In a time when we have a Presidential election in which neither of the front-running candidates served in their country’s military (THAT doesn’t happen too often) it’s all the more appropriate today to give thanks to those who have sacrificed for our nation’s security.
Today is Veteran’s Day. Let’s all be sure it means something.
Yesterday was the birthday of the US Marine Corps. That means a lot too.
The day before yesterday, my significant other was in San Diego to watch her oldest grandson graduate from boot camp as a United States Marine. Regular readers of the blog will recall when he spent a week with her and me getting warmed up, including a two-day Appleseed shoot. I’m happy to report that he shot Expert with the service rifle.
And, a few days before that, a number of members of our country’s armed services did not get to stand up and be counted in the Presidential election. Someone needs to answer for that. (No, I’m not talking about the joke thing in the DuffelBlog that went viral.)
The men and women of America’s military do not get the respect they deserve. There is no better day than today to remember that, and resolve to do all we can as citizens and voters to rectify that situation.
Mas, God Bless those who have served. But the lack of recognition and respect for them goes back to the beginnings of armies. It crosses cultures. Best I have ever read is Kiplings “Tommy” on the subject. Brings tears to my eyes…
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_tommy.htm
In the UK today is Remembrance Sunday were at 11am we will observe two minutes silence to remember the dead of two world wars and other more recent, and on going, conflicts.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”
God bless all those who gave their lifes in defence of freedom and those who still serve.
I think and prayer for our Service Members everyday. They are an elite breed. Everyone of them is there because they chose to be. I am not sure when it was first stated or who uttered the words but they are in my signature for every email I send out.
“Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American G.I.
One for your soul, the other for your freedom.”
We owe it all to those who have defended our great country. Without them we would have nothing to celebrate.
Gary Slider Sp4 U.S. Army 1970-71
:salute:
Many heartfelt thanks to those who have served, and who are serving, whether on the pointy end of the stick, or somewhat farther back.
When is the last time a foreign threat actually had the logistical capacity to pose a real threat of invasion and sustained occupation of continental America?
Are we more or less free than we were 100 years ago?
Politicians talk. Service people bleed. The difference is noted and the service of our veterans gratefully received. Thank you all and God Bless. Keep the Mission. Keep the Faith.
While I agree with most of your post, what on Earth do you mean, “not getting the respect they deserve?!” The respect for our soldiers often approaches dangerously close to hero worship.
I don’t necessarily agree with the wars we’re fighting, but I certainly respect that these men and women are willing to lay their lives on the line for me. I may have mentioned this before, but I have a friend who’s a medic in the National Guard, currently stationed in Kuwait. Hopefully nothing hits the fan while he’s there.
I am pretty sure Mas meant that the military doesn’t get the respect they deserve FROM THE POLITICIANS WHO SEND THEM INTO HARM’S WAY.
Or perhaps, in light of the many and increasingly-frequent cases of stolen valor (non-mil people fraudulently posing as Vets), he’s implying that the military isn’t being respected because if they WERE, cases of stolen valor would be rare if not completely non-existent. Also note the (types of) politicians who favor or oppose the Stolen Valor Act.
If I’m wrong and you meant something else, sorry Mas. I prescribe to the above as my personal evidence that our military does not get the FULL respect it deserves, as it were.
Mas, Congratulations on having a Marine in the family, they’re a little squirrily (I know because we have a few in ours!) but they mellow out after 30 or 40 years…. So says this ex-doggie.
Semper Fi!
Mass I just want to say thanks to all the veterans who read your column and I’ve been a fan of yours for more years than I like to admit . I also woe like to say that I think that it should be a requirement of the commander in chief to have military service as it would behoove all involved that he or one day she would have the understanding that only a vet could know and hopefully compassion for those they so easily send in harm’s way and greater support
when they return from the hell of deployment .
All gave some, some gave all.
