# Does America Need To "Be Courteous With Fireworks" This July 4th?



## Marauder06 (Jun 29, 2016)

*What is your opinion of the "be courteous with fireworks" signs?  Are they good for the veteran community?

*


> *“A combat veteran lives here, please be courteous with fireworks.”
> *
> When I saw my first “be courteous” sign a few years back, I hoped it was a fad that would pass quickly once people put some actual thought into it; you know, like “pet rocks,” or COIN.  But apparently this has turned into big business, with thousands of the signs manufactured, sold, and distributed across the US.


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## Ooh-Rah (Jun 29, 2016)

My initial thought is that the average civilian, and many Vets for that matter, will roll their eyes and say something along the lines of "oh please.  Get over yourselves"

 I say no Bueno.


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## DA SWO (Jun 29, 2016)

He has meds if his PTSD is that bad, take them and sleep through the weekend.

To me a sign like that screams attention whore.

We start assembling our fireworks Saturday afternoon.


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## Muppet (Jun 29, 2016)

No. 

M.


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## DA SWO (Jun 29, 2016)

We start 'em young in Texas.


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## AWP (Jun 29, 2016)

L to the O to the motherfucking L

Veterans SJW to the rescue!!!!! When people come to this country they need to be more like us, but if I go to war I can fundamentally alter that traditional slice?

Uh, no.

The courteous thing to do is to not shoot them at 2 AM you drunken fucks. Otherwise....meh.


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## moobob (Jun 29, 2016)

I voted other for anyone with one of those signs should be made to commit seppuku.


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## racing_kitty (Jun 29, 2016)

No. If you know that's a trigger, don't shit on everyone else's parade with it. Go camping. Do a night sail. Smoke enough pot to where you're too high to even lift the pizza up to your mouth. 

There are plenty of positive ways to avoid socially accepted pyrotechnic displays of patriotism. By putting this sign out, one is trying to force society to change to fit oneself, which isn't going to end well. Even if one gets a neighborhood bottle rocket moratorium, I'm willing to bet paychecks that hearing the distant *whump whump* of the town fireworks display will still trigger a flashback of IDF, minus the Giant Voice. So what will have been accomplished?

I'd pay good money to see someone with this sign try to protest a proper Chinese New Year celebration.


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## pardus (Jun 29, 2016)

No. 

WTF does "courteous" with fireworks even mean?


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## racing_kitty (Jun 29, 2016)

pardus said:


> No.
> 
> WTF does "courteous" with fireworks even mean?



Not setting off a tightly wrapped bundle of magnesium sparklers directly beneath someone's gas tank?


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## Rapid (Jun 29, 2016)

In addition to all the great arguments already made, this sign is just asking for retarded kids to shoot fireworks at your house.

And if you really do suffer from PTSD (i.e, this isn't just an attention whoring/poser thing), then fireworks hitting your windows and doors is going to fuck your day up a lot more than if they go bang in the sky.


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## Gunz (Jun 29, 2016)

It can sound like a firefight in the distance, pop pop pop BOOM. If it bugs you, shoot back.  That's what I do.


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## Brill (Jun 29, 2016)

pardus said:


> No.
> 
> WTF does "courteous" with fireworks even mean?



Don't aim for the face!

The US has associated PTSD and combat vet with fucking whacko. No need to feed that stereotype. Hell, maybe, just maybe, if fireworks, lit on a day that is widely known, causes a flashback, you may actually need some serious help and your issues are far beyond being combat related because of the inability to separate reality from fiction.


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## Totentanz (Jun 29, 2016)

pardus said:


> No.
> 
> WTF does "courteous" with fireworks even mean?



Not sure, but as RK pointed out, I'm certain we can find some DIScourteous ways to employ them...


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## racing_kitty (Jun 29, 2016)

It's easy, as long as you ask "What would RK do?" Then do the exact opposite.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jun 29, 2016)

Probably some support pussy who never left the fucking FOB who made that sign. Barbecue, cheap beer, fireworks, and probably a few firearms. You don't like it, go stay in a hotel, pussy!


