Combat veteran with "infidel" tattoo asked to leave Florida DZ

[Bolas 5]

Another option. The DZO gets one of her staff to casually ask the vet about the tattoo, the meaning it holds, and why they have it.

Armed with that info, she goes back to the Qataris and explains his side and offers to introduce them to each other.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[wmw999 2,439]

Hindsight provides a lot of possibilities, and in the future they might exercise one of the others. At the moment, this probably seemed like the most direct one.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[jgoose71 0]

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Or how about if he said,

I got the tattoo, when I was taken as a POW in Iraq. The insurgents branded me with this label. Perhaps I should drag my sorry kafir ass away form your sight..

That might have led the conversation to a whole new level

Sensei....
Teach me the way of your Verbal Jujitsu....

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[Bolas 5]

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Hindsight provides a lot of possibilities, and in the future they might exercise one of the others. At the moment, this probably seemed like the most direct profitable one.

Wendy P.

FIFY

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[quade 4]

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Or how about if he said,

I got the tattoo, when I was taken as a POW in Iraq. The insurgents branded me with this label. Perhaps I should drag my sorry kafir ass away form your sight..

That might have led the conversation to a whole new level

Yes, because lying fixes everything.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Andy9o8 2]

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Another option. The DZO gets one of her staff to casually ask the vet about the tattoo, the meaning it holds, and why they have it.

Armed with that info, she goes back to the Qataris and explains his side and offers to introduce them to each other.

We've been through this. Remember our camel?

[rifleman 70]

Having been there and done that (2 tours of N. Ireland playing NEPUT for Irish terrorists, peacekeeping in Bosnia and DRC) IMHO the guy was being an offensive dick.

I've never been injured (luckily) but have lost two good friends in NI (one killed when high velocity round penetrated the vehicle and one who had most of the right hand side of his body torn away by the blast from a nail bomb.

I served one year in the reserves (age 17) then xferred to regulars. 2 weeks after enlisting I was helping local emergency services pull 56 badly burned bodies from the burned out wreckage of Bradford City football stadium (can't stand the smell of barbecued pork now) and in DRC I was forced to shoot a 14 yo boy soldier who wouldn't drop his AK despite being asked to by our interpreter. He then started to aim at other members of my squad. It's not my proudest moment but I fired and he unfortunately died of the injuries despite the best efforts of the medics.

I don't expect people to thank me for what I did in the Army but I also don't walk round expecting to be treated as something special. I don't talk about it much because it's personal to me.

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[BillyVance 34]

Apparently, there is a third side to this whole thing, basically, opinions of people in Ohio that knew Eddie Bryant when he was there in the past. I copied this off of Skydive Lake Wales' FB wall:

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Regarding the recent situation at Skydive Lake Wales, the below message was sent to the drop zone from someone in Ohio who has known Eddie Bryant for years. I have also personally received a couple of messages from folks in Ohio who know him and they are all saying the same thing-that he is BAD news. However, they would like me to keep their names and thoughts private so I am unable to re-post at this time. Please share and re-post the below message so that Betty Hill's name and the drop zones reputation can be restored!

CALLING ALL SKYDIVERS: SUPPORT LAKE WALES SKYDIVING!! There have been many recent, incredibly hateful posts to the DZ's page, but I personally know the man who's trying to destroy the dropzone's reputation, so please read on for another perspective that hasn't been spoonfed to you online.

This good-intentioned DZ recently came under harsh scrutiny due to a first-time patron - Eddie Bryant - who disapproved of a small request by the establishment and began a mission to completely defame the facility. What's most disturbing is that he used his military background & Internet influence to turn the incident into headline news, making the DZ appear to be hateful, unsupportive of our troops, disrespectful to our veterans, and anti-American across the board. This could not be further from the truth!!! This is not the first time this man has used his background to make a point, gain attention, or even have a little extra stroke of his enormous ego.

Besides bad-mouthing, dishonoring, or maligning the soldiers/heroes of our country, there is nothing more REPULSIVE than USING YOUR RESPECTED MILITARY STATUS to win a PETTY argument and destroy a reputation for the mere sake of "winning."

