A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....11-10-03....Military Monday

Billie

[Donaeus]

Good to see ya Billie. It was so lovely to "huddle up" with just our family and enjoy each other. Now if we can figure out how to stop time for about a month.... :)

[ST.LOUIE1]

I love that goofy smiley thingie. :)

: )

I need to get over to P & P and say hello. It really is good to see you here today - I'm certainly not the only one here happy to see you back though. You've been busy trying to keep up with your pings today! :)

Thank you, BillieBlue. I think I'm about caught up. Just can't stay too long at a time. : )

[Calpernia]

>>>>This is why people have their children while they are young. LOL!

I've been having senile moments wondering if I want a fourth child.

After battling through the brawling tumble of children while trying to get dinner on....I've decided the next time I have that fourth child thought, I'm just checking myself into a state hospital.

[Calpernia]

What is a Veteran?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, the greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot,

"THANK YOU."

author- Father Denis Edward O'Brien USMC

[nicmarlo]

"THANK YOU, VETS"

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe ! Thanks. Yeah, I'm a cutup at times. Most of the time. Like to poke fun at the Libs anyway.

Glad my wife is a sport with my humor. She doesn't get riled.

Glad you liked the links too ! ...

[GailA]

I had the same problem too. So it wasn't just you experiencing it.

[WVNan]

Thank you Billie, this thread is a beautiful tribute to the Marines and all the military. Let us never neglect them or forget their sacrifice.

[armymarinemom]

You have a wonderful family, I was honored to meet the ones I did. Tell Graham and his wife I said hello and give Matthew a big hug for me! He is so precious

Thanks will give Mathew a phone hug. Thanks everyone for the shopping ideas.

[Dubya]

SEMPER FI

[WVNan]

Welcome home Mr. Woolfie. It looks as if you are still in need of a lot of TLC.

[WVNan]

HA HA...Mr. Wool-fie?

[Dubya]

Thank you.

[Dubya]

Thank you.

[WVNan]

Oh, have I got your number now.

[The Mayor]

All the Veterans I know would jump back into their uniforms and go back into action.
I for one would but this time not in cook whites.
Ever since 9/11 I have been getting more and more fed up with the anti-American crowd.
I think they really want this War on Terror to be another Vietnam,
to turn the people against our Troops as they did in the 60's and 70's.
I will do everything in my Power to Support our Troops
and to change the minds of the liberal anti- American left.

[Billie]

Wonderful graphic, Nan! Goodnight to the Finest and thanks to all.

[dixie sass]

Have added those Pepperidge Farm Milanos to the shopping list for you!

[dixie sass]

Hello Cuzzzzzzzz.

[dutchess]

It is the 11th day of the 11th month...please join us HERE as we pay tribute to our veterans.