Posted on 11/03/2018 12:06:03 PM PDT by AFreeBird
KYIV, Ukraine—How do you measure America’s greatness?
By the size of its economy, or the strength of its military?
By the height of its city skylines, or the audacity of the moon landings?
Perhaps, by the heroism of the Marines who landed on Iwo Jima, or of the Army soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach?
Maybe. But America’s greatness is not always measured like in the movies or a campaign speech. Sometimes, an anonymous act of gratitude is proof enough, even if we, as Americans, don’t always see it that way.
In August, my wife, Lilya, and I were at dinner in Geyserville, California, with my younger brother, Drew, and his girlfriend, Gabrielle.
We’d been wine tasting all afternoon and had rounded off the day with a few cocktails to boot. Feeling a bit loosened up, my brother and I, as is our habit, slipped into a familiar topic of conversation—the war in Afghanistan.
You see, both Drew and I are U.S. military veterans. And, naturally, we get to talking about our wartime experiences whenever we’re together. Often a bit too loudly, as Lilya and Gabrielle gently suggested on that night in Geyserville.
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(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Love this story and I’ve personally heard similar versions of it from 3 other legal immigrants.
Smiling. Cool.
We need to explain it to them next Tuesday.
This Vet obviously runs his mouth about his service everywhere he goes. The men I know are called “the quiet professionals” and’ we all take pride in it. Most of the Vets on this site who have seen combat “Do Not Run Mouth That They Did This or That.”
I damn sure do not want a free damn meal or a drink. I would like the remains of the men we lost in Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and other wars returned to the USA.
The families of men many of us served with deserve more then a damn drink/free meal. Sorry.
That was very enjoyable. Thanks.
I suppose I shouldn’t have said “final approach,” but I don’t know what the term is for the interval of before you land during which you’re low enough to make out houses, streets, schools, shopping centers, etc., and when you have to sit down. It was quite a while, three or four minutes at least.
Ukrainian gals freakin rock!!! In every single way.
Two brothers, vets both, hook up and have a few cocktails and wine, and get to talking....
I can see it happening. And I don’t think they were doing it for the free booze. Just someone, and American, overheard and wanted to buy them a drink or whatever.
There was a song....
The part I thought was awesome was the Ukrainian wife’s perspective.
It’s interesting to see how other people see the US and what they are impressed with. It’s often either not what we’re impressed with, or what we think they would be impressed with.
Traveling overseas to some third world country is something EVERYONE should do.
I visited Colombia many decades ago and it left a real impact on my as a fairly young adult.
I came away from that trip with a better appreciation for what we have and how good we have it.
The guy in the article does seen to be show off-ish. Aside from his overly loud bragging (that I usually see as attention seeking) he was big on showing his wife the biggest and best of the US to impress her.
Now I love this country but I guess if I was going to show it off, I would avoid the usual tourist traps. I’ve found the greatest treasures are often the unassuming and out of the way people and things.
Very nice article. Thank you for posting it here on FR.
Interesting inspiring article. I’m in Kyiv now. Been here for 3 weeks. Fourth trip this year. After working in Afghanistan for 6 years (non-military) it’s a breeze here. Glad to going home to USA Monday.
(best quote from the article. One that we ALL would do well to remember.
We couldn't.
Why?
Someone else already had!
We were third in line behind them!
New tagline
Friends of ours have a daughter that lived in some remote mountain area of Central America helping out the missionaries there (maybe 22 at the time). She was there for almost two years or so.
She and her mom went to Costco when she came home. The daughter was overwhelmed and broke down in tears and had to go back to the car.
Took a Russian pilot on a tour of Seattle and some shops and to Walmart and Sears, etc. He wasn’t so amazed as to quantity (which he was) but selection. He wondered why we needed so many varieties of things such as cereal or shoes, etc.
“He wondered why we needed so many varieties of things such as cereal or shoes, etc.”
—
The one that astonishes me is the soda aisle-———astonishing !!!!!!!!!!!!
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