北卡罗来纳州费耶特维尔——在这个士兵的城市和全国，退伍军人军人家庭对总统的报告意见不一唐纳德·特朗普对军方发表了轻蔑的评论，一些服役人员对这些评论感到愤怒，其他人则质疑这些评论是否属实。

托马斯·理查森是陆军第82空降师的退休成员，他不喜欢他听到的。

理查森受过尊重总司令职位的训练，但他对《大西洋月刊》(The Atlantic)上的一些指控感到愤怒，其中许多指控得到了美联社的独立证实。这些指控称，特朗普将倒下和被俘的美国军人称为“失败者”和“傻瓜。”

“通常，你不会选择那些种类的任务。理查森说，他在2016年没有投票给特朗普。

费耶特维尔是20多万人的家园，其北部边界与布拉格堡接壤。它于1783年以美国独立战争中的法国英雄拉斐特侯爵命名。

37岁的凯蒂·康斯坦斯嫁给了驻扎在布拉格堡的一名士兵。她对特朗普言论的报道持怀疑态度，并准备支持他，即使这些报道是真实的。

康斯坦斯说:“如果你曲解他的话，或者断章取义，你总会找到恨他的方法。”“他是一个人。他带了很多东西。我看不出他是怎么熬过近四年的——对他持续不断的愤怒。”

康斯坦斯说，总的来说，特朗普的总统任期对服务人员及其家人都有好处。

她说:“我们不需要一个温暖可爱的人。”

周六，在北卡罗来纳退伍军人公园，驻扎在布拉格堡的士兵本·亨德森带着他的父亲参观花园和纪念馆。

亨德森在2016年投票给特朗普，并计划在11月再次投票，部分原因是为了感谢特朗普最近的加薪。至于有关特朗普的报道，亨德森表示，他没怎么考虑。

“我不参与那些政治事务。我在专心工作。”

特朗普和他的盟友认为《大西洋月刊》的报道是虚假的，并把没有在军队服役的总统描绘成军人的坚定支持者退伍军人。

军人家庭在2016年大选中普遍支持特朗普，皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)2019年6月对退伍军人的调查发现，总体而言，退伍军人比普通公众更支持特朗普。

那群人中有退休的绿色贝雷帽乔·肯特。

周四晚上，在俄勒冈州波特兰市附近的家中，肯特在推特上滚动浏览这个爆炸性的故事时，立刻点击了《大西洋月刊》的文章。他不会因为他的妻子是受害者之一而忽视关于受害者的头条新闻。

香农·肯特(Shannon Kent)，36岁，海军高级军士长，于2019年1月在叙利亚的一次自杀式爆炸中丧生。

她的丈夫现在为一家信息技术公司工作，他不相信特朗普做出了归咎于他的诋毁言论。

肯特说:“我很难相信匿名消息来源。”"新的指控在我看来太耸人听闻了。"

40岁的肯特讲述了自己与总统的个人经历。去年一月，当他的家人聚集在多佛空军基地接收他妻子的遗体时，特朗普就在那里。

“我没有受到任何形式的不尊重，”肯特说，他现在是特朗普的军人家庭顾问委员会成员。“在我看来，他似乎是一位对送人送死深感矛盾的领导人。”

佛罗里达州圣彼得堡的约翰·杜立特尔(John Doolittle)三年前从海豹突击队退役，他是特朗普的另一个崇拜者，没有被报道吓倒。

现年50岁的杜利特尔目前供职于一家提供健身和康复项目的公司。他说，特朗普“竭尽全力确保退伍军人得到公平的份额。”“我认为军队和退伍军人团体的士气非常积极。”

然而，在特朗普担任总统的大部分时间里，其他退伍军人对他不再抱有幻想。他嘲笑2018年去世的亚利桑那州共和党参议员约翰·麦凯恩在越战中被敌人俘虏。

退役少将保罗·伊顿(Paul Eaton)表示:“我理解《大西洋月刊》的报道可能让总统感到痛苦。”“但是，看到他对麦凯恩的态度后，任何穿制服的人都不会感到意外。”

伊顿现在住在华盛顿州普吉特湾的福克斯岛，在伊拉克和其他地方担任指挥官后，于2006年退役。几年来，他一直是退伍军人组织的顾问，该组织自称是美国最大的进步退伍军人组织

伊顿的父亲是一名空军飞行员，他于1969年在老挝被击落，多年后遗体被找到。他的妻子是前陆军上尉，也是海军陆战队上校的女儿。

伊顿说:“总统不能理解无私服务的本质和质量，对此我并不感到惊讶。”“对他来说一切都是交易...令人难以理解的是，我们不得不容忍一个像这位总统那样行事的总司令。”

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Veterans are divided about reports Trump disparaged military

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- In this soldier's city and across the country, veterans and military families are divided about reports that President Donald Trump made disparaging comments toward the military, with some service members bristling at the remarks and others questioning whether they happened.

