LTC Joe Repya, we have your back. God bless you and may you return safely to your family.
Posted on 07/20/2006 2:00:10 PM PDT by llevrok
Joe, well said. You are one of my guys (Nam vet 65-66, 70-71, USMC), thank you, you stayed the course, best of luck.
God bless our troops!
Minnesota's own Lieutenant Colonel Joe Repya!!
We are VERY proud of him!!
Thanks for the ping, Coop.
Thank you for posting a fine letter.
To be accurate, I wouldn't call Phelp's bunch antiwar. They're just lunatics.
Sometimes I find it useful to read Ernie Pyle. It gives me perspective- and clarifies my thinking.
Here's something from him in April, 1943 in Tunisia.
From Ernie Pyle (April, 1943)
In this one respect the front-line soldier differs from all the rest of us. All the rest of us - you and me and even the thousands of soldiers behind the lines in Africa - we want terribly yet only academically for the war to get over. The front-line soldier wants it to be got over by the physical process of his destroying enough Germans to end it. He is truly at war. The rest of us, no matter how hard we work, are not.
.........I heard of a high British officer who went over this battlefield just after the action was over. American boys were still lying dead in their foxholes, their rifles still grasped in firing position in their dead hands. And the veteran English soldier remarked time and again, in a sort of hushed eulogy spoken only to himself:
"Brave men. Brave men."
http://www.journalism.indiana.edu/news/erniepyle/bravemen.html
Thank you, LtCol. Repya, for your words and your service.
Could we get Tony Snow to push for leaflets with FR's website address to get dropped over military bases in Iraq?
Very nice, thanks
Actually I worked the numbers, if he started as an enlisted member, and had a break in service of 4-6 years, he could easily be 60 years old and still on active duty.
In any event, he's for real. Either that, or he's "stolen" the real LTC. Repka's identity. I just checked on the AKO white pages.
It's not Code Pink, it's the Westboro KS cult (Fred Phelps).
Thanks, Mom.
Tommy
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees! - Rudyard Kipling
Oh I love Kipling. Thanks for posting this:)
Coincidently I just posted a quote from him on the LIVE thread!
bttt
Gladly you are incorrect. I have met the man, he is real.
He volunteered to go back
Check the info in the link in posts 38 & 40. And contrary to what was written he didn't "sell" the Support our Troops signs. He gladly accepted donations to help cover his costs but he gave away lots and lots of them to people who wanted them. I still see them daily as I drive to/from work. I've listened to interviews with him on local talk radio.
He really is one of the good guys.
LTC Joe Repya, we have your back. God bless you and may you return safely to your family.
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