Local veteran speaks out on Syrian War

By Isaiah Dollens

Staff Writer

Douglass Michael Jacobs is a E5 Second Class Petty Officer veteran of the U.S. Navy. Currently, he works as a mechanic for air conditioning units. He lives in the Mt. Pleasant district raising his grandson. He offered insight on his views on how veterans affect the community.

1. In what ways do you think veterans are a part of the community?
   “They are workers, teachers, police officers, construction workers, and homeless,” he said. “They make the effort to give back to the community.”

2. How do you think people view veterans in the community? Why?

“Some people view them with respect, and some don’t like them cause they don’t like military action overall,” he stated.

3. How do you think veterans view others in the community? Why?

He said, “Most veterans view people with respect. I think people have a lot of privilege because they live in America and they have more opportunities than other people.”

4. How does the war in Syria affect the American society?

He stated, “I don’t like the idea of refugees coming here without vetted them properly. Everybody here has to work to help them when they don’t want to work for themselves.”

5. In what ways did the war change your perspective on how people view things?

“My views haven’t changed, it hasn’t affected me. If President Obama did his job, the mess in Syria wouldn’t be a problem.”

6. How is the war affecting our allies?

“All Middle Eastern countries are getting affected and are bleeding into other countries like a virus. It causes a turmoil in other countries. I think the Muslim nations should help each other instead of having them fend for themselves or having other countries deal with them,” he stated.

7. How do you think our allies will react?

He said, “A lot of countries are not fighting back. They need to fight back and not rely on countries like America to deal with it.”

8. How is the war affecting our relationship with our allies?

“It’s putting strain on most countries we were allies with because we are withdrawing troops and all the countries expect America to step in when we did not. That’s why the Middle East is on fire,” he said.