Today is Veterans Day. It used to be Armistice Day, which celebrated the end of WWI. That’s what my mother always called it. In 1954 Congress changed it to Veterans’ Day.
If you know a vet, thank him for his service. Many of them have spent a lot of their service time in foreign lands. When I was in the Navy I spent more than half of my four years of active duty overseas. My last 22 months I spent on an LST (Long Slow Target) home-ported out of Guam. This was the late 60’s so I got to spend a little time on the sparkling beaches of South Viet Nam. Guam, by the way, is actually an acronym for either Give Us American Money or Give Up And Masturbate.
Our vets certainly won’t get many honors from our current commander-in-chief, other than lip service, and the majority of the Dimocrat Party. The Dimocrats always talk about voter suppression but they’re the ones who do their best to have ballots from serving members of the military thrown out. As Ruch Limbaugh once said, “If you want to see what shady things the Dimocrats are doing, look at what they accuse Republicans of doing.” Projection is alive and well in the Dimocrat Party.
But I digress.
Thanks to all of you veterans for honorably serving your country. Some of us appreciate all that you have done and all that you have given.
I got an email from one of my email friends, provocative enough that I’m going to use it as a starting point for a few of my thoughts:
>>Howdy,
Here it is that time of the year again. You know, Veteran’s Day. This time of the year and again on Memorial Day, my head seems to conjure up the same question. I am willing to bet that many of you have asked the same one. That question: Was it worth it? Hell, I don’t know why I ask it every year or why I struggle with the reality of anything at times, but there it is. And guess what? I still don’t have an answer and I may never have an answer. The only thing good that comes out of that question and the reality of not having an answer is that I know others who state they have asked it many times as well. And they still don’t have an answer that satisfies themselves. And because I know those others, I realize I am not alone and that makes my life more bearable. With all of that said, let me state that my prayer for all of us. May all of our memories be kind to us. May those with us be as respectful as we have become. May our lives continue to be blessed with the knowledge that there are others of our kind. With that said, I will close with this. A good Veteran’s Day to each of you. It is a pleasure and an honor to know you.
Paul<<
Yes Paul, I’ve had thoughts like that too. My thoughts about the Our Holiday keep evolving as time passes. Back when we were kids, everyone was a vet, or if not a vet, married to one. It was just presumed that every boy would, in turn, serve and graduate to “veteran”. It was what men did and no BFD. You didn’t become special because everyone did it and was a special as everyone else. But by the time our turn arrived, things had changed and deferments were no longer a delay but too often an escape. Then the craft ended and few people began volunteering. And presto-chango, those of us who served became special, even if it was a single hitch as a company clerk at Fort Huachuca in the late stages of the Cold War. And meanwhile the supply of old veterans has been busily dying off, leaving us next in line for the dying off parade. We, veterans have become the real One Percenters. And that means de facto “special”, so long as you serve honorably – the true heroes are super-special.
Back in the day, when we got home, particularly at first, we wanted to put our soldiering behind us and get back to the serious business of “fun”, trying to fit back in, and get on with like. And in our day that meant down-playing your vet status. We had to keep our pride very much to ourselves. A few years ago I wrote a couple of memoirs, and the essay about returning I titled “From the War Zone to the Combat Zone”. With Gulf War I, suddenly being a Veteran became honorable. Initially I was ambivalent, genuinely happy for the proper welcome the new vets received, but also a bit of envy, sort of like the feeling the first kid feels when displaced by the new baby. And then the wannabes began sprouting up like mushrooms in a freshly fertilized cow pasture. Then … You remember how things have changed again and again. After the last few years, I share your sense of discouragement, that it all seems to have been for naught. And yet there is something else that remains, our sense of accomplishment, our pride in what we endured and transcended. Like Climbing a mountain or running a marathon, there remains a pride in a personal odyssey which cannot be stolen from us even in death, unless we willingly yield the prize. This is a reason I wore my medals on my suit coat to church today. One more thing, the opportunity to earn the friendship of you all. Were it not for my service, and being a veteran I would never have met you. And certainly would not have been worthy to address you as Friend and Brother. For me, it is worth it. Because it is you, my veteran brothers, who matter. This is related to the speech Shakespeare put into Prince Hal’s mouth on Crispian’s Day.
I find it an almost divinely inspired coincidence the confluence of dates. November 8 is the anniversary of Operation Hump, specifically a Viet Nam occasion made famous by Big and Rich. Two days later, the Marine Corps Birthday. And tomorrow, Veterans Day. Saint Crispian’s Day comes about two weeks before. If one minority group can receive an entire month to celebrate their mere existence, I think it is not to much to ask a passage of four days to commemorate the accomplishments of another minority group of about one percent. It is my honor to be a part of your company.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1954174743001/kristy-lee-airborne-ranger-infantry?intcmp=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwpO8Q1u4Ss
Drinking a toast in your honor,
I didn’t really enjoy my time in the military but I don’t regret it. The Navy taught me electronics which helped me get a job at IBM. I went to school on the GI Bill and I’m using the VA as a backup healthcare plan.
