FReeper Canteen ~ Happy 224th Birthday, United States Coast Guard ~ 04 August 2014

Serving The Best Troops & Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ August 4th ~
~ Happy 224th Birthday, US Coast Guard!! ~

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Canteen Mission Statement

Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.

From Flotilla 76, Oregon

The United States Coast Guard, one of the country's five armed services, is a unique agency of the federal government. We trace our history back to 4 August 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling. Known variously through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, we expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.

The service received its present name in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service. The nation then had a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws. The Coast Guard began to maintain the country's aids to maritime navigation, including operating the nation's lighthouses, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939. In 1946 Congress permanently transferred the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard, thereby placing merchant marine licensing and merchant vessel safety under our purview.

The Coast Guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government and, until the Navy Department was established in 1798, we served as the nation's only armed force afloat. We continued to protect the nation throughout our long history and have served proudly in every one of the nation's conflicts. Our national defense responsibilities remain one of our most important functions even today. In times of peace we operate as part of the Department of Homeland Security, serving as the nation's front-line agency for enforcing our laws at sea, protecting the marine environment and our vast coastline and ports, and saving life. In times of war, or at the direction of the President, we serve under the Navy Department.

Link here

Revenue Cutters

Sinbad, the Coast Guard's most famous mascot. He was adopted by a crewman from the cutter Campbell prior to World War II. He was so beloved by the crew that they actually enlisted him in the Coast Guard. Sinbad served faithfully through thick and thin, surviving combat with the Germans and Japanese, causing a few international incidents with his antics, and even having a book written about him! Here he is at his battle station on board the Campbell, ready to take aim at a German U-boat!

Click for more Coast Guard Mascots and their stories.

Star Spangled Banner

Semper Paratus

Please remember that The Canteen is here to support
and entertain our troops and veterans and their families,
and is family friendly.

[Jim Robinson]

Seems like just the other day. God rest his dear soul.

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks, Tonk, for your years of service to the Guard.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...you and Lynn-Dah have a good day? Did you venture forth, or stay by the A/C.

Which reminds me...did you get ALL the “broken” things fixed? Plenty of hot water now?

[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!!

"Riamh nár dhruid ó sbairn lann!"

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[left that other site]

Oh yes!

My 30 year old housing complex has the BEST Maintenance Team on the Planet.

And they Love Lynn-dah too.

[Soaring Feather]

Good evening, Kathy.

Missing our friend, Tonk.

[left that other site]

The Powerful Daily Thunderstorms held off until the last piece of Sound equipment was safely packed into the car.

[SandRat]

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

All We Need To Know
August 4, 2014

Read: Romans 7:18-25

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. —Romans 7:18

Bible in a Year:
Psalms 66-67; Romans 7

In a Fernando Ortega rendition of “Just As I Am,” Billy Graham’s voice can be heard faintly in the background. Dr. Graham is reminiscing about an illness during which he believed he was dying. As he mused on his past, he realized what a great sinner he was and how much he continues to need God’s daily forgiveness.

Billy Graham was putting an end to the notion that apart from God we’re okay. We can feel good about ourselves, but that confidence must come from the knowledge that we’re greatly loved children of God (John 3:16), not that we’re very good children (Rom. 7:18).

The first step in becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it.

In his final years, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, suffered from dementia and lamented the loss of his memory. Yet he confided, “I do remember two things: I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior.” When it comes to faith, those are the only things anyone needs to know.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures. —Newton

God’s grace accepted is God’s peace experienced.

Insight

The Christian life is one of struggle with sin and growth in holiness. On this side of heaven, we will not be totally freed from this struggle (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8–2:1). In today’s text, the apostle Paul writes of the war between good and evil that wages within him. Elsewhere Paul explains, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Gal. 5:17 niv). Yet we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus delivers us from this “body of death” (Rom. 7:24).

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Publius...thanks for all the links to the concerts. Some really great listening.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Sand...((HUGS))...and thanks for the reminder. Reminders are good these days.

Been mugged yet today?

Ready for Maddi Monday?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, Families, for your service to our country.

Thanks, unique, for the perfect woohoo.

John Conlee ~ They Also Serve

[neversweat]

Hello and thank you!

My father was a ‘Coastie’ during WWII. He served as a carpenters Mate. The US’s ‘blue water’ navy doesn’t have carpenters mates, they ‘borrow’ them from the Coasties.

Of course, I was a ‘blue water’ Navy recruit and of course I learned all the traditional razzes about Coasties. So my first liberty at home I asked my old man, “Were you really more than six feet tall when you joined the Coast Guard?”

Rumor had it that the Coast Guard required all enlisted personnel to be over six feet tall in case the boats sank. Dad’s response?

“Remind me to write this ungrateful Tarheel out of my will!”

He himself called the Coast Guard the “Ankle-Deep Navy”.

Don’t tell him, but I have always considered Coasties to be far better ‘blue water’ sailors than anyone in the ‘regular Navy’.

Thanks for the post!

[left that other site]

Even though my dad was in the “Regular Navy”, we also had great respect for the Coasties! And i would MUCH rather celebrate the Birthday of the Coast Guard on August 4th than the alleged “birthday’ of you-know-who.

It is also my 42nd wedding anniversary (I am widowed) and I have the Marriage certificate to prove it! :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Did you get some rest? Nice weather?

[ConorMacNessa]

Chauffeured again today. I'm still under the weather - I didn't even make it to Mass today. Summoned up all my strength to cook dinner - Spaghetti with Barilla Sauce. Mixed shies here today - cloudy to partly cloudy - a few sprinkles here and there.

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[PROCON]

Hi Ma, hope all is well with you! I’m doing well and officially retireing in September. I’m leaving Oregon and returning to my home state of Washington to be closer to my kids and family soon. Thanks for tonight’s Canteen! God Bless the United States Coast Guard!

[luvie]

Happy Birthday
Coast Guard!

[left that other site]

Hi LUV W!

Thanks for the dramatic rescue picture!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, mountainlion, and thanks for the Coast Guard Marching Song.