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As the 2017 NFL season got underway, an open letter written the year before by retired Marine Col. Jeffery Powers to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about players kneeling during the United States national anthem reappeared on social media: Days earlier, it had been reported that 17 players had joined Colin Kaepernick in protesting the police shootings of black men by kneeling during the national anthem before games. Powers' letter first gained attention on 17 September 2016, when conservative commentator Allen B. West posted it to his web site: We reached out to Col. Powers, who confirmed to us that the letter is, indeed, genuine. Powers told us that he could not remember exactly where he originally posted the screed (he said that it was probably Facebook) and we have so far been unable to uncover the original posting. The earliest version we could find was posted to Facebook on 13 September 2016. According to a Bloomberg executive profile for the company Homeland Security Technology Inc., where Powers worked after retiring from the service, he is a decorated veteran of the Gulf War: Powers' service would have prevented him from enjoying New York Giants games during the 1990-1991 season: The fallen soldier mentioned in the text is Sgt. Garrett Mongrella, who — just as Powers wrote — died during the war. Although this letter was written in September 2016, Powers' attitude toward the NFL has not changed. The decorated veteran told us that he has no plans to watch any games during the 2017 football season.
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