This one came across the transom from the mil email group…
We Are Veterans.
We left home as teenagers for an unknown adventure.
We loved our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives.
We said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew.
We learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corners of the Earth.
We found new friends and new family.
We became brothers and sisters regardless of color, race or creed.
We had plenty of good times, and plenty of bad times.
We didn’t get enough sleep.
We smoked and drank too much.
We picked up both good and bad habits.
We worked hard and played harder.
We didn’t earn a great wage.
We experienced the happiness of mail call and the sadness of missing important events.
We didn’t know when, or even if, we were ever going to see home again.
We grew up fast, and yet somehow, we never grew up at all.
We fought for our freedom, as well as the freedom of others.
Some of us saw actual combat, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us saw the world, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us dealt with physical warfare, most of us dealt with psychological warfare.
We have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can’t fully describe or explain, as not all of our sacrifices were physical.
We participated in time honored ceremonies and rituals with each other, strengthening our bonds and camaraderie.
We counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all.
We have dealt with victory and tragedy.
We have celebrated and mourned.
We lost a few along the way.
When our adventure was over, some of us went back home, some of us started somewhere new and some of us never came home at all.
We have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures.
We share an unspoken bond with each other, that most people don’t experience, and few will understand.
We speak highly of our own branch of service, and poke fun at the other branches.
We know however, that, if needed, we will be there for our brothers and sisters and stand together as one, in a heartbeat.
Being a veteran is something that had to be earned, and it can never be taken away.
It has no monetary value, but at the same time it is a priceless gift.
People see a veteran and they thank them for their service.
When we see each other, we give that little upwards head nod, or a slight smile, knowing that we have shared and experienced things that most people have not.
So, from myself to the rest of the veterans out there, I commend and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for your country.
Try to remember the good times and forget the bad times.
Share your stories. Now more than ever, people need to know what we stood for and many died for.
But most importantly, stand tall and proud, for you have earned the right to be called a Veteran. ??
And I found a copy of the doctor’s capital hill video, HERE on Breitbart. Everybody else took it down for being ‘false’…
That’s as true a description as I’ve ever read. I’m surrounded by active duty and younger veterans every day, and they all acknowledge this fat old man as one of their own. It’s very humbling, and yet it makes me proud to be counted as one of them. There’s nothing else like it.
Hey Old NFO;
That quote was making the rounds in my closed unit page on farcebook and we all thought it was telling. Made us stand a bit taller because it reminded us who we are and who we stood with.
When I graduated in 1961, rural Colorado, it was assumed you would do a hitch in the military before you were 21 or so. So I raised my hand, took the oath, went where I was sent, did what I was assigned, and left when my time was up. I don’t think what I did was special, just expected.
I pay dues every year to the Steamboat Springs, CO American Legion Post but have never set foot in the place. My way of honoring the service of my father, uncles, cousins, etc.
Rev- Oh so true!
Bob- Yep!
WSF- Agreed, that was ‘expected’ and we DO honor those who went before us.
Just re-reading Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers.” And the justification for a veteran take-over of a fallen nation, where only veterans vote, and get to teach, and such, really makes sense. Non-veterans aren’t denied much (except the vote) but being a non-veteran is a choice. The service will take and find a job for anyone (like a blind caterpillar fuzz counter, somewhere there will be a fedjob that will fit that person long enough for them to serve and get the franchise.)
It makes sense. Often a vet is the one holding down the place he or she works, serving as the foundation for the rest of the workers.
Covered in John Ringo’s ‘Aldenata’ stories. What happens when you reupp all veterans and take them out of the private sector?
Interesting.
And thank you all for your service
By the time I graduated from HS in 1972, it wasn’t expected that you would enlist. Indeed, most of my peers at that time didn’t. But my father served in WWII, and I had 4 uncles who served. Two of them served in Korea. Both of them made it a career and retired – one in the Navy as a Senior Chief Communications Technician, and the other as an Air Force Master Sergeant, aerial photographer. (The first one had orders to the USS Pueblo when he decided to retire instead. The second one was part of the photo-intelligence operation over Cuba during the missile crisis.)
I decided on the Navy because of the technical training. That and I had a weird fascination with ships even though I come from a land-locked state and had never actually seen one.
Vietnam was going on at the time I enlisted, but ended before I finished my initial training.
In boot camp, I volunteered for a lot of stuff including riverine warfare and submarines. The submarine service snapped me up and the rest is history.
I didn’t do anything special. I served my time plus 3 years. I went where they told me and did what they told me to do.
The best thing I took away from my military service, besides the technical training, is probably my work ethic. If you have a good work ethic you can do nearly anything you set your mind to.
The worst was my propensity to, well, cuss like a sailor. It’s a hard habit to break especially when frustrated by all the goobers around you that don’t have a work ethic.
I am not a “joiner” and I don’t wear my service on my sleeve. But I do have a Veterans license plate and a dolphin (SS) decal on my car. And I also have a US Navy Submarine Service hat that I wear every now and then. Oh yes, and I do take advantage of that sweet, sweet veterans discount you can get nearly everywhere nowadays.
Beans- Good points, and thanks.
Roy- LOL, I have no #@#%^#( idea what you’re talking about with the #%%*()( cussing… 😉
I was 14 YO when I decided to join the US Navy so that I could work on, and hopefully fly in those beautiful planes that were coming out of NAS Quonset Point, RI. I live on an Island off the coast of RI called Block Island, and those planes overflew my house every day, all day long on the way to the local gunnery range, which was a sunken tanker about 2 miles offshore.
Well, Mom and Pop had a bit to say until I was 17 and off I went for twenty years of flying and wandering this blue orb. 82 now and looking for that doorway to my next existence location, although not too hard!
Thanks all you guys who put in your time no matter how short!
Time frame was 1956-1975
We need a draft, regardless of what the military thinks.
Sure they’d be babysitting.
If that’s what it takes to save the country…
Ed – even better would be UMT – universal military training – or a civilian equivalent for those medically or morally/ethically/religion (think the old 1W draft classification) – everybody serves in one way or another and thus has ‘skin’ in the game as well as at least a minimal commonality with his/her fellow citizens.
Or else the serve to get full citizenship as postulated by RAH in Starship Troopers. Either one works for me. 😉
Ed- INCLUDING women… They want equality, they GET equality in everthing.
Very much so. And, sorry, splits, but ifn you can’t heft a standard battle load, you shouldn’t be in the Army or Marines. If you can’t tote your share of the missile or the bomb or whatever, or pull a hose, or whatever heavy-duty thingy that is your job, you shouldn’t be in the Navy or Air Force.
Every man-jack and woman-jill should be a combatant first, then a specialist second.
For those who are to serve but can’t make the qualifications for Combat Arms, there are other things Federally that can be done.
Quit watering down the PT and physical requirements, dangit.
My story mostly includes polishing gas masks (they shone), ironing (it was creased) and becoming fit as fk. All hail the British Infantry.
Of course I left to become a priest, so…
Beans- Agreed!
LSP- Well, y’all ARE a ‘bit’ different. My experience was with the RAF, which is a slightly different kettle of fish… LOL
Thank you for your service