FReeper Canteen ~ Remembering Our Troops ~ 29 March 2018

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

[SkyDancer]

Zinc tabs work for me; I take them on flights and they seem to work pretty well. Prayers for your healing. (((HUGS)))!!! Oh, and hit some melatonin for sleep aid - it’s a natural secretion of the brain so it’s natural. I’ll hit 20mg’s to get me to sleep on trips.

[luvie]

Remembering them.
ALL of them!

[luvie]

Hope you rest a lot
and get all better soon!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

What ta heck is she showing them in that pic?

[radu]

Howdy, LUV.

Hope your day’s been a good one.
Any more rain manage to sneak in?

[MS.BEHAVIN]

*HUG*
Poor Ma!
Got a bad cold?

That female troop looks exhausted, but her lipstick is perfect!
LOL

[radu]

LOL! It does kinda make one wonder, doesn’t it?

But my guess is a big ol’ smile on her face and a hearty “Welcome home!” bursting from her lips. :-)

[ConorMacNessa]

REQUEST PERMISSION TO COME ABOARD



CHARLESTOWN, Mass. (Jan. 14, 2008) The first major snowfall of the New Year blankets the USS Constitution. Despite the weather "Old Ironsides" remained open for free public tours. At 210 years-old, USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, manned by 67 active-duty United States Sailors and visited by nearly half a million visitors annually. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Eric Brown (Released)

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!!!





Boston, Oct. 21, 2009 - Boatswains Mate 2nd Class Philip Gagnon pipes as USS Constitution performs an underway demonstration in honor of the three-masted wooden frigate's 212th birthday. (U.S. Navy photo by Airman Mark Alexander/Released).



USS Constitution's 1812 Marine Guard fire vintage Springfield flintlock muskets during the ship's underway. "Old Ironsides" was underway for the "Constitution Day Cruise," which is conducted to thank the family and supporters of Constitution. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Nick Lyman (Released)

OUR TROOPS ROCK!!!!!!!

[luvie]

Hi, there, radu!

Nope. Not another drop. My hubby told me that in mid-December we had about 1/2” of rain, and this year we’ve had 3/10ths of an inch. So....we’ve had less than an inch in 3 1/2 months. Now I’m even more depressed. LOL!

Hope y’all had a pretty day so you could get out and about just in case it gets wet/cold later in the week. Of course, the week is nearly over. Are all your trees blooming or putting out leaves now?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Permission Granted!

[Kathy in Alaska]

I’ve had luck with Zicam before, and have been using it since Sunday, but there seem to be too many “germans” for it to get them all.

[ConorMacNessa]

Thanks very much, Kathy!
***HUGS***



Striding up the gangplank as we speak,
rendering Hand Salutes to our National Colors
and to the Officer of the Deck!
Thank you very much for this evening's
"Remembering Our Troops" thread!

[radu]

Bummer. I’d hoped you’d gotten surprised by a little more rain. I knew y’all were hurting for it but didn’t realize how little you’ve gotten lately. Not good!!

Warm today but cloudy. The rain never reached us today and I don’t know if it’ll get here tonight. It was supposed to be here already according to the 6:00 weather report but it’s still off to the west and not moving much.

A few trees are sprouting leaf buds now. I noticed the dogwood outside the kitchen window has a few blossoms starting to open today. Didn’t expect to see that this soon as chilly as it’s been.

Daffodils are still blooming around the place and tulips are putting on a show too.

[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!!

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!



"I FOUGHT FOR YOU!"
(Click)

Several years ago, I saw this video on YouTube and, sentimental old geezer that I am, I was moved. I showed it to my young sons, who much like the boys in the video, were preoccupied with their Game-Boys and I-Pods. When it was over, I glared at them with piercing eyes and told them straight out:

"I FOUGHT FOR YOU!"

I was most heartened to see that they responded as I had hoped they would ~ they have been asking me ever since about the Vietnam War, our present war, and our Nation and what it means.

I am more convinced than ever that we need to take a much larger role in forming the character of our children ~ it is much more important than whether we are professional successes or "get along" with our neighbors or anyone else. They are our legacy, and their world is under heavy attack from the Forces of Evil.

Godspeed our Valiant Troops! They stand for us, they stand for Freedom and they stand for our American Way of Life!

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

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, MS.B...this one is really bad and there are no kids to bring it home. Why me? I have things to do!! But it will be nice taking tomorrow off. I can nap all day.

How is MrB? All better?

[luvie]

I’d love having a dogwood, but they just won’t grow here. How nice that yours is beginning to bloom!

Hope if you get rain it’s just a little and not with a chill attached. You’d think it would be time to put those heavy sweaters away! :)

[Kathy in Alaska]

CRUCIBLE CRAWL

Maria Daume, a Marine Corps recruit, pushes an ammunition can during the Crucible, a 54-hour culminating training event, on Parris Island, Jan. 5, 2017. Daume, assigned to Papa Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, was born in a Russian prison and brought to Long Island, NY, at the age of 4 when she and her twin brother were adopted. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Greg Thomas

[luvie]

Good evening, Conor! ((((hugs)))) Good to see you!

....till they all come home.....

[Publius]

They sure make those Russians tough.