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## x SF med (Jun 29, 2016)

Courteous, notsomuch (boom goes the gunpowder, can't change it).  Safe, always.  Firearms, not if you're going to hit anything but a target.   Alcohol and fireworks/firearms, never, due to safety concerns.


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## Ranger Psych (Jun 29, 2016)

No, but if you are a flat out dick in terms of time fired, and behavior with them, expect overwhelming counterbattery fires.


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## Gunz (Jun 30, 2016)

When I was a kid we'd poke a hole through a cigarette just below the filter, light the cigarette, get it going good, and stick a cherry bomb fuse into the hole and then unass the AO. It was about a 4-5 minute time delay...then BOOM! * 


*DISCLAIMER

DO NOT ATTEMPT. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. THIS WAS CARRIED OUT BY PROFESSIONAL TWELVE-YEAR-OLDS SKILLED IN MAYHEM.


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## Ooh-Rah (Jun 30, 2016)

Ocoka One said:


> It can sound like a firefight in the distance, pop pop pop BOOM. If it bugs you, shoot back.  That's what I do.



Fuck that - take that newly trained hound of yours for a "walk about" thru the woods - my guess is no more issues!


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## Isiah6:8 (Jun 30, 2016)

Ooh-Rah said:


> Fuck that - take that newly trained *land shark *of yours for a "walk about" thru the woods - my guess is no more issues!



FTFY


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## Gunz (Jun 30, 2016)

Ooh-Rah said:


> Fuck that - take that newly trained hound of yours for a "walk about" thru the woods - my guess is no more issues!



His canines are coming in now. It's amazing what he can do to a paper towel roll.  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !!!!


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## Kraut783 (Jun 30, 2016)

Ocoka One said:


> His canines are coming in now. It's amazing what he can do to a paper towel roll.  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !!!!



c'mon Ocoka....need new pics of your direwolf!


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## Gunz (Jul 1, 2016)

Kraut783 said:


> c'mon Ocoka....need new pics of your direwolf!



I'll try to get some this weekend. It ain't that easy, he usually just shows up as a speeding brown blur with teeth


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## RackMaster (Jul 1, 2016)

I voted other.  I think the signs are stupid.  I have no issues with fireworks, especially on days of celebration like the 4th and today, Canada Day.  It's expected.   The other comes in when douchebags decide to fire them off at all hours and any random day with no consideration for anyone around them.   Veteran or not.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 1, 2016)

x SF med said:


> Courteous, notsomuch (boom goes the gunpowder, can't change it).  Safe, always.  Firearms, not if you're going to hit anything but a target.   Alcohol and fireworks/firearms, never, due to safety concerns.



Safety nazi...taking away all the rednecks fun...I cannot remember a 4th of July that I wasn't telling someone to hold my beer and watch this. Bottle rocket and Roman candle wars after stuffing your face with smoked brisket and Lone Star beer. I didn't know people did it any other way.


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## x SF med (Jul 1, 2016)

Diamondback 2/2 said:


> Safety nazi...taking away all the rednecks fun...I cannot remember a 4th of July that I wasn't telling someone to hold my beer and watch this. Bottle rocket and Roman candle wars after stuffing your face with smoked brisket and Lone Star beer. I didn't know people did it any other way.



Sez the one -eyed fat man....   :wall::wall:  (yup, a John Wayne reference....)


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## TLDR20 (Jul 1, 2016)

From JTTOTS


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## SpitfireV (Jul 1, 2016)

When I think of America, I think of many things but the first few that come to mind are massive fuck off fireworks, guns and Thanksgiving deep fried turkey fails. 

That's America stands for. It's even in the anthem! Well not so much the turkeys but that could easily be changed. 

This is much like moving close to an airport and then complaining about the aircraft noise. 'Murica and excessive explosions. Since 1776.


