Do you remember...? "veteran's day^

Do you remember coming home?

To the warm embrace of your family?

To a parade down main street? Kissing the girls? Hugs from complete strangers? The war was over... Hitler dead and gone... His thousand year Reich put in the dustbin of history in less than a decade...

Japan defeated. Pearl Harbour avenged.

You reclaimed the threads of your life, went back to college, met a pretty girl... Lived life as it was meant to be lived... Though some nights the dreams and memories were all too vivid...

All too soon, your nation needed you again. A place called Korea. In a place called Chosin, you relearned the meaning of hell. Where you learned how dangerous an ex ally can be as an enemy...

Do you remember coming home...?

All but forgotten... Ignored by those same girls, and those strangers didn't even know you.

But you picked up those threads again, and got on with life. Farming. Logging. Building a life. Trying to ignore those dreams that seem more frequent then once they were...

You started a family. Wife. Kids. That white picket fence. All the while, memories and dreams would come calling...again, and again.

All too soon, the country called again. If Korea was a frozen Hell, what was Vietnam, but a wet, humid Hell? This time the enemy wasn't nearly as clear cut. Sometimes it seemed that Charlie was less dangerous to you then the guys in the same uniform as yourself... REMF's with agendas that seemed to not include winning a war...

But you, and your brothers in arms survived to come home again...

Bet there were moments when you wished you'd been forgotten again... I sometimes wonder what it was you guys, and gals, expected when you got home... I can guess it wasn't what you got in all too many cases.

Spat upon by those girls? Shunned by those strangers? Even some of your loving family seemed to hate you...

Do you remember that?

I can't even begin to imagine the pain that caused you. All you were doing was serving your country. Like Dad did. Like Grandpa did. Like your Uncles. Were you angry? Confused?

Probably all of those.

Yet you picked up your life, again, and got on with it. Just like you're supposed to, right?

Thirty years or so later...

The world trembled as two buildings came crashing to Earth... Victims of our inability to live with our neighbors in peace...

This time it was your sons and daughters that went off to a far, far place. You'd give your soul to take their place.

Afghanistan. Iraq. Where a nations soul has been torn asunder.

This time it wasn't my dad. This time it wasn't my Uncles. This time it was my sisters. This time it was my brother. My best friend.

My sisters served, and served well. My brother served and served well, though troubles came of it later...

I remember when his unit of the Oregon guard was ready to go... Politicians came and made brave speeches about service and courage, and a whole slew of words that meant less than nothing to them...mere words, mere sound bites for the evening news.

My little brother, trying to be brave. Yet I could see the fear... I know you too well, my brother. I see the fear in the eyes of your compatriots, too.

Yet like generations before them, they went off to war.

...and like generations before them, all too many brought it back with them.

...and the brave, brave politicians who put them there can not, in too many cases, be bothered to even acknowledge them. Or help them... Or attempt to make sure that another generation might not have to go to war.

The soldier has become the enemy. The face of all that all too many of you despise...

They're murderers, you say...

Babykillers, you say...

Puppets of the PTB, you say...

No, no they're not. They're our children. They represent the best and brightest of us.

Do we remember...?

I remember. Grandpa (WWI). Dad (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War). My uncles (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War). My sisters (the Cold War, a terrorist attack.). My brother (Iraq).

I also remember the aftermath. I've heard the dreams. Nightmares, really. The pauses in conversations when a face no longer there flashes across your memories. The long looks into the past on days like today. You remember only too well.

You don't see stark white crosses dotting the Normandy coast. Or a field in Arlington. Or a multitude of places all over the world... You see the broken bodies, you hear the screams.

I can't change that. I can't remove the pain you feel, or fix the pain you've caused. All I can do is remember that it's up to me, and all of the "me's" around me to make it so no one else has to remember those things.

I remember. I salute you. You served when your country called. Willingly. Or reluctantly. You stood to be counted when the time came.

