Mornin, DTR.


I know there are a lot on this board that have served, and I thank you for your service and sacrifice for the red, white and blue.

Just because someone isn't missing an arm or a leg does not mean they have not given... many friends lost in battle, many long deployments away from family, many tough moves and friends left behind....

Thank you for your service and devotion. Even in our rocky times as a country, we are still the best one out there, we sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

Semper Fi!!!

 

Thanks to all the vets everywhere!

 

THANK YOU TO ALL THE VETS !!!!

 

A litle longer than yours Mark but here goes;

WHAT IS A "VETERAN"







Craig Roberts
November 9, 2004
NewsWithViews.com

November 11th, what we now call "Veterans Day," was originally called Armistice Day. It celebrated the end of World War I, when the guns fell silent across the Western Front on the 11th day, on the 11th hour of 1918. It is not a day to celebrate war, but to celebrate peace--and remember those for fought and died for it. I want to take this opportunity, as a veteran, to remember and to help those who enjoy this hard-fought peace to understand.

As a veteran, and as a military historian, I would like to define exactly what a veteran is.

First, those who have served in the armed forces know what it is like to do a job that is extremely difficult and dangerous, underpaid, and under-recognized. Still, the job has to be done and someone has to do it.

When serving, the military person does more work before 9 a.m. than most civilians do all day. There is no punch clock or time card, and the work days are as long and as many without a break as needed to accomplish the mission. There is no union, no shop steward, and no mandatory break time. It is difficult to describe in few words what a veteran may have done while in uniform.

Perhaps it would be easiest to say that a Veteran knows what it is really like to:

Wade muddy swamps and rice paddies carrying 80-100 pounds of gear in steaming tropical heat;

Crawl across bloodstained sandy beaches of some Pacific atoll no one had ever heard of;

Slide 300 feet below the surface of the sea in a steel tube, waiting silently to see if the enemy has discovered you and will destroy you, and you will disappear with no one to know your fate;

Wade through frozen snow banks, or crouch in freezing fox holes at 20 below zero in a night where you are surrounded and outnumbered by an enemy intent on killing you at dawn;

Flying 20,000 feet above unfriendly territory, waiting for enemy fighters to appear, flak to burst around you, or a warning tone on the instrument panel screaming at you that a missile has locked on to your aircraft;

Being bruised and beaten as you sit in an armored box, rocking and reeling across blazing sand dunes, knowing that one anti-tank rocket could kill you and everyone else in your vehicle;

Putting your eye to a telescopic sight on a high-powered rifle, sweat stinging your eyes as you lay for hours in 130 degree heat in a jungle treeline, putting the crosshairs on the form of an enemy soldier and squeezing the trigger, knowing that you are personally going to end a life.

Moving huge artillery shells as quickly as possible to load the gun that is being fired as fast as possible to support your fellow troops in need, somewhere out there out of sight whose only presence is that frantic voice on the radio calling for a fire mission—right now, right here, and as quickly as possible;

Driving the trucks that drive the roads that bring the much needed ammo, chow and water to the guys who are doing all the above;

Sitting in a deep hole somewhere in South Dakota, waiting and waiting for what you hope never comes, with your attention always focused on the button that could launch a terrible weapon that could destroy thousands of lives in a land far away—men, women and children of a country you know little about;

As surface sailors and merchant marine, sailing in ships, small and gigantic, on a very big sea, knowing you are the biggest target on the board, and that if attacked and sunk, swimming home is not an option;

Serving in small cutters as Coast Guardsmen, in peace and war, guarding our coasts and answering the call overseas when needed;

And in the longest war in American history, the Cold War, walking an outpost in the heat or freezing cold in places around the world and training, and training, and training for a war you prayed would never come, or manning a radar station or a ready-fighter on the DEW line somewhere in the frozen north, or staring across the Berlin Wall or the Korean 38th parallel at enemy soldiers who are being trained and prepared to kill you at any time;

And always knowing that for other than your friends and family, you were doing a thankless job, one that very few people wanted, and in many cases due to politics, were even condemned for.

But as they say, someone had to do it, and the Veterans are the men and women who stepped forward. And history has proven over and over that serving one’s country, whether for one hitch or for a career, is The Most Honorable Profession. But a profession most misunderstood in today’s civilian world, and the world of yesteryear as well.

 

As seen on a veteran's vehicle recently 'If you cannot stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them'

 

I pulled out my deceased dad's photo album of his tour of the South Pacific during WWII. Many jovial pics of him and his shipmates in faraway lands and places I can not pronounce much less spell. Then there are the pics of body strewn beaches where he made landings in his LCVP to reinforce troops that were struggling to take some unnamed atoll. There were pics of his buds, in bandages from taking fire from Japanese snipers in the trees on those atolls.

When I once asked him, when I was a small boy, what it was like, his eyes welled up, his chin quivered and he told me that it was an experience that he prayed I would never have to endure.

It was at this point that I understood that he and many thousands of men, then, and now, serve to protect those of us at home, to keep us safe from harms way.


God Bless each and every person who has, or is currently serving, to protect us from harms way.

Thank you veterans, for your selfless duty for our country.


Gary

 

Happy Veterans Day to all who served.

 

Happy Veterans Day and Thank You to all who serve/d the greatest nation the world has ever known, thanks to the sacrifices of our fine men and women in uniform!

God bless all of you.

Proud to be an American!

 

Thank you to all of my fellow Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices. When a person joins the military not only does that person serve and make sacrifice but their family does also. USN Seabees, Construimus, Batuimus "We build. We fight"

 

Many years ago, in uniform headed for a weekend drill, I made a stop at a local convenience store for fuel.

As I was walking into the store to pay, a gentleman coming out to get into his truck, stopped and extended a his hand for a handshake.

As a career cop, I had noticed the Purple Heart plates on his truck, and the Airborne decal on his rear window as I approached.

I stopped and shook his hand and he said to 'me', "Thank You."
Looking at this guy, I was certain that I was looking at the "real deal."

I was completely dumbfounded! Almost without words, looked at him, a bit confused, and simply asked..."for what?"

I'll never forget what happened next:

"For your service" he replied."
Humbly I said to him, "I'm 'just' a reservist. I've never deployed anywhere, and never seen combat."

He looked me dead in the eye, the grip of his handshake became stronger, and said, "It doesn't matter, you're still a veteran!"

He went on to say that regardless of whether you ever deploy, or ever see combat, your were 'ready' to answer the call! You volunteered and your here, and that's all that matters!"

At that moment, I felt myself stand a bit taller (and at 5'8", that's always a good thing ). A simple handshake, suddenly became a bond of brotherhood.

I now looked him square in the eye, pointed to his tag, and said "Thank You!"
His last words were "stay safe."

I never got his name, but I'll remember that chance meeting forever.
I really think it was this guy who taught me the true definition of a "Veteran."

Someone here I believe has this in their sig that sums it up pretty well:

Quote:

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life.

Thanks to all who have and are currently serving

Semper Paratus!