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Posted on 11/11/2004 3:57:16 AM PST by RightOnline
With Jim Robinson's permission (hopefully) and the cooperation of fellow FReepers, I'd like to reprise a "tradition" I began here some years ago on this Forum.
Today is the day that we, as a Nation, specifically set aside to express our thanks to all who have donned a uniform, rendered a salute, said 'good bye' to loved ones to travel to distant lands, and otherwise committed themselves to the defense of the United States of America.
This is your day, FReeper veterans. Whether you served in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other of the countless hot-spots around the globe, we salute you and thank you for your willingness to step up. Active duty, Reserves, National Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard.....whatever service, no matter when, where, or how long, we thank you.
Check in and accept our salute in return.
Thank you to all Veterans and their families who have given and continue to give so unselfishly.
My dad served in the Navy and Coast Guard.
My husband still proudly serves in the Army. 14 years and counting...
God bless America!
Signed, Proud Army Wife
SFC EvenKeel USAR 1986-Present
MSG Mrs. EvenKeel USAR 1991-Present
Dad: US Army/WW II/Italy/Field Artillery/RIP, Dad!
Me: USMA 1970/CPT, Mil Intel/Armor 1976/Heidelberg, Mannheim, ASA Fld Sta San Antonio
U.S. Coast Guard 1971-1975
2 years outside CONUS on LORAN-C stations
1 Year Simeri Crichi, Italy
1 year Kargabarun, Turkey
Good morning.
US Army - 1966 to 1970
RVN - 1967 to 1970
Airborne all the way.
Rangers lead the way.
Sleepy Killer 2/3
Stay a Lurp, Stay alive
Michael Frazier
Thanks to all of you. USAF 1968-72
USAF 1989 - 1996
US Army - '73-'75
I'm humbled by all of the great men and women veterans on the Freeper site.
Your service is highly appreciated.
Charlie Co. 2/508 PIR
82nd Airborne Division 80-84
IRR volunteer paratrooper replacement Gulf War
Father - Berlin Airlift
Stepfather - wounded Battle of Bulge
Uncle Harry 101st Abn Normandy
Uncle Homer - Army Solomon Islands, Pacific Theater
Uncle Bob - Vietnam, Air Force
Uncle C. Anzio Naval Air Defense Gunner, Killed in Battle
USAF '82 - present...
Gulf War I; Dec '90 - July '91...
Norfolk next, JFIC
U.S. Navy, 8/61-8/64. Deck seaman, USS Vulcan (AR-5).
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired - 1 August 1984)21 years active duty with USAF, USN and USCG
Good to see the rebirth of this tradition.
Nobody can say it better than Zell Miller. He speaks for me.
".....nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators. ...Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier. And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.... It is the soldier, not the court, that has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag." ~ Senator Zell Miller
More Zell Miller (D-GA) ----- 9-1-04
Excerpts:
"...I can remember when Democrats believed that it was the duty of America to fight for freedom over tyranny.
It was Democratic President Harry Truman who pushed the Red Army out of Iran, who came to the aid of Greece when Communists threatened to overthrow it, who stared down the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by flying in supplies and saving the city.
Time after time in our history, in the face of great danger, Democrats and Republicans worked together to ensure that freedom would not falter. But not today.
Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.
And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.
Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.
Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier.
And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.
For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.
No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.
But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.
They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy.
It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter's pacifism would lead to peace.
They were wrong. They claimed Reagan's defense buildup would lead to war. They were wrong.
And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror.
Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.
The B-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40% of the bombs in the first six months of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The B-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hussein's command post in Iraq.
The F-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot down Khadifi's Libyan MIGs over the Gulf of Sidra. The modernized F-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes against Tora Bora.
The Apache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks in Kuwait in the Gulf War. The F-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after 9/11.
I could go on and on and on: Against the Patriot Missile that shot down Saddam Hussein's scud missiles over Israel, Against the Aegis air-defense cruiser, Against the Strategic Defense Initiative, Against the Trident missile, against, against, against.
This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?
U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric.
Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.
Senator Kerry has made it clear that he would use military force only if approved by the United Nations.
Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide.
John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.
That's the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.
Free for how long?
For more than twenty years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure. As a war protestor, Kerry blamed our military.
As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military. And nothing shows that more sadly and more clearly than his vote this year to deny protective armor for our troops in harms way, far-away.
George Bush understands that we need new strategies to meet new threats.
John Kerry wants to re-fight yesterday's war. George Bush believes we have to fight today's war and be ready for tomorrow's challenges. George Bush is committed to providing the kind of forces it takes to root out terrorists.
No matter what spider hole they may hide in or what rock they crawl under.
George Bush wants to grab terrorists by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip.
From John Kerry, they get a "yes-no-maybe" bowl of mush that can only encourage our enemies and confuse our friends.
I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together. I admire this man.
I am moved by the respect he shows the First Lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.
I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.
He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.
I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.
The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.
This election will change forever the course of history, and that's not any history.
It's our family's history.
The only question is how. The answer lies with each of us. And, like many generations before us, we've got some hard choosing to do.
Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.
In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him.
Thank you.
God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.
Remarks by Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) as Prepared for Delivery at the 2004 Republican National Convention on Wednesday, September 1, Evening Session 10 - 11 P.M. EDT
http://news.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20040902/02sep2004201021.html
Checking in and still in vertical mode: US Army Air Corps--WW II etc. By the way, I salute all who served in the Air National Guard like our esteemed President Bush. I'm also pleased to include a special salute to the Marine Corps and my departed hero brother, George!
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Checking in for hubby.
US Army- Big Red One 68-70
Dian, Vietnam 69-70
green machine, '74-'77
U.S.Army - 11 Bravo - 1971-1972
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