I've seen the horribly destructive comments to Lake Wales Skydiving and it breaks my heart b/c the TRUE skydiving community is diverse, open-minded, caring, accepting, and most always exceptionally welcoming & non-confrontational to its new visitors. People, please get your facts straight before posting nasty, hateful comments about a situation that you know only one side to - especially when one of the sides has a much larger online presence than this particular DZ. If you know Eddie Bryant personally, then by all means share your opinion. Otherwise, quit perpetuating the strongly prejudiced viewpoint

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[mr2mk1g 10]

Wow, so the guy who has a tattoo flipping the bird to over a fifth of the worlds population turns out to might be a dick. Who'd a figured.

[billvon 2,989]

>I got the tattoo, when I was taken as a POW in Iraq. The insurgents branded me with
>this label. Perhaps I should drag my sorry kafir ass away form your sight..

Or he could have said "I did it to piss people off and I did it! I can't wait to whine on Facebook . . . ."

Or he could have said "I don't even know what this thing means, I got it to impress a girl. Can I get some mileage out of this?"

Or he could have said "I should have had a V-8."

[airtwardo 7]

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Wow, so the guy who has a tattoo flipping the bird to over a fifth of the worlds population turns out to might be a dick. Who'd a figured.

Ya Think?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[popsjumper 2]

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Another option. The DZO gets one of her staff to casually ask the vet about the tattoo, the meaning it holds, and why they have it.

Armed with that info, she goes back to the Qataris and explains his side and offers to introduce them to each other.

We've been through this. Remember our camel?

WE take the camel into town.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Bolas 5]

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Wow, so the guy who has a tattoo flipping the bird to over a fifth of the worlds population turns out to might be a dick. Who'd a figured.

Ya Think?

Yep. Totally unwarranted as he's never been impacted by members of that religion that can read his tat. It's not like he's been injured or seen people die.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[DanG 1]

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Totally unwarranted as he's never been impacted by members of that religion that can read his tat. It's not like he's been injured or seen people die.

So you're ready to admit that the tattoo was an intentional "fuck you" to people of that religion?

- Dan G

[quadrevium 0]

Well, since I am the guy that this happened to at Lake Wales, let me clarify some things.

First of all, the tattoo was gotten mainly because of a friend who committed suicide due to PTSD, and wanted me to get the tattoo. I did not want to get it because I thought it was offensive, after he killed himself I talked to my cousin, who speaks 7 dialects and grew up in Yemen tell me that "The only people who would be offended by that tattoo would be people who follow Sharia Law", and that the tattoo simply means someone who has no faith. With those factors in play, that's why I got the tattoo - I love how people assume I got it because I wanted to be an asshole and start stuff.

Also, I wasn't pissed off when Betty called me to the back to tell me that they were offended by my tattoo. I was because she didn't know WHY it was offensive, and after I told her I served in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tattoo represents my lack of faith, she still said I had to cover it up, and suggested duct tape.

After that happened she told me I could cover it up or leave. So her statement saying I chose to leave is accurate. I chose to leave over choosing to cover it up with DUCT TAPE!

All that being said, I later found out that Betty is also the Manager of the Airport.... A government employee, so when I was discriminated against for a religious statement - I was asked to leave the public airport by a governmental employee because of a tattoo that says my religious faith. (or lack thereof)

So IDC if you guys want to think I got it to be an asshole, and to be quite frank it's irrelevant. If you go to England a fag is a cigarette, a lift is an elevator and a boot is a car trunk. In America it has a different meaning. We're in America, and Kafir or Infidel means One without faith.

Last time I checked you could not discriminate or refuse service to someone based on religious belief. She could have kicked me out for any reason, but as soon as she said it was because of a tattoo that stated a religious belief, she was in the wrong. Moreso because she holds a dual govt. job at the same location.

Funny, in the 1950's a black man goes into a whites only diner and they say that he did it to be an asshole and he got what he deserves.

Point is, the actual reason behind the tattoo is irrelevant. It's a religious statement, and protected under the 1964 civil rights act.

And when I made the blog it was meant to be seen by a group of about 10 friends who read my blog. I didn't expect it to go viral and have over 110,000 views in 48 hours. So my intent was to vent to a group of friends -

-Eddie B (feel free to message)
www.facebook.com/eddie.d.bryant

[quadrevium 0]

Well, since I am the guy that this happened to at Lake Wales, let me clarify some things.

