Nina Bookout, my dear friend who writes for the Victory Girls, had herself a time yesterday - she went to Trump's Aurora, Colorado rally. I'm going to pull a snippet from it here, too, and encourage you to read the whole piece. Her perspective is important as both a terrific writer and a CO resident. She's not some disinterested observer who wandered in for an event and left with a hat.

...As I stood in the line starting at 6am to get into the venue at The Gaylord, the conversations covered the gamut. Taxes are a huge concern. Inflation rates may be at 2.4% as trumpeted by the Biden Administration, but no one is seeing it at the pump, the grocery or clothing stores, nor on their utility bills.

Education is another issue. A couple from Denver talked about the increase in classroom size, which has led to teachers being overworked and the lack of resources for students who don’t speak English or even Spanish. 

Others talked about the government regulations from local to the federal level that impact their business and how it sometimes seems futile to even try to get a city council to pay heed to the real world impacts regulations have on their ability to provide a necessary service to the community. 

Aurora is a military town with Buckley Air Force Base right in the middle of the city. The strength and readiness of our military was of definite concern from veterans in the crowd. This Trump Ad, which played during President Trump’s portion of the rally, resonated across the board.

Until I read that last paragraph, I didn't realize there was an Air Force installation in Aurora proper. 

With the gang problem they're now experiencing, it does make me wonder if some of those kids are having flashbacks to being in San Antonio again. The streets outside of Lackland AFB, where every airman starts his career, are notoriously dangerous. The base and its sentries are often included by the gangs operating in the area as part of their initiation process, with feints or even shots fired. Lackland's sentries are armed.

The gunman or gunmen who exchanged fire with security forces outside a Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland gate in Texas remain at large more than a week later, according to authorities.

Police continue to investigate the pre-dawn shooting at the Chapman Annex Gate on Aug. 17, and no arrests have been made, San Antonio Police Department spokesperson Ximena Alvarez said in an email.

Another thing Nina included was an ad the Trump campaign played on the big screen geared toward the military - makes sense now that I know about the base - and I thought it was brilliant.

What was REALLY interesting was the reaction of X friends when I reXweeted it.

You watch, and a warning: there is NSFW/harsh language.

OMG HAHAHA 😂🤣💀

Trump just played this epic clip of our old military vs our new woke military: pic.twitter.com/RlLdutL2jc

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 9, 2024

As you can hear, the rally-goers went ape.

I LOVED IT. 

It distilled the contrast between everything I have railed about and mourned the loss of since I began writing here at HotAir, although in flashier and pithier terms.

major dad watched it and had a big grin on his face.

"Perfect," he said.

And then a long-time X friend (really super guy), who has never been in the military (he even works in films) wrote:

Oof I don't know if cutting to Full Metal Jacket is a good idea considering how much it hated on the US military, should've cut to WW2 footage or something.

I was kind of gobsmacked at that take.

But only at first, once I started thinking about it.

Why wouldn't he think that way? So, I set aside my natural inclination to shoot off my mouth and tried to explain why Full Metal Jacket is an iconic film to Marines. And why the film and, by extension, this ad resonates because of it, hopefully, with more than just Leathernecks.

I said the ad was GREAT and that using the FMJ clips was inspired.

FMJ never hated ON the military itself; it hated what was going on in Vietnam and the politics of prosecuting a modern war, which really hasn't changed, have they?

And, I told him, guess what - everyone I know in the Marines LOVED Full Metal Jacket. Hubs and I saw it (I think I wound up with five times in the theater), and then I TOOK MY WHOLE SHOP - eight Marines - to the theater to see it. It's an iconic military movie. 

We ALL GOT IT; we've all lived it in some way or another as Marines, and all recognized the truth in it.

He brought up how anti-war directors are bummed when their heart-felt screeds turn into popular movies, as Coppola reportedly is with the enduring attachment to Apocalypse Now.

I truly feel that's an apples-to-oranges comparison. I'll quote myself answering:

Two entirely different flicks, though, in concept to my eyes. 

FMJ was focused on Marines and portrayed them perfectly, their interactions, and personalities (we all saw people we knew in the characters - nothing's changed there) against the bigger picture of the politics that had them there and manipulated the situation. 

Happened again with taking Fallujah, being forced to give it up...and being told to take it again. With ridiculous ROEs strictly because of public perception. 

Marines love FMJ because it's not anti-war. It's anti-waste of precious lives and anti-stupidity of wars run by public opinion and spooked politicians who started them. 

In AN you had a charismatic lunatic with his own kingdom upriver. That story - and it was a fiction vice FMJ - in itself was compelling. 

But was it really 'anti-war' or anti-false prophet?

I have no doubt that the scenes of R Lee Ermey, God rest his magnificent soul, are jarring to those who have never experienced the soul-crushing first encounters of Marine Corps boot camp, male or female.

Once I'd seen the film, I would spend the next viewings watching the audience as those initial vignettes played across the screen. I could always, ALWAYS, tell who had been a Marine by the reaction. Guys shrank in their seats just a fraction momentarily - the MCRD PTSD is that strong, whether they are thirty or eighty. 

Much like my X friend, thinking of an already unstable Pvt Pyle being tormented, people like my precious and tenderhearted SIL recoiled in horror, sure that those brutal interactions were all exaggerated for effect.

Of the times, they were not.

We all recognized FMJ's authenticity in their portrayal thanks to the decades-later versions we'd encountered.

That is our shared bond, which we are proud to hand down to our children. That treasured 'warrior ethos' from an American warrior caste molded of families and generations from every walk of life. The proud tradition of service to country which has sustained the American military since its birth.

The tradition which the Biden-HARRIS regime has taken particular pleasure in dismantling, deriding, disdaining, and discarding.

Nothing could be clearer to veterans, families, and active duty that the patriotic pride once inherent in serving your country, not in flying rainbow flags, will be back with a Trump presidency.

That the Thoroughly Modern Milleys and DEI drag queens are gone, and the AMERICAN MILITARY will be back.

The Trump campaign knew exactly who they were talking to.

I thought it was brilliant.

#SemperFi