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## Muppet (Jul 2, 2016)

A few years ago, I had a dude that was drunk as fuck. Went to launch a mortar something or another and it misfired. Drunk retard, with the entire fucking neighborhood watching, including dozens of kinds, watch as the mortar finally fired, into the dudes head, blowing dude back 10 ft. We get there, he is agonal (barely breathing) but of course we will not leave him there. We take him to shock trauma, intubate him and he is plant food at shock trauma. The cats at shock trauma are taking fucking pics with their cell phones, like they never saw a blast injury before. On way to call, we were told by fire comm. that "there sounds to be mass pandemonium on scene / take caution". I laughed but low and behold, there was. I was waiting for cats and dogs falling from the sky, living in harmony. I saw none...

M.


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## Muppet (Jul 2, 2016)

Found on crack book...

M.


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## DA SWO (Jul 2, 2016)

Muppet said:


> Found on crack book...
> 
> M.



What Branch is crossed sabres?


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## Marauder06 (Jul 2, 2016)

Muppet said:


> Found on crack book...
> 
> M.



Pretty sure that guy is a former cav scout.  And no I'm not trying to stir shit.  I'm FB friends with his sister.  IIRC he's in a bit of a dispute with the site that makes and markets those signs.

He also looks a LOT different these days.  Physically, he got his shit together and slimmed down.  Looks like a totally different person.


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## Muppet (Jul 2, 2016)

No idea who he is. Just figured it would be pertinent hereC

M.


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## Gunz (Jul 3, 2016)

Ooh-Rah said:


> New experimental VA drug - might just so the trick!!!
> 
> New drug aimed at curbing pet anxiety



Only one our dogs is BOOM shy, the border collie/sheltie mix. TR, the Mal pup, he could give a shit. He makes thunder his bitch.


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## DA SWO (Jul 3, 2016)

Ocoka One said:


> Only one our dogs is BOOM shy, the border collie/sheltie mix. TR, the Mal pup, he could give a shit. He makes thunder his bitch.


I have one (wife's dog) , but she is better now that we have a pack of dogs (4).


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## x SF med (Jul 3, 2016)

Our dog could give a shit about thunder or fireworks, but if she's inside and the wind is blowing she's a little freakazoid....


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## Muppet (Jul 4, 2016)

M.


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## Brill (Jul 4, 2016)

What do these people (with the signs) do during a thunderstorm?


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## Rapid (Jul 4, 2016)




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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jul 5, 2016)

Rapid said:


>



That's some funny shit right there! Nice find.


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## Florida173 (Jul 5, 2016)

Is there a count or any news articles or anything at all from the fragile veterans who may have been triggered?

Maybe that journalist?


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## DA SWO (Jul 11, 2016)

Finally found the firework video I was looking for.
Homemade fireworks are a blast. (Ignore the date stamp, was using a new camcorder)


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## Ooh-Rah (Jun 30, 2017)

So this stupid bullshit is back....

A Navy Vet’s Fireworks Courtesy Sign Keeps Getting Stolen From Her Yard

A U.S. military veteran in Rhode Island says efforts to make neighbors aware of her post-traumatic stress disorder ahead of the Fourth of July holiday have been foiled by someone who has stolen a fireworks courtesy sign from her yard, the Associated Press reports.  

Bristol resident and Navy vet Maegan Antunes told her local NBC affiliate that she has suffered from PTSD since her third deployment on an aircraft carrier and that unexpected fireworks can trigger her anxiety.


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## Topkick (Jun 30, 2017)

As a combat vet, I would be more concerned if I didn't hear fireworks on the 4th of July.


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## DocIllinois (Jun 30, 2017)

I can deal with the fireworks unless some idiot is letting off M-80s one after the other within our block, for instance, which is just more annoying more than anything.

The 4th can also be hard on pets, especially dogs, IME.  We run a white noise machine in the room where our dog sleeps on the night of the 4th, and have him sleep in the girl's bedroom, which is the darkest room.


