Last week San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem, saying I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color . . . There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.

Amid an uproar online and in the media, former Army Ranger Rory Fanning shared a photo of himself at Wrigley Field, refusing to stand for the national anthem as a show of support for Kaepernick’s act. Within two days the photo had been shared one hundred thousand times online. For a time #VeteransForKaepernick was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

Fanning served two tours in Afghanistan with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, in the same unit as former NFL star Pat Tillman. In 2009 he walked across the country for the Pat Tillman Foundation. He is currently on an anti-recruitment tour of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Union.