Really? No 'Veterans Day' thread yet?

[Dave's PA Rental]

I didnt look very hard, but I saw no Veterans Day thread...

Thanks Sarge, where ever you may be right now. Thanks to all vets...

And thanks to my great-uncle, Ronald Jackson Niles, who died in Northern France a month after D-Day. He trained for two years (two YEARS) between Texas and the California desert. He got there on July 14 and the halftrack he was driving ran over a mine on July 17. Two years training, three days in country.

His Purple Heart sits on my mantle all year.

[blonddgirl777]

Thanks and R.I.P. to my old uncle Bernard, who faught W.W.2... debarcation in Normandie.
I don't know if anyone saw the movie "Jacob's Ladder" (one of my very favorite movie, ever) but something similar happened to him....
He came back from war, was put in a vet's hospital where he died about 50 years later.
His life changed from happy/healty to miserable/sick...



Today, I received this E-Mail:


Canadian military

The average age of the Canadian military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either.

He's a recent High School graduate;

He was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.

He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm howitzer.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.

He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other.

He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle.

He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you
in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humour in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime.

He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them.
He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.

He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand,
remove their hat, or even stop talking.

In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy.

He is the Canadian Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.

He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.

Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have woman over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot.

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.

Prayer wheel for our military... please don't break it. Please pass this on after a short prayer.

Prayer Wheel;

"Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."


God bless them all!

[Northern Girl]

Re: Really? No 'Veterans Day' thread yet?

Originally posted by Dave's PA Rental
I didnt look very hard, but I saw no Veterans Day thread...

There's one in the Front Line...but don't go in there unless you can recognize sarcasm, irony, and hyperbole.

[blonddgirl777]

Re: Re: Really? No 'Veterans Day' thread yet?

Originally posted by Northern Girl
...the Front Line...sarcasm, irony, and hyperbole.

... And living room politics!

[Dave's PA Rental]

Yeah, I don't "do" the Frontline...

A bunch of neo-cons trying over THE INTERNET to convince a bunch of liberals that they are wrong. And vice-versa.

Too much 'lowest-common-denomonator'/fear mongering going on, and life is too short...

So I did'nt look there.

[blonddgirl777]

Originally posted by Dave's PA Rental
Yeah, I don't "do" the Frontline...

The best way to ruin a party (or make sure it gets boring), is to bring up politics...
No-one will ever change their minds and the arguments will never end!

"Changing the world" in a living room or around a kitchen table is pointless...

[Dave's PA Rental]

Thanks for that blonddgirl...Canada is ok in my book...

[blonddgirl777]

Originally posted by Dave's PA Rental
...Canada is ok...

Boring, but at least, O.K.!

[Northern Girl]

UH OH...I was just being cute...didn't mean to start anything.

[blonddgirl777]

Originally posted by Northern Girl
UH OH...I was just being cute...didn't mean to start anything.

Not to worry... this is saturday night, and we are in "Non"...
You are cute, in deed!

[blonddgirl777]

N.G., are you Canadian?
Or from the northern U.S.?

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Dave's PA Rental
Yeah, I don't "do" the Frontline...

A bunch of neo-cons trying over THE INTERNET to convince a bunch of liberals that they are wrong. And vice-versa.

Too much 'lowest-common-denomonator'/fear mongering going on, and life is too short...

So I did'nt look there.

Originally posted by DavidLeeNatra
and I as a reliable source of the rotharmy tell you to shut the fuck up and fuck off...

LMAO


It's all just for grins, Nat.

We all have our targets.

[LoungeMachine]

Re: Re: Really? No 'Veterans Day' thread yet?

Originally posted by Northern Girl
There's one in the Front Line...but don't go in there unless you can recognize sarcasm, irony, and hyperbole.

We're offering decoder rings now.

[Northern Girl]

Originally posted by blonddgirl777
N.G., are you Canadian?
Or from the northern U.S.?

Minnesota

[Northern Girl]

Re: Re: Re: Really? No 'Veterans Day' thread yet?

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
We're offering decoder rings now.

I'll take a Nicky D model to start.