FReeper Canteen ~ Remembering Our Troops ~ 01 December 2016

Serving The Bestest Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

ML!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Pro...are you staying warm? Car performing well?

[SandRat]

Good Evening Kathy.

Here our new electicDishwaher from Sears was installed this afternoon. Mrs. has yet to read the instructuction so she can use it. Boy is it a beauty though.

[PROCON]

It’s the cold season here and YES, my car is back and running great!

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!



"The Star Spangled Banner"
Verse Four
(Click)

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Please let me know by Freepmail if you would like
to be admitted to or released from my music ping list.

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

Hope you get some snow tonight. Looks like some’s heading your way. :-)

[luvie]

Always remembering them!

[radu]

Howdy do, Conor. *Hugz*

Sounds like things are going well with you.

Hope y’all don’t get the crazy weather we had down here last night. We were thrilled to get the rain but it got a bit too wild.

[radu]

Howdy, PRO!

Glad your car’s back in good shape. Let’s hope that’s the last of problems for a long time.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Merry Christmas to you! A new dishwasher.

Cool.

[ConorMacNessa]

Good evening, Radu!

*HUGS*

Weather has been a bit bizarre the last couple days.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

Howdy, LUV.

Have a good day? Nice and lazy again? :-)

[radu]

It was crazy here the past couple of days. Really windy before the storm front arrived, then lots of storms last night. Tornados, too, though none hit us but there were a couple just a few miles away.

Nice and warm yesterday and now its cooled off considerably. Darn it.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu....how’s the rain situation?

We are being told some snow is coming tonight. I’ll believe it when the snow is on the ground. It was zero last night and finally double digits now.

[luvie]

Howdy, radu! Yep, I sure was. Did a few small things, but the house really isn’t that messy. I will do some dusting in the next few days, but there’s no hurry, right? :)

Glad you finally got rain...and that Gatlinburg did, too!

[PROCON]

Hiya radu!

Yeah, it was nice having my car back despite the bill, $ka-ching, ka-ching$.

I ran some errands today and hit the grocery store to stock up.

We may get some snow soon, which isn't out of the ordinary for this time of year.

Your day OK?

[ConorMacNessa]

We're sitting here at 58 degrees with rain and humidity at 93%. What a way to greet Decembe!

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[Kathy in Alaska]

Tornado damage near you?

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!



Missing Man Setting

"The Empty Chair"

By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004

"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

AS YOU REMEMBER.

The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

WE SHOULD REMEMBER."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!