First of all, the tattoo was gotten mainly because of a friend who committed suicide due to PTSD, and wanted me to get the tattoo. I did not want to get it because I thought it was offensive, after he killed himself I talked to my cousin, who speaks 7 dialects and grew up in Yemen tell me that "The only people who would be offended by that tattoo would be people who follow Sharia Law", and that the tattoo simply means someone who has no faith. With those factors in play, that's why I got the tattoo - I love how people assume I got it because I wanted to be an asshole and start stuff.

Also, I wasn't pissed off when Betty called me to the back to tell me that they were offended by my tattoo. I was because she didn't know WHY it was offensive, and after I told her I served in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tattoo represents my lack of faith, she still said I had to cover it up, and suggested duct tape.

After that happened she told me I could cover it up or leave. So her statement saying I chose to leave is accurate. I chose to leave over choosing to cover it up with DUCT TAPE!

All that being said, I later found out that Betty is also the Manager of the Airport.... A government employee, so when I was discriminated against for a religious statement - I was asked to leave the public airport by a governmental employee because of a tattoo that says my religious faith. (or lack thereof)

So IDC if you guys want to think I got it to be an asshole, and to be quite frank it's irrelevant. If you go to England a fag is a cigarette, a lift is an elevator and a boot is a car trunk. In America it has a different meaning. We're in America, and Kafir or Infidel means One without faith.

Last time I checked you could not discriminate or refuse service to someone based on religious belief. She could have kicked me out for any reason, but as soon as she said it was because of a tattoo that stated a religious belief, she was in the wrong. Moreso because she holds a dual govt. job at the same location.

Funny, in the 1950's a black man goes into a whites only diner and they say that he did it to be an asshole and he got what he deserves.

Point is, the actual reason behind the tattoo is irrelevant. It's a religious statement, and protected under the 1964 civil rights act.

And when I made the blog it was meant to be seen by a group of about 10 friends who read my blog. I didn't expect it to go viral and have over 110,000 views in 48 hours. So my intent was to vent to a group of friends -

-Eddie B (feel free to message)
www.facebook.com/eddie.d.bryant

[Southern_Man 0]

Did they say you could not jump there?

Did they tell you that you had to leave?

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[airtwardo 7]

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Wow, so the guy who has a tattoo flipping the bird to over a fifth of the worlds population turns out to might be a dick. Who'd a figured.

Ya Think?

Yep. Totally unwarranted as he's never been impacted by members of that religion that can read his tat. It's not like he's been injured or seen people die.

Yeah...funny how that isn't running rampant huh.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Zenister 0]

Clueless and ill informed, go find a lawyer to educate you.

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Andy9o8 2]

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A government employee, so when I was discriminated against for a religious statement

Oh, that's excellent. Yeah, go with that.

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Funny, in the 1950's a black man goes into a whites only diner and they say that he did it to be an asshole and he got what he deserves.

Perfect analogy. Guaranteed to win the day.

[quadrevium 0]

You ask if she specifically said I had to leave or if she said I could not jump there.

The answer is no, she did not say that.

She said I had to cover it up or leave.

You do the math.

-Eddie B (feel free to message)
www.facebook.com/eddie.d.bryant

[mr2mk1g 10]

Thanks for coming forward.

[FreeFallFiend 0]

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All that being said, I later found out that Betty is also the Manager of the Airport.... A government employee, so when I was discriminated against for a religious statement - I was asked to leave the public airport by a governmental employee because of a tattoo that says my religious faith. (or lack thereof)

Are you sure about that Eddie? Because on your blog you said she runs the FBO. An FBO is a commercial entity. So which is it? Do you have any idea at all what you're talking about or are you just trying to make an even bigger deal out of this? Besides all parties agree you were never asked to leave or denied service (you even said you left on your own) so your claim is invalid in addition to being ridiculous, vengeance seeking, and malicious. Maybe you should bitch and whine about not having proper dress codes posted instead as that way you would at least have a better argument but you still were not forced to leave or refused service so its a moot point.

Fiend

I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. - Thomas Hobbes.

[quadrevium 0]

http://www.cityoflakewales.com/airport/lwaa.shtml

Her job title per the website is FBO.

If FBO is not a govt. job then so be it, but the airport is public and she is managing it...

-Eddie B (feel free to message)
www.facebook.com/eddie.d.bryant

[billvon 2,989]

Your one warning. Cut it out.