Scorn them if you will, I can't stop you. I can, however, pity you. So self righteous in your anger towards these kids. Not realizing, or caring either, that they have nothing to do with the decision making that put them in those far off places. That particular mantle belongs to us. We put them there. We keep them there. We put the politicians whose platitudes we so despise, into those offices that sent our own children to war.

We are the one's who allow agenda's to kill our kids. ...and put our kids into positions where they kill other peoples kids.

Us. You. Me. No one else did this. No one. Until we make our selves bring the kids home, it's going to continue.

Continue to play your blame game if you must... Just make sure you save some of that blame for yourselves.

Very well said. You strike a chord on several levels. I was never spat upon. I was just ignored.

Regardless of our political leanings, we should never dishonor those who served. If we dislike the conclusion, we should blame the causation, and work on a culture of temperance and perhaps isolationism to prevent men and women from suffering the insults of coming home.

reply to post by seagull


I remember Veterans Day.

I remember the parades full of the old soldiers who fought in WWII. I had nothing but respect for them. They were my father, my uncles.

I remember the veterans from the Vietnam war. I enlisted during that war and did not need to be drafted.

I remember there was no home to return to afterwards and tried to make a life anew.

I remember the anger I felt at the lies behind the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have nothing but respect for the soldiers who fought or still fight there even though they may wonder why.

I remember and wonder that we still fall for the same lies that fooled us so many times but not every time. And I wondered why so many Vets were forgotten on this day every year for as long as I can remember.

reply to post by Bassago


why do you suppose that they've been forgotten?

These kids no longer fit what ever agenda is being pushed... So like any tool that's no longer useful, it's discarded. That's how they view our children in uniform.

...and those who despise them so, are playing into that agenda.

Thank you, sir. My undying respect to you.

Well said.

And yes, I do remember:

I remember the cheering crowds as my ship cruised up the Cooper River in SC to dock in 1991. The banks of the river covered with people flying the American flag. Cheers loud enough to be heard.

I remember disembarking my ship, being greeted by my family whom I hadn't seen in six months.

I remember trying to pay for meals with my checkbook, and when the managers saw my military ID card, I was told it was on the house.

(I still left our server a nice tip however).

Almost 2 decades later, I remember going to my step son's school to find out why he was in trouble for drawing a solder with a gun. I also remember the looks on the face of the school principle when she found out I was ex-military, and so was my step-son's mother.

Same look as if I had just crawled out of a sewer main covered with filth.

That's okay. I gave the government a blank check, swearing to defend her right to have that opinion. A oath that still stands today with me. I'd rather be able to have that opinion, than to be in fear of having it or voicing it.

Y'all don't owe me anything. Not even a thanks as far as I'm concerned. I did what I thought was right, and was honored to of served.

Just know that if it's in my power to help you again, or help protect you again, I would without hesitation, because I swore to do that 30 years ago, and I meant every word.

reply to post by eriktheawful


You and my dad would get along just fine.

You may not think I/we owe you anything, but we do. At the very least, we owe you thanks. That's all I'm in a position to give.

So, thank you, sir. Should we ever meet, dinners on me.

I remember. Every. Single. Day.

The way the ground shook and my ears rang when we were mortared on our first day in country.

I remember the award ceremonies and change of commands for cowardly officers getting recognition for hiding in the rear. Slapping each other on the back and publicly blowing each others egos, while ever silent on the lower enlisted that went home in pieces.

All so they could hide and get that Bronze Star for 'meritorious non-combat service'.

I remember and that's why I reenlisted. While it was originally out of misguided patriotism, now my reasons are a mixture of unadulterated hatred for many more categories of people. I don't serve the American people, the politicians, or myself. I serve for the other guy that serves.

Never had respect for those who chose that life. Never will. Serving to propagate a never ending cycle of violence and serving the interests of god knows who.

I won't look down on you, I won't spit on you, but I will not respect the life you chose.

corvuscorrax
Never had respect for those who chose that life. Never will. Serving to propagate a never ending cycle of violence and serving the interests of god knows who.

I won't look down on you, I won't spit on you, but I will not respect the life you chose.