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## Red Flag 1 (Jun 30, 2017)

[Q


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## Kraut783 (Jun 30, 2017)

never thought of a white noise machine......our dog is glued to me or my wife's side during the 4th.


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## CDG (Jun 30, 2017)

Yeah, I'm not buying it.  Thank you for your service, but we have enough attention whore veterans.  We don't need more.  Take your sign and fuck off. 

“Being on a Navy ship, you don’t really think you’re going to see what everyone else is seeing on land — the ones in the military that are on land actually fighting there,” Antunes said. “So, what we witnessed at that time was not a normal thing we expected would happen. Let’s just say that.”


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## Kraut783 (Jun 30, 2017)

“So, what we witnessed at that time was not a normal thing we expected would happen. Let’s just say that.”

WTF could this really mean?  Probably a bullshit statement, of course, but if she is serious....what the hell could she really think she saw?


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## AWP (Jun 30, 2017)

Kraut783 said:


> “So, what we witnessed at that time was not a normal thing we expected would happen. Let’s just say that.”
> 
> WTF could this really mean?  Probably a bullshit statement, of course, but if she is serious....what the hell could she really think she saw?


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## Ooh-Rah (Jun 30, 2017)

Kraut783 said:


> “*So, what we witnessed at that time was not a normal thing we expected would happen. Let’s just say that*.”
> 
> WTF could this really mean?  Probably a bullshit statement, of course, but if she is serious....what the hell could she really think she saw?



HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!   

From Wiki:_  The body of Osama bin Laden was flown from Bagram to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft escorted by two U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jets.[118][119]_

I am so buying her book when it comes out...Buried at Sea...my lips are SEALed.


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## Teufel (Jun 30, 2017)

Ooh-Rah said:


> So this stupid bullshit is back....
> 
> A Navy Vet’s Fireworks Courtesy Sign Keeps Getting Stolen From Her Yard
> 
> ...


I can only imagine how much "disability" she's collecting for this.


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## AWP (Jul 1, 2017)

Fireworks reveal the "barbarous character of the American method of displaying patriotism." SJW's always want to shut us down, man. We're people too, you know?

MMS: Error



> Fireworks have to be exploded in the middle of the dusty road, or in a vacant lot with a dirt surface, in order to avoid littering lawns or setting fire to houses, and the result is that the irresponsible small boy, turned loose with his fellows to spend the day in grand carnival of dirt, gunpowder, racket and patriotism. By the time he has gotten his hands into a condition of grime superlative even for the small boy, he bethinks himself of the toy pistol which his father as provided him with to cap the climax of the celebration, and in his haste and excitement, handling it with his finger on the trigger and his left palm over the nozzle, fires the blank charge of wadding into the bacillus-laden dirt which smears his palm...


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## DocIllinois (Jul 1, 2017)

AWP said:


> Fireworks reveal the "barbarous character of the American method of displaying patriotism." SJW's always want to shut us down, man. We're people too, you know?
> 
> MMS: Error



A tangent, but also from the article:

"ARMY NOTES.

COST OF SUBSISTENCE FOR SICK SOLDIERS.  - The orders issued during the Spanish American War, allowing a _per diem_ of sixty cents for the subsistence of each soldier undergoing hospital treatment have been revoked, and an allowance of forty cents per man from the appropriation for the subsistence of the army has been substituted, the latter sum having been found by experience to be amply sufficient."


The birth of the  CHAMPUS Reform Initiative/ Tricare?


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## BloodStripe (Jul 1, 2017)




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## BloodStripe (Jul 1, 2017)

Ooh-Rah said:


> So this stupid bullshit is back....
> 
> A Navy Vet’s Fireworks Courtesy Sign Keeps Getting Stolen From Her Yard
> 
> ...



I work with a guy who was a cook in the Navy,  and his VA rating is 80%. He's still trying to work his package through to get 100%.

