Salute to Vets

[Wade Joseph]

Just want everyone to take a little time from their busy day to give a moment of silence for each and every Veteran out there. God Bless. Fair Winds and Following seas to those who are still serving in harms way.

Happy Birthday to the USMC as well!

Sometimes people forget that freedome isn't free

[HawgTide]

AMEN to that! Where would we be without our Veterans?

How about a Sound Off from the vets so we know who to thank personally?

USAF '82-'90

[Tonka Boy]

Thank you all. Your service is greatly appreciated!!

[waskawood]

I also would like to thank all of the brave Veterans who have made it possible for me to live free. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

[WxGuy]

Thanks to all vets, young and old.

Here's a little something I found that you might like...

WHAT IS A VET

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 protester to burn the flag."

Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

[icehousebob]

My oldest son, Martin, is now in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base. He has carried a loaded weapon for nine months. Besides being in harms way, his 'loving' wife surprised him with a divorce demand. She had spent all the money he had sent home, maxed his credit card, found a new boyfriend on the internet, and put their house up for sale. The latest base closings also eliminated his civilian job. He'll be coming home to no wife, no home, and no job. Not all wounds of war are physical. He'll make it. He comes from strong stock on his mother's side.

[Northlander]

Yes a HUGE thanks to all who have served our country both past and present! Dad, Mike, Tracy, Jerome and Grandpa have a great day.

[Mr Special]

I'm very sorry to hear that Icehouse. But tell him Thank you for me and to all those vets and servicemen/women

Thank you also.

[outdoor ran]

Thanks to all the vets. To those we've lost, the ones that carry on and the ones that stand in harms way right now.

[chaffmj]

Thank You!

[schweady]

With the latest surge of MN units being deployed in the last few months, and with quite a few friends and co-workers sending their sons over or into training, I started doing research on my late father's WWII service. He was a 'Custerman,' part of the 85th on the 'forgotten' front in Italy and in northern Africa. During summers when I was little, the family would trek to army reunions around the country and I remember the unusually loud laugher, the drinking and the back-slapping, but had no real idea of the joy they must have felt at seeing each other again year after year. Dad never talked about it, but now I understand a little better why. My brother and I would stumble across black and white photographs in the attic that Mom didn't want us to see. It would make us proud of Dad in a sort of pre-teenaged illusion of what war was like, but there never seemed to be the time or reason to ask him about any of the specifics. Just the other week, I got out the cedar chest and tried on his coat and hats, looked over the medals and ribbons. I developed a deeper understanding of my mother's words when the rough-housing would start in the living room: "Boys, you be careful around that vase... it's from Italy!" He's been gone 38 years this March, and I miss him. Thanks Dad.

[FM_Mike]

Find it hard to say more than what has been said.

May God bless you all.

[not_nuf_time]

Icehouse, can't say anyting more, than thanks for having a son who loves his country and stand up for the rest of us. Hope it all works out for him and others in the same situation. Thankless job, yes, but many many good people appreciate the vets.

[lawdog]

GREAT thread Wade. Thanks to all the veterans and parents of soldiers too, your burden is almost as tough as theirs sometimes.

God bless the fighting men and women who have given us the freedom's we enjoy.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Words cannot describe what the Veterans do and have done for this country. Our lives are made better every single day they perform there thankless duties. For all who is serving and who have served, I Thank You all.

You’re courage is greatly appreciated.

Thank a Veteran today, two little words is the least we can do.

[Wade Joseph]

Didn't start this to beat my own drum but I did my 20 years in The worlds Greatest Navy.

GSEC(SW) Ret

Sept 1982-Oct 2002

[Good Time Ranger]

GREAT POST WxGuy!! Did my timein the USMC 67-70. Not a good time in NAM. My youngest joined the Corps in 99 and has now received orders for his 3rd tour of Iraq. Please thank all the vets for everything they have done and keep all the military personell in your thoughts and prayers.

[AZBAKER]

i thank my wife every veteran's day for her servive in the army, and i thank everyone else who served. THANK YOU!

[Cooter]

My hats off and most sincere thanks to all vets and current force members.

[cableguy031]

My father flew choppers in Vietnam, he flew "Dustoffs" and without him standing up to fight against communism, I wouldn't be here in the United States.

My friend is in Iraq right now with 1 year still remaining, and yes, he's been carrying a loaded weapon all these times. He's been there since Jan of 2004 as a weapons clerk.

He may not be as old and wise as my father, but he's out there defending our freedom so I can sit here peacefully without fear of any retribution. So to my father and my pal, bottoms up!!!

[FOOT]

Many thanks to all of you who have posted here thanking the veterans, it is appreciated.

Now I'll add my own thanks.

To those veterans who served their country before and after me and to those who served along side of me, Thanks for everything you have done.

Simple words can not express the gratitude to those veterans who have passed on the field of battle. Your sacrifice is truly great.