Veterans are the sole reason you can regurgitate drivel like this.

You're welcome.

reply to post by Lipton


So according to you if the military didn't exist no one would be alive to speak their minds?

Okay keep on believing that you're the sole reason that people exist in this country that's not absurdly egotistical.

Almost as absurd as believing that simply being in the armed service merits respect.

reply to post by corvuscorrax


My husband did not chose , he was drafted, and spat on and things thrown at him and called a baby killer when he got back to Aus.
He is still very upset by it.
We get our poppy to remember the young men and their sacrifice .
1%

I remember you all

with all my heart and thousand tears



I will never forget you

It's all about respect.

Respect comes from the top .. down.

If the youth of America progressively see the government slowly lose respect for their own soldiers, patriotism takes a direct hit, and is replaced with dis-trust.

I see that as a common thread through all of the wars you mentioned.

As military, those that serve never really expect those back home to really understand what it was like in any of those wars, but demand respect for being put in harms way, and defending the country, even if some of those endeavors were ill conceived and had agendas that were not in the best interest of this country. We demand this respect from our government, more than anything or anyone else.

When I see the government fail to responsibly care for those who were poisoned, maimed, and mentally incapacitated after returning from service in these wars, it saddens me and makes me sick. I see some of them on the streets, holding change cups. The lack of respect at this level compounds over the years and the end effect is directly translated into patriotism.

A patriotism in my opinion that reeks of lack of trust and dis-respect. Again, this is my opinion, but I certainly do not think I am alone with this observation.

corvuscorrax
So according to you if the military didn't exist no one would be alive to speak their minds?

In the sole case of our nation, I emphatically attest that is indeed a fact.

Due to the fact that a simple google search will yield all the necessary evidence of individuals being imprisoned, or executed for speaking their minds I feel that I have no need to waste my time further on your claims.

reply to post by seagull


So well put, Seagull.
This is for you, Eriktheawful, Lipton, and whomever else fought to help protect our freedom. We owe you much; thank you:


A teacher at St. Mary's School in Saskatoon wanted to try to reach his students another way in teaching them about history and war.
He said reading from the textbooks was okay, but wanted to add a different dynamic. He got his kids to go out and interview local Vets, and the result is 5 published books with their stories.
A few of the kids have reported it was life-changing. Superb education.

Am sure its not a new idea, but its a good one.
We need to remember!

reply to post by seagull

i logged in too STAR the POST/THREAD,,,hint,,

i figured it was the very least,
for all of those, who meet Evil,
everyday.
And too those that say "your gonna die Canadian!",,in a bunker,,
and the person say's,,"ya well then bring it u sob"

true story.
the ONLY Canadian Regiment too recieve the AMERICAN Medal of Honour!
Korea.
this is for them.

S+F!

I remember veterans day as a child when there were actual veterans, young and old that would come together in the center of town and we would thank them for their efforts and thank the fallen heroes. But, that wasn't in the US but rather in Canada. In the US, when I attended veterans day, there were food stalls and that was all. There were no vets, no cannons or guns firing, just a few American flags and some German sausages. The music playing really was as if you were at Oktoberfest, it didn't make sense...

I have had family members that were either killed or severely injured in WW2 and wars that happened afterwards. The most horrific stories I've heard were from WW2. I wanted to be as brave as them so I joined the Royal Canadian Air Farce and expected to be a fighter pilot but all they had were Geese. I was upset Jokes aside, much respect to the heroes of war, but they are often heroes without a genuine purpose. War by invasion has ended long ago.

seagull
reply to post by eriktheawful

 

You and my dad would get along just fine.

You may not think I/we owe you anything, but we do. At the very least, we owe you thanks. That's all I'm in a position to give.

So, thank you, sir. Should we ever meet, dinners on me and .

I accept your thanks and would love to have dinner on some one else tab l

I shake the handouts every veteran and their families i see. You should see the shock on their faces when I thank them for their service, it is great. I love it.

I thank all my brothers and their families for their service.

The Bot