| Author |
Message |
    
Olen Armstrong
Wandering Member
Post Number:
107
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 12:15 pm: |   |
From an old Zoomie to all of my American brothers and sister who also swore the oath. And to those who serve today.
A teary-eyed "Thank you". God's blessing to you all.
Olen Armstrong (sorry it's so long)
(fmr) SSGT USAF
*******************************************************
MICHAEL O. ALLEN (1998) Edwards AFB, CA
WHAT IS A VET?
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's the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia (Desert Storm) sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He's the bar room 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. (Korea)
She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. (Viet Nam) He's the POW who went away one person and came back another. He's the Quantico drill instructor who's 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's the parade riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He’s the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He's one of the anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the other anonymous heroes whose valor died unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He's the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who once helped liberate a Nazi death camp, and who wishes all day long that his wife was still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
They are ordinary, and yet extraordinary, human beings, people who offered some of their life's most vital years in the service of this country, and who sacrificed their ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he, or she, 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".
Remember November 11th is Veterans Day
"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."
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC
>Olen A<
|
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
711
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 01:18 pm: | |
AMEN!!!!
Thank all of you who were there and took part in any battles that have been fought to preserve all those freedoms that we all take for granted everyday. I give heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you, no matter who you are or where your life has taken you.
Claudia |
Jennifer Lynn
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
865
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 08:43 pm: | |
My respect and everlasting support to those who have served, and continue to serve.
(Fmr)Pvt Smith, JL
15 Medical Company
Canadian Armed Forces
|
Sheila Schmidt
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
348
Registered: 05-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 09:54 pm: | |
My daddy was a marine in WW2. Veterans will always be tops on my list.
Thanks Olen
Sheila |
Kevin P. Grover
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
976
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 03:27 am: | |
Well,
Thank-you. But remember that the most important ones are the ones who are out there right now, not knowing if they will see tomorrow. And this does not just include Iraq. It's Afghanistan. It's Korea. It's everyone wearing the uniform right now, simply because they don't know where the next battle will come from.
Always remember....never forget....always honor, those who serve.
Kevin P. Grover
SGT (P), USA
1982-1994
www.winterwolfpublishing.com |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2417
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 05:24 am: | |
Yesterday my husband was reminiscing about the Berlin crisis. He was air lifted over there with the Big Red One from Ft. Riley. They had been prepared for any contingency and expected the worst.
Always remember and never forget those who serve is a fitting mantra.} |
Steven Shrewsbury
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
356
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 05:35 am: | |
Very good stuff.
I was born late in my parent's life. Growing up, I had the only dad in WW2. My brother was in Vietnam when I was born. My grandfather was in WW1....his grandfather rode with Bloody Bill ANderson...and so it goes.
One of my fave lines is from the POW MIA move.
THE EAGLE STILL FLIES EVEN THOUGH IN CHAINS
|
Olen Armstrong
Wandering Member
Post Number:
108
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 07:33 am: | |
My Uncle Buck served in Korea. I never knew as a child growing up that he'd been a POW of the Chinese. That was kept from us kids. And whatever they did to him caused so much pain that he needed to soak it in alcohol for the rest of his life...just to function.
To us he was just "Old drunk Uncle Buck."
He gave his life in Korea, but didn't fall down until over 30 years later.
If anyone had been willing to talk about it, I could have learned so much...
about life...and death...and war...and peace...and sacrifice.
It's sad to only learn about it now that's he's gone. The picture is incomplete. I'm forced to fill it in with my own crayons. And I can't know the true colors or where the lines are.
God bless them all. I'm working on a top-10 country hit for him and all like him. It's called "Once They Were Young".
Later on,
>Olen A.<
>Olen A<
|
Olen Armstrong
Wandering Member
Post Number:
109
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 - 07:47 am: | |
Considering this thread, I thought I'd share this from my portfolio. (Again I apologize for the length)
>During my past medical misadventures (chemotherapy), I was forced to take a long hard look at death, my own. It WAS a possibility. And I was reminded of something I had written after another death. Rereading THAT piece helped put it all in perspective a little.
***************************************
Feb 1997
We lost my step-dad several months ago. He was here....then he wasn't. I have to admit that he wasn't a very good father-figure for me or my brothers. He was too much of an Army sergeant. But he more than made up for it as a grandpa to my boys.
I learned in his obit that he had 2 purple hearts and a silver star. Who knew? He never spoke of it. I never saw a "Citation to accompany the award of...". But with 25 years of service, he apparently was a bona-fide hero. He'd been in a copter crash and seen combat in Korea. He did 2 tours in Vietnam. He was an award-winner with a pistol. And he was a damned good "Grandpa Cliff" who was there for my two youngest boys....but then suddenly he wasn't.
We interred his ashes at Arlington, as befitting an American hero. The small family group held its composure as the widow received the perfectly folded American flag, the guns sounded, and he arrived at his final duty assignment. Tears and quiet murmurs abounded....except for one of my sons, who sobbed loudly for his Grandpa Cliff. His knees buckled and he would have fallen but for my arm around his shoulders. For him, now, suddenly it was real, Grandpa Cliff wasn't there anymore.
Some hand-made wooden toys, and his Vietnam swager-stick with the ornate dragon's head, are kept in our home. He won't be forgotten.
But I always felt that something was missing. Now, months later, I realize what it was. In the religion of many native American tribes, warriors of the tribe wrote themselves a Death Song, a poetic tribute to their own exploits. Their greatest end was to die in battle defending their tribe, with their Death Song on their lips to convince the Great Spirit of their worthiness. Cliff, an American warrior, had no Death Song. And sadly this is the best I can do to write his for him.
Cliff's death wasn't as he would have scripted it. I'm sure he would have wanted to go out leading a group of young warriors in a desperate battle to defend American lives and freedom. Or rescuing some kids from a rampaging torrent. Or saving an old lady from a burning building. Instead, he was struck and killed instantly by a drunk driver, (something to consider the next time you're CERTAIN that you're "ok to drive").
He was here....then suddenly he wasn't. And that's how it'll be for most of us. Maybe we should at least think about our OWN Death Songs. What in our lives would we trumpet to God as a great deed or attribute? What would make us worthy of what lies beyond?
Your duty is finished, Sarge. Stand down...and get some rest, with your nation's thanks.
He was here....then suddenly he wasn't.
Later on,
>Olen A<
|
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page