So im driving home and I run what I thought was a yellow light. Cop pulls me over and tells me it was red. I didnt argue, I just complied with what he needed of me, license, registration, insurance. He went to call it in and im thinking, I only have something like 20 days before shipping off to Benning, maybe he'll cut me some slack or something. When he came back, he told me that he was giving me a citation (80 something dollars) I was like, alright, I understand. Then I told him, look, mr (his name) Im leaving for active duty on x amount of days, can we work something out. He looked flabbergasted, and asked me "why didnt you tell me you were in the military before I wrote the ticket, if you did I would have just given you a verbal warning, now I cannot tear this up cause its already got a case number" I have a large american flag sticker on my back windshield with another sticker right underneath it of rather large yellow on black letters that spell A R M Y    I didnt want to point that out and instead asked him for the departments card, see if I can talk to someone over there. He was very friendly and left shortly thereafter. I called my recruiter as soon as I got home, I didnt wanto cause it was saturday morning and all, and he is a hard working guy, but I remember that if something like this happens I gotta contact him ASAP. I left him a message tellin him what happened. What im thinking is that, if I can just pay the fine and still leave the 29th of this month, I'll just do that, but if it holds me up or something, im going to go to the department and ask to speak with the chief or something. Am I heading in the right direction here? I would hate to have come this far, getting my waiver approved and finalizing my contract and all that to have me screwing it up the last second.

Rob  

"The ones that run are VC......the ones that just stand there are well disciplined VC." 

- Door Gunner / Full Metal Jacket       Familyman411@yahoo.com

"I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman!"  -Homer Simpson

Ok, not that service gets you guaranteed special treatment but I was wondering that with all the LEOs around here I might get a good cross section of answers on this subject.

What is a good subtle way of indicating veteran status to an officer, I mean, if there is a chance I can get a little help (like if its a minor violation as stated above) then I'd like to know what the best way is to handle it.

Sometimes Im in my car with vet plates or in the van with Pnet sticker and 82nd association but I dont think the decals get thier attention, any LEOs out there got any ideas... maybe the old... whoops I accidentily passed you my license AND my 82nd Association membership card.

Do they have specialty paratrooper or vet license plates in Illinois?  That would probably grab their attention since they will run the plate.

I rarely pay much attention to FOP style decals except for the ones that are issued to LEO's directly.  Reason being, alot of people get ahold of this stickers and then plaster them all over the back of their car thinking this will give them a "get out of jail free card" when they get caught driving like an ass.  I DO notice Military decals, however MANY of my coworkers are NOT prior service so some of them could care less.  I however cut military members present and past a break so long as they are not acting like an asshat. 

I'm not sure what the best way to bring it up subtly would be.  maybe something along the lines of, "You look alot like a guy that used to be in my unit when I was in the 82nd, were you in the military?"  If you get a prior service officer that may spark some interest (I know it would with me).  I'm sure you can think of other ways, but that is the one that jumped into my head! 

that reminds me... I need a new 82nd decal for my truck... anybody have any??