A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....11-03-03....Military Monday

Aquamarine; Billie

[Aquamarine]

A Few of FR's Finest
....Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001

So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I could no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I had been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that didn't seem to be enough. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why we've created a place for just that. This is a friendly room in JimRob's house where FReeper FRiends can gather every day and just say hello if that's all they want to do.

There's more of course. We sometimes feature different FReepers, with a little background information on who they are and what makes them who they are, along with a few photos you might not have seen on other threads; sometimes others write an essay for us to post as the feature for the day; sometimes our presentation is a human interest story found elsewhere that you might not have read; sometimes special holiday threads; but whatever the topic of the day, it is always with FR's Finest in mind and that is YOU!

If you would like to be featured, or would like to see someone else featured, please send me a private FR mail.

Every Monday we will post the photos of FR's Military Personnel that I have collected and put into groups; these will be available to view through a link the remainder of the week - every day just a click away. :)   If you would like to add a photo of yourself or a loved one in the military, past or present, please let me know; I will hold it until I have enough for a new group.

Thank you, and please have fun with us...every day! ~ Billie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank You For Serving Our Country!

TOP: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete
MIDDLE:  T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub
BOTTOM:  YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

TOP:  Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet
MIDDLE:  4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga
BOTTOM:  Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

TOP:  mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette
MIDDLE:  Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid
BOTTOM:  gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

TOP:  porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP
MIDDLE:  RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian
BOTTOM:  USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

TOP:  g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett.
MIDDLE:  fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17.
BOTTOM:  Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau.

TOP:  ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,
dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony
BOTTOM:  rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx
MIDDLE:  The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law
BOTTOM:  deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP:  spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68.
MIDDLE:  FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797
BOTTOM:  usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack

TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog.
MIDDLE:  Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son.
BOTTOM:  JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon.
BOTTOM:  Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband
poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son;
BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset);
WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.




                     

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 11-01,02-03...Week in Review

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

Click on the photo to view the album. To
submit your photo, please contact dansangel or .45MAN danbh59@yahoo.com
and include Freeper Photo Album in subject line.

[Calpernia]

{{{HUGGS}}}

CLICK!

[LadyX]

What are the odds of the two of us - both veterans - registering on the very same April day in 1998 on Free Republic with almost identical screen names, and ending up as regulars here in The Finest Room??!!

Been meaning to ask you, Ladtx, reading from your Profile Page:

"Retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer (W4)
Flew UH-1's in Vietnam, OH-58's in Germany, & the CH-47 Chinook in Korea & Texas
"Chinook's Haul Above All!"

I wanna know if you received Hazardous Duty Pay for the time in TEXAS!!
LOL

[ladtx]

Huge coincidence isn't it? Plus I have 2 granddaughters born in Rapid City and I know you lived up there for a while.

I wanna know if you received Hazardous Duty Pay for the time in TEXAS!!

No but I probably should have when I was a Warrant Officer Candidate in flight school and we would take a pass to go into Ft Worth. Sometimes I wonder how I ever made it.

[Aquamarine]

Good Morning Mama Bear. You're up awfully early, are you a morning person?

[MEG33]

Praise God that you heard fromm Jeff.Hugs to you and Mrs.ladtx.

Yesterday mystery ak found out her husband was alive and is on his way home.Sadly, he did lose 2 crewmembers.He arrives today and will be comforting the families.

God bless our armed forces and all who wait at home.May the wounded be healed and comforted.God Bless America

[LadyX]

"Plus I have 2 granddaughters born in Rapid City and I know you lived up there for a while."

Yes, I was there from Christmas Eve 1961 to the night after Christmas 1962.
Managed to have Jennifer, born 30 September 1962, followed a few days later by The Cuban Missile Crisis on the (then) Strategic Air Command's Home of the B-52's, in that action-packed year..:))

Jennifer was born in the same hospital as your two granddaughters!