You’re right. I remember growing up, almost all of my classmates had fathers who had been in the military during WWII. My two older cousins were ROTC in college and served as officers in the Army for two years after they graduated. Up until Clinton, most of our presidents had been in the military. I think it made them better commanders-in-chief of the military. Clinton and Obungler, both disgraces as president and as CinC’s.
Heinlein had it right in Starship Trooper. To become a citizen, you had to sere in the military. That would prevent a lot of scum, like the base of the Dimocrat Party, from voting or running for office.
I never downplayed my vet status. In the winter, I wore my old Navy foul weather jacket. I would have worn my P-coat, but one of my shipmates had stolen it from the P-coat locker before I left the ship.
Wonderful post, Rurik. My Father joined the Corps in ’17, served 7 years, then did another 5 in USArmy. Didn’t see action but served proudly. My step-brother did almost 30 in USAF. None of my 3 other brothers joined, but I managed to last 1 year, 11 months, 23 days and 20 hours (not that I was counting) in baggy green skin. My daughter served as an airframer for 8 years in USNavy and is married to an Army E6.
With this kind of history, today has a different meaning for my wife and I than to lots of others, so we offer a special thanks to all those who wear or have worn the uniform, and their families, too.
The current fad of thanking people for their military service makes me uneasy. I’m somewhat embarrassed when anyone thanks me for what I always understood as a duty of American Citizenship. The men of my family(and many of it’s women) have fought in every war in our history. From the Revolutionary War down to the War on Terror, we answered the call to serve. Serving the nation that nurtured you is both an obligation and an honor. There has never been a need to thank me for doing the right thing. Thanking me forty years after my war was over has a hollow sound to my ears.
Roger- it doesn’t matter if that was 40 years ago or last year, you have my thanks now, next year and every year thereafter. I don’t care if the timing was such that you had my back, my daughter’s or Beetle Bailey’s. You wore the baggy green skin, you took the one step forward and raised your right hand. There’s only a small percentage of folks in this country (or the world) who’ve done so and know what that really means.
This even applies to Jarheads, squids, ‘pellerheads and coasties.
Rob J
I have a post on Facebook for my family members who served in the Second World War. They were all volunteers. They never asked if it was worthwhile. The country was at war, and they enrolled. I was 10 years old in 1939. My only brother (22) left his law school in Montreal and was gone to Europe till 1946. Every night, my mother and I would kneel down and beg God, with tears, to keep him alive. We never knew where he was. Now and again, we would receive a small airmail blue note telling us, “I’m well. I love you. Don’t worry about me.” It was so hard for us. It’s only much later, in my teens, that I understood how important and necessary it had been to go and fight in that war.
Thank you to all who serve, past, present and future, without grumbling. God bless you all.
Here’s an OOHRAH to my late father in law that was a US Marine for
28 years. He was 87 years old and fought in the bloody battles in the south pacific during WWll, Korea, and Vietnam. He was the finest man I ever met.
He told me when I asked to marry one of his well raised daughters,
“Dave, I killed people in the S Pacific, I’ve killed people in Korea and Vietnam and I wouldn’t mind killing one bastard in America if they dared a finger on one of my daughters”!!
He passed away two years ago at age 87. America is far worse of w/o the “greatest generation” by far.
Denny …….
As I have posted before. every year I visit the veterans section of a cemetery to pay homage to those who sacrificed so much to keep this country free. My favorite sacred resting place is a hillside cemetery overlooking a Small city in the heart of the Allegheny Forest where a statue of a Doughboy charging up the hill guards the sleeping American patriots .
It is quiet there , almost reverent ….a place where one can reflect on the sacrifices made & the lost futures these soldiers offered up so we could realize ours .
It is a sad time during these visits when confronted with the reality of others who drive by daily but never pause in their daily activities to stop & say a prayer of thanks . It is also a time to be proud of those who believed in America, who were willing to defend it & for many gave their lives in that effort.
It is a small tribute I suppose to visit, to honor these fallen Hero`s, but to me it is important to honor them to & never forget the sacrifices made for me long before I was even born. So this year as in every year I paused,I prayed & I gave thanks…..even got misty eyed a bit.
Unfortunately those who take the time to do as I have done are getting to be fewer & fewer each year but as long as I live……I will continue to honor our fallen soldiers , I just hope when I am gone someone will take my place
To all of you who served this country whether you read this post or not, whether we agree politically or not……..Thank you for your service, I salute everyone of you.