He's done one deployment,  on the George Washington, and that's all. I'm considering putting together a fraud package against him.  Wherever he has a VA appointment he comes to work in sweats and brings a cane.  The cane is only ever aground on days he has a VA appointment.


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## Topkick (Jul 1, 2017)

NavyBuyer said:


> I'm considering putting together a fraud package against him



Go for it! I'd like to see VA tighten their shot group in regards to this.


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## Kraut783 (Jul 1, 2017)

NavyBuyer said:


> I work with a guy who was a cook in the Navy,  and his VA rating is 80%. He's still trying to work his package through to get 100%.
> 
> He's done one deployment,  on the George Washington, and that's all. I'm considering putting together a fraud package against him.  Wherever he has a VA appointment he comes to work in sweats and brings a cane.  The cane is only ever aground on days he has a VA appointment.



I hear ya, know I guy who is a Fed 1811, has 90% but can out bench me and is very physically active....


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## Red Flag 1 (Jul 2, 2017)

NavyBuyer said:


> I work with a guy who was a cook in the Navy,  and his VA rating is 80%. He's still trying to work his package through to get 100%.
> 
> He's done one deployment,  on the George Washington, and that's all. I'm considering putting together a fraud package against him.  Wherever he has a VA appointment he comes to work in sweats and brings a cane.  The cane is only ever aground on days he has a VA appointment.




There is a saying in the Psych community that says, "If you play with reality, reality will play with you"


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## amlove21 (Jul 2, 2017)

Of the many, many chinks in my personal armor, I have always reacted poorly to really loud and unexpected things. I've always woken up extremely violently (I nearly knocked out my then 5 months pregnant wife when she sweetly woke me up from too close on a couch one time), if a balloon pops in my immediate area, I flinch and react. It's never gotten better. 

I've been deployed a time or two, been around pretty large explosions, some meant to happen and some surprises in my career. *Insert thousand yard stare* IVE SEEN A MODERATE AMOUNT OF THINGS, MAN. 

I would never think to put that sign in my yard. As a matter of fact, if someone in my neighborhood did that, I would engage them directly and ask them what in their history would warrant such nonsense. That shit is just ridiculous. 

Firework away, America. All day. I won't be going to any firework shows (mainly crowds keeping me away) but I won't be cowering in my house under the covers wishing people were more courteous.


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## Gunz (Jul 2, 2017)

Ooh-Rah said:


> _Bristol resident and Navy vet Maegan Antunes told her local NBC affiliate that she has suffered from PTSD since her third deployment on an aircraft carrier and that unexpected fireworks can trigger her anxiety._




Is there any motherfucking non-hack whining piece of shit pogue-assed sonofabitch out there who is _not _working a PTSD claim? Christ almighty, there were times I would've given my left nut to be on an aircraft carrier.


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## DA SWO (Jul 2, 2017)

Ooh-Rah said:


> So this stupid bullshit is back....
> 
> A Navy Vet’s Fireworks Courtesy Sign Keeps Getting Stolen From Her Yard
> 
> ...


Never been on a carrier.

What would cause a firecracker-like sound that could cause PTSD?


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## Kraut783 (Jul 2, 2017)

Call of Duty marathon in the computer room?


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## Marauder06 (Jul 2, 2017)

DA SWO said:


> Never been on a carrier.
> 
> What would cause a firecracker-like sound that could cause PTSD?



the end result of a massive payday for a condition no one can prove you don't have and that everyone is scared to question you about?


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## amlove21 (Jul 2, 2017)

Marauder06 said:


> the end result of a massive payday for a condition no one can prove you don't have and that everyone is scared to question you about?


You savage AF Mara.


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## DA SWO (Jul 3, 2017)

Marauder06 said:


> the end result of a massive payday for a condition no one can prove you don't have and that everyone is scared to question you about?


Agree, have friends and co-workers with serious/severe PTSD, not one of them would think to eliminate fireworks.
Hell, a good friend was present when we started a two-county brush fire with dragon's breath (we had it out before the Fire Companies arrived).


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