"The Betrayal of the American Soldier"--MEMORIAL DAY 2006--Thread #3

5/30/2004 | redrock---(some old guy in Utah)

[redrock]

You put on the uniform.....and you do so of your own Free will.

You put on the uniform ...be it that of the Army...or Navy...or Air Force...or Marine...or Coast Guard.

And you do so with the understanding of some very simple promises.

YOU promise to uphold the Constitution....

YOU promise to help defend your Nation ...your family...in every which way that you are asked.

YOU promise to put up with doing duty in the coldest places...and the hottest. YOU promise to put up with bad food sometimes. YOU promise to follow orders (as long as they are lawful)..even tho those orders may put you in danger...in 'Harm's Way'.

YOU promise to put your life on the line...even unto death.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And the Nation promises that they will provide you with shelter....with uniforms.....with food...with even a little money.

And the Nation promises that they will make sure that you are taken care of if you are wounded....or are permanently disabled.

And the Nation PROMISES that they will Remember you should you die...should you pay the ultimate price...should you be brought Home to your family in a box.

....and tomorrow is the day....the very day...that will decide if the Nation has told the truth or it has lied.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's a simple thing.....Memorial Day.

Just ONE day...set aside for a real reason....to Remember those who have died....been brought home in a box....to fulfill THEIR promise.

Just ONE day....set aside for a REAL reason....to Honour those who have fallen in the defense of Freedom.....to Honour those who have fallen in the defense of their Nation and their Families...your Families.

It is NOT a day for barbecue.....

It is NOT a day for 'Memorial Day Sales'.....

It is NOT a day for extra overtime......

It IS a day to Remember...and say 'Thank You'.

It IS a day to Remember...that YOUR Freedom is paid for in the blood of America's sons...it is paid for in the returning of Fathers to their children in a box.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.

Perhaps the real measure of our success as a Nation (and how long we will last ) is how well we Honour those who have provided this Freedom.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.

Or, perhaps, tomorrow is the day of Betrayal.

[canadianally]

God bless America. And I am a foreigner....

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thank You Neighbor!

[Euro-American Scum]

The American Cemetery, Normandy. June 6, 2004.

[singfreedom]

Will do----and thank you.

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTTT...thank you to all.

[AlaskaErik]

THANK YOU VETS!

You're welcome!

[jellybean]

"MEMORIAL DAY POEM."

The bugle echoes shrill and sweet,
But not of war it sings to-day.
The road is rhythmic with the feet
Of men-at-arms who come to pray.

The roses blossom white and red
On tombs where weary soldiers lie;
Flags wave above the honored dead
And martial music cleaves the sky.

Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel,
They kept the faith and fought the fight.
Through flying lead and crimson steel
They plunged for Freedom and the Right.

May we, their grateful children, learn
Their strength, who lie beneath this sod,
Who went through fire and death to earn
At last the accolade of God.

In shining rank on rank arrayed
They march, the legions of the Lord;
He is their Captain unafraid,
The Prince of Peace . . .
Who brought a sword.

~~By Joyce Kilmer.~~

[Kathy in Alaska]

Amazing Grace

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thank you, redrock, for your service as an Army medic.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Ronnie, for your service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, singfreedom, for your husband's service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thank you, Tonkin, for your service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, LadyX, for your service to our country.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, AlaskaErik, for your service to our country.

[RobFromGa]

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here qave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought so nobly advanced. It is for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Gettysburgh, PA

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[sargunner]

Rock,


I will be visiting some old friends at the Wall today. I always say that it will be easier this time around, but never is. All those old memories come rushing back. Even an element of survivor's guilt.

I'll always remember.....

[RoadTest]

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the
service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman."

-- Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776)