Mas, please pass on for me a big Semper Fi and congratulations to Gail’s grandson. I wish him Godspeed and a hedge of safety wherever he may go from here.
Thank you for the kind words concerning our veterans on behalf of my family: my late grandfather: 1LT, Machinegun Company, 13th Brigade, 7th Division, France, 1918; my late father: 1LT, pilot, USAAF, B-25, B-17, B-29, WW2 1943-1945; my brother: SSgt, combat aircrew, USAF, Vietnam 1969-1970 (shot down twice); my son-in-law: SGT, infantry fire team leader, USA, Desert Storm, Iraq, 1991; and me, PFC/SP4/CPL/SGT/2LT/1LT/CPT, Armor, M48A5/M60A1/M60A1(RISE)(Passive)/M60A3/M60A3-TTS/M1A1/M1A2, USA, 1975-1995.
I’d like to make people aware of cuts in Veterans’ Benefits and the increased costs being passed on to veterans for their (our) medical coverage by the current administration and its minions. We were promised free medical care for life if we stayed to retirement, but promises I suppose are made to be broken.
ECS
Captain, Armor
US Army (Retired)
I’m very proud of your Marine. Semper Fi
It has been that way with voting all along. I don’t remember a time where my vote “counted” while away have having to vote absentee. Always an excuse, names for ballots not in time, court issues, etc. For a group so responsible for our freedoms and who by choice usually remains silent since they must serve whoever is elected, taking away their vote is taking the ONLY voice they have.
Defender, not sure how to take your post but from what is says “…Are we more or less free than we were 100 years ago?” are you blaming the military for our loss of freedoms over the years?
If so, you are way off- the military gives the U.S. citizens the ability and freedom to choose our leaders and the direction of the country. They in NO WAY choose or are to choose them for us. We (and I say we as former Army and current citizen) are to blame for the changes in this country. While serving, I was more often than not unhappy with the choices the country made but that would never change the job to protect the freedom of that choice.
Thank you to all who serve, past, present, and future.
Lorenzo
USMC
Semper Fi.
Happy Birthday to all you brother jarheads. I love every one of you. Even all you degenerates from the 5th Marines. Semper fi.
Enjoy your venison, partridge, pheasant, elk, etc., this year. Watch for NRA updates and remember, we are the country’s best defense. Japan decided not to invade us because they said there was a gun behind every blade of grass. Hang on to your freedom. If things keep going the way they are, we may have to be our own militia. Pretty Amazing! The world’s largest army… America’s hunters! A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion:
There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin. Over the last several months, Wisconsin’s hunters became the eighth largest army in the world. More men under arms than in Iran. More than France and Germany combined. These men deployed to the woods of a single American state, Wisconsin, to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed. That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania and Michigan’s 700,000 hunters, all of whom have now returned home safely. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.
And then add in the total number of hunters in the other 46 states. It’s millions more.
The point? America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower.
Hunting…
it’s not just a way to fill the freezer. It’s a matter of national
security. That’s why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed. Food for thought, when next we consider gun control. Overall it’s true, so if we disregard some assumptions that hunters don’t possess the same skills as soldiers, the question would still remain… What army of 2 million would want to face 30, 40, 50 million armed citizens?
For the sake of our freedom, don’t ever allow gun control or the confiscation of legally owned guns.
Not sure if you heard about this, but in (Liberal /Socialist ruined) Canada the Premier of the province of Manitoba (a staunch Socialist who is burying that province in a mountain of debt) said that Students could Opt-Out of attending Remembrance day ceremonies in the Province’s capitol if they felt it might go against their religious freedoms… WOW! What a Joke. All these Liberal /Socialists know how to do is wreck anything decent and wholesome!
Read the story here: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/11/08/winnipeg-students-allowed-to-opt-out-of-remembrance-day-events
It does seem that liberal/Socialists are wreaking everything but there are still a FEW GOOD MEN! This is a good blog and Mas is a good man—SEMPER FI carry on!