Thomas Richardson, a retired member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne, did not like what he heard.

Richardson was trained to respect the office of commander in chief, but he was rankled by allegations in The Atlantic, many of them independently confirmed by The Associated Press, that Trump had referred to fallen and captured U.S. service members as “losers” and “suckers.”

“Usually, you don’t choose those kinds of missions. You agree to serve and you agree to go where your assignment is,” said Richardson, who did not vote for Trump in 2016.

Fayetteville, home to more than 200,000 people, is bordered by Fort Bragg on its northern limits. It was named in 1783 for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution.

Katie Constandse, 37, is married to a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg. She is skeptical about the reports of Trump’s remarks and is prepared to stick by him even if they are true.

“If you twist his words or just take one thing out of context, you’ll always find a way to hate him,” Constandse said. “He’s a human being. He takes a lot of stuff. I don’t see how he has survived for almost four years — the constant barrage of anger toward him.”

Overall, Constandse said Trump's presidency has been good for service members and their families.

“We don’t need someone who is warm and cuddly,” she said.

At North Carolina Veterans Park, Ben Henderson – a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg – was showing his father around the gardens and memorials on Saturday.

Henderson voted for Trump in 2016 and plans to do it again in November, partly in appreciation for a recent military pay raise. As for the reports about Trump, Henderson said he had given them little thought.

“I don’t get involved with all that politics stuff. I’m concentrating on my job,” he said.

Trump and his allies have dismissed the Atlantic report as false and depicted the president – who did not serve in the military – as a staunch supporter of service members and veterans.

Military families were broadly supportive of Trump in the 2016 election, and a Pew Research Center survey of veterans conducted in June 2019 found overall that veterans were more supportive of Trump than the general public.

Among that group is retired Green Beret Joe Kent.

At his home near Portland, Oregon, Kent clicked on the Atlantic article as soon as he scrolled across the explosive story on his Twitter feed Thursday evening. He does not overlook headlines regarding fallen service members because his wife was one of them.

Shannon Kent, a 36-year-old senior chief petty officer with the Navy, was killed in January 2019 in a suicide bombing in Syria.

Her husband, now working for an information technology company, does not believe Trump made the disparaging remarks attributed to him.

“I have a really hard time believing anonymous sources,” Kent said. “The new accusations just seem so sensational to me.”

Kent, 40, speaks from his own personal experiences with the president. When his family gathered at Dover Air Force Base last January to receive his wife’s remains, Trump was there.

“I didn’t get any kind of disrespect,” said Kent, who is now on the advisory board of Military Families for Trump. “He seemed to me to be a leader who was deeply conflicted about sending people off to die.”

John Doolittle of St. Petersburg, Florida — who retired from the Navy SEALS three years ago — is another Trump admirer unswayed by the reports.

Trump "has gone out of his way to make sure veterans get a fair share,” said Doolittle, 50, who now works for a firm offering fitness and rehabilitation programs. “I think morale in the services and the veteran community is very positive.”

Other veterans, however, have been disenchanted with Trump for much of his presidency. He mocked Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who died in 2018, for being captured by the enemy while serving in the Vietnam War.

“I understand what The Atlantic reported is probably painful for the president to hear,” said retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton. “But it’s not a surprise to anyone in uniform after watching how he behaved toward Sen. McCain.”

Eaton, who now lives on Fox Island in Washington state’s Puget Sound, retired from the Army in 2006 after stints as a commander in Iraq and elsewhere. For several years, he’s been an advisor to VoteVets, which describes itself as the largest progressive veterans’ organization in the U.S.

Eaton’s father was an Air Force pilot who was shot down over Laos in 1969 and his remains recovered many years later. His wife is a former Army captain and daughter of a Marine Corps colonel.

“I’m not surprised that the president cannot grasp the nature and quality of selfless service,” Eaton said. “It’s all transactional for him ... it’s beyond comprehension that we would have to tolerate a commander in chief who behaves the way this president does."

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Crary reported from New York. Associated Press Writer Sarah Morgan Blake in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.