Veteran's Day- A good Read
 

A Big THANK YOU to all who have served honorably while wearing the uniform of the US Military.

Also I thought this was worth posting today:

What Is A Vet?

by Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC


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 who 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 dies 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".

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 protestor to burn the flag."

Father Denis Edward O'Brien
USMC

Mick,

That is a very nice piece. They deserve all the recognition and praise they can get in my opinion. We had the largest turn out for our Veterans Day Parade here last Saturday that we have had for years. And sadly, fewer and fewer of them are back this year.

Ron :(

Excellent post Mick, this veteran thanks you for posting it.

Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow Veterans out there.

Randy

Thanks Mick,

Tony Ripepi
USMC

great post. Happy Veterans day to my fellow brothers and sisters who have served, or are still serving. A moment of silence for those that have given their lives for their country.

That's a great post. I took my 92 year old mother to the Prime Minister's residence on Sunday for the annual Rememberance Day ceremony. She received a medal for her service in the Auxilliary Territorial Service (ATS) British army. I watched and listened to the aging, dwindling procession of old soldiers and sailors as they delivered speeches, told stories and sang old army songs and I could plainly see the grit and magnificence that drove them to leave their island homes to enter into voluntary service during WWII.

Thanks to all who have and/or are serving. I was proud to serve, but even more proud to see those who continue to fight even with no understanding of how these wars will ever end or when.