They'll be swinging through to see you next month, won't they?
Where will your son be stationed in the Panhandle of Florida?

[FreeTheHostages]

My prayers for Jeff and for you and for your family's continuing efforts to keep us safe.

[ladtx]

They'll be swinging through to see you next month, won't they? Where will your son be stationed in the Panhandle of Florida?

They depart Rapid City on the 19th of this month. Mrs ladtx is going up there next week to help them drive back, so she will miss the last part of Jeff's homecoming. Brian insists that they can do it without her but you know how Momma's are. That's the way it goes with military families, as you are well aware.

He is going to be stationed at Pensacola and will be a navigator instructor. He really hates to leave B-1's though.

[LadyX]

"He is going to be stationed at Pensacola and will be a navigator instructor. He really hates to leave B-1's though."

As you and Mrs. ladtx well know, the plans all are His for our paths....
may He continue to guide and bless all of you.

- LadyX

[LadyX]

"Mrs ladtx is going up there next week to help them drive back, so she will miss the last part of Jeff's homecoming. Brian insists that they can do it without her but you know how Momma's are. That's the way it goes with military families, as you are well aware."

There are hitches in "the way it goes," ladtx.
I did all my childbearing and military travel without family help, far from Florida.

Visited, and my parents put the boys (then 6 and 7) and me on the plane to go to South Dakota, and it was the last time I ever saw my mother.

It was too far from Florida for her to be there when Jennifer was born, and we immediately (when Jennifer was 2 months old) were sent to Fairbanks, Alaska, not able to go to Florida and then up there, driving the Alaska Highway.

We were very close and wrote often, but she became ill in January 1964 and went to heaven on my second son's 10th birthday - never saw her after age 27 - never heard her voice again, felled by a burst aneurysm that left her totally incapacitated and unable to move, see or speak.

Count your blessings, as I will all my days for having had her.....

[FreeTheHostages]

Thanks. Same back to you. Last week was a good week here at Freeper's Finest.

Although I admit to being a little confused on when my next date is, what with this whirlwind of special events. Billie, I'm on for next Tuesday?

[Calpernia]

That is really something! Fate????

[Aquamarine]

The schedule I have printed out says that next Tuesday the 10th is Veteran's Day, with Dutchess doing the honors. Maybe you have the week off! :)

[Aquamarine]

Sorry, Veteran's Day is on the 11th on Tuesday.

[MeekOneGOP]

My latest PhotoDeluxe attempts ...

Exposed: Pelosi's Socialist Ties

Pelosi leader of 'Progressive Caucus'

[MeekOneGOP]

I love the little fella, Barney ...

Turn your speakers up, then
Click on the pic, lol !

[FreeTheHostages]

So it is!! Hmm. I'll await further orders, which, hee hee, shall be coming forthwith.

Meanwhile, I'm off to beat the bushes for a victim . . . oops, I mean profilee. Hee hee.

[LadyX]

Good morning, FreeTheVictims...:))

[Calpernia]

The Things They Carried
By "Tim O'Brien"

They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP-rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks.

They carried standard fatigues, jungle fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots.

They carried the M-16, trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine guns, the M-79 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm LAWS, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence.

They carried C-4 plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios with 25 foot wip antennas and their heavy batteries, knives and machetes.

Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others.

Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive.

They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworms and leeches.

They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots.

They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined.

They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another.

And sometimes they disguised that love:
"Don't mean nothin'!"

They carried memories for the most part, they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity.

Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said "Dear God" and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die.

They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them.

They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations.

They carried the soldier's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor.

They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment.

They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it.

They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment.

They carried the weight of the world and the weight of every free citizen of America.

And they carried each other.

[Aquamarine]

Great jpeg Meekie! Wonder why her eyes are so glassy looking.

You can reduce the size of that pic in your Photo Deluxe. Just click on Size at the top then Photo Size in the drop down tool bar. Can also reduce the size of the pixels in the same drop down tool bar.