I think the park now needs to remove all their shooting games.
An outraged Iraqi war veteran is demanding an apology after he says he was turned away from New Jersey's Six Flags Great Adventure for a shirt he was wearing that supports fellow Marines.
The shirt reading "Keep Calm and Return Fire" and featuring a star-spangled M-16 rifle was apparently enough of a disturbance to deny entrance for father of three, Mario Alejandro.
"I was walking in through the gate with my wife and kids, who were in front of me, when a security guard grabbed me and said: 'I can't let you into the park with that shirt on. That shirt's offensive,'" he told NJ.com of his experience on Saturday.
Alejandro said he first thought it was a joke.
The shirt, which he said was a Father's Day gift from his children, was purchased through the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation. Its proceeds help support Recon Marines and their families.
http://newjersey.news12.com/news/marine-mario-alejandro-turned-away-from-six-flags-great-adventure-for-offensive-shirt-1.9061851NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY
Alejandro said the shirt, which was purchased through the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation, was a Father's Day gift from his children and that it supports Recon Marines and their families.
When the security guard persisted, Alejandro did too.
"I said that it's not offensive, it's a military shirt. I told him that I am an Iraq veteran… I served in the war. But he said: 'I don't care, you have to take that off… or you need to buy another shirt to put over it,'" he recalled.
Refusing to cave, he said he welcomed the review of the guard's supervisor who to his shocking surprise maintained the same judgment call.
If he wouldn't change his shirt, he said he was told he needed to leave as his wife and son started to cry.
http://newjersey.news12.com/news/marine-mario-alejandro-turned-away-from-six-flags-great-adventure-for-offensive-shirt-1.9061851NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY
The back of Alejandro's shirt is seen. The MRF, which heard about the Marine's story, is now selling the once discontinued shirt on their website.
Alejandro, who said he served four years as a member of the Marine infantry and was part of the initial 2003 invasion into Iraq, grudgingly agreed after publicly identifying himself to the hundreds of people around him as a U.S. veteran and explaining why he wasn't being allowed inside the park.
In a statement from Six Flags obtained by NJ.com, a park spokeswoman said that the situation is "under review" and that they have a dress code against vulgar, offensive or violent images or wording.
Alejandro objects to that description mirroring his shirt's design, and apparently so does the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation.
"One of our supporters was denied entry to Six Flags Great Adventures for wearing a shirt that supports the MRF," they wrote on their Facebook page Thursday. "We said this shirt would be limited, but we're re-releasing it. Stand by for the link."
