Today is Veteran's Day here in the US. Our appreciation to all who have served this country and the world in their efforts to secure and maintain peace.
Remembrance Day
- Thread starter Paco
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For the Vets.
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a
jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel
carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She--or he--is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another--or didn't come back at all.
He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat--but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket--palsied now and aggravatingly slow--who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank you." That's all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot: "THANK YOU."
It is the soldier,
not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier,
not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
God Bless America!
Chad
For the Vets.
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a
jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg--or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel
carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She--or he--is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another--or didn't come back at all.
He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat--but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor die unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket--palsied now and aggravatingly slow--who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank you." That's all most people need, and in most cases, it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot: "THANK YOU."
It is the soldier,
not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier,
not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
Who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
God Bless America!
Chad
Chad....that's an excellent desciption that brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.
The only thing left to say to all the Vets is...Thank you.
The only thing left to say to all the Vets is...Thank you.
I received it in an e mail this morning and thought it appropriate. I am glad you liked it.
Chad
Chad
OP
Thank you ckharlan66!!!!
Cherry
Contributor
Often as I stand in the crowd at our Rememberance Day ceremonies as I will in an hr or so, I see middle aged men and women standing in the crowd with their thumb straight along the seams of their pants as the Parade is called to attention. I look out at the parade at the Legion members vets of WW2 and Korea and know that the guy in the crowd is vet of a different kind of conflict. Hes the guy who stood alert when radar picked up an unusal contact, hes the guy who stood on the Bridge of a DDE as his CO played chicken with a Russian Elint vessel and hes the guy who had to repaint the ships side when they bumped. Hes the guy who spend endless hrs crawling through the mud of West Germany near Laar and Baden Baden. Hes the poor schmuck who serviced Cf100's in the cold of Cold Lake Alberta. Across Canada this morning hundreds perhaps thousands of middle aged men and women stand post in the crowd not feeling quite like Vets compared to the men who faced death at Normandy and Dieppe. Then I look down just to make sure my thumb is straight along the seam.
There are no words to express the debt we owe to all those who served in our military and the military of the allies.
THANK YOU TO YOU ALL.
Chad
THANK YOU TO YOU ALL.
Chad
I copied it and posted it on a couple other boards. It's too good not to share!
Hey folks Remembrance Day here in Canada, when we remember those who gave their lives in the field of battle to keep our country free................
And along with this please remember your US Vets on Veteran's Day in the US of A..............
And along with this please remember your US Vets on Veteran's Day in the US of A..............
Natasha
Contributor
Thanks. Very powerful. We're flying our flag high here today.
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