Linky This story has been developing all day. First the hotel refused to comment, then management said the receptionist had made a 'mistake', now they're admitting that staff are asked to be 'cautious' about military personnel. I wonder just how abusive the phone calls were...
But why sleep in your car? But its not the end of the world. I bet that soldier has slept in worse places.
Woking is bound to be sensitive about a military presence, given its past history as the epicenter of extraterrestrial invasion.
Seems like the same sorts of reasons that some cruise ship companies don't allow unattended passengers under 25 years old to cruise alone - they've been known to cause a ruckus and disturb other patrons, so businesses decide to exclude them. Seems like a reasonable thing for a business to do, if they want to keep their other patrons.
Their problem seems to be that other soldiers have been a nuisance, and that's something you can control unlike skin color. How many times do we have to go over this?
I know ya just ribbing me but in my life I have been turned away from night clubs and restaurants because I was black. But in that weird racist game you can't always be 100% sure. Like when a doorman told me I need a jacket to enter the club. No problem. Went to my car and got it. But of course he had some other lame excuse. Don't get me started.
It's still judgment of a group rather than the individual, and while some groups do warrant greater scrutiny, you still make individual judgments.
Read the article. The vast majority of the time, the soldier isn't turned away. This case is just one little blip, not indicative of any major trends. Besides, even if it were, aren't soldiers used to group punishments for the actions of only a few? As a way of building discipline and cohesion? The ones you should have beef with are the soldiers who act like asses and make them all look bad.
I live in a garrison town. I'm used to groups of soldiers behaving like dickheads. But one injured bloke, on his own? Not good PR...
I hear that! I myself have slept in airport terminals, the floor of cargo jets, asphalt parking lots, piles of dufffel bags, foxholes, you name it.
I was refused a room at a Holiday Inn and some others at O'hare. I had to give up and take the bus back to the base at Rantoul, IL. That ended one visit to Chicago. They told me I had to be 21. Yeah, its nothing new for GI's to be done that way in this country. The Brits did it too at times, but I figured that was because we were foreigners.
