrier associate in my old hometown west of Des Moines Iowa. I am also an ex-Marine officer who left active duty in Iraq. After finishing Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, I served as an officer in the Marine Corp and left Iraq with the rank of Captain.

So why am I working as an RCA in a small Iowa farm town? Being an honorably discharged veteran is not a gold card into finding a job when you get back home.

A personal story that I know of was a female sergeant within my company. She is also from Iowa. When she returned home from Iraq, her storage locker had been completely emptied along with her bank account. She believes her "boyfriend" did this while she was away. Six months after her return to America, she was living in Des Moines in a homeless shelter sharing a room with eight other women and attending a job training program.

I am amazed at how many employers think we suffer from post-traumatic syndrome and won't hire us. I am hurt at how many people have come to hate people like me who fought in Iraq and have joined the ranks of the Obamatrons who hate people like me who fought overseas. Actions have a far more reaching impact than excellent speech making.

My future is fine, I have a job and I am finishing my bachelors degree in civil engineering. I also compete in professional body building. But there are other brothers and sisters that I served and commanded with in Iraq that are not so lucky.

In my short time with the Postal Service, I haved learned an important lesson. Blind faith in poor leadership is not patriotism on more levels than one. Also, dissent from popular opinion or refusing to being popular with poor leadership is the REAL form of patriotism.