USO Canteen FReeper FRiday.......June 21,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

We are honored to introduce to you
G'nad

...."My mom always said she wasn't surprised I wanted to be a Marine...I still love scars and bruises...I acquired quite a collection over the years...

Newly commissioned, boot 2ndLt g'nad......

1stLt and Mrs. g'nad headed for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. She's my best friend...my reality check...God has blessed me with her.

Above and Below...Desert Storm, cleaned up afterwards ... somewhere in Kuwait.......

Reunion with Mrs. g'nad, this photo ran in the OkiMar Edition of Stars and Stripes.......

On the range at 29 Palms with a buddy, our custom rifles, and M-14s...Life is good!.......

Winter warfare training with some of my Marines at the Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, CA. I'm the one standing far left. This was with 2d Marine Regiment... my best time, and my best Marines.......

The family as of Nov '01. Rebecca, Mrs. g'nad, Jake and me on the beach at Emerald Isle, NC.

I knew I wanted to be a Marine since I was three-years-old. I signed my Delayed Entry Program papers in Oct of my senior year, but in December the Officer Selection Officer (OSO) asked me if I wanted to try for an NROTC Scholarship. I never had any intention of being an officer, and my family was too poor for me to even consider college. I was accepted and attended Iowa State University and OCS, and was commissioned. I owe the Marine Corps a great debt.

. Still on active duty as a Major at Headquarters Marine Corps...my first desk job, and it's killin' me...

Been a lot of places, seen a lot of things... some bad, some good. But I have always served with the finest of men, Marines.

I trust in Jesus as my Lord and Savior...I believe in Duty, Honor, Sacrifice, Integrity...

I believe that there is no substitute for hard work... that pain is a good thing...if no one's shooting at you, there is nothing to stress about...oh yes, and beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy...

Die first, then quit.......

G'nad

Thank you G’nad for serving our country and for sharing with us here at the FReeper USO Canteen. It is an honor and blessing to know you.

[lodwick]

Thanks for the repost @ 23 - nice work.

[g'nad]

Thank you ma'am. Yeah, I've been blessed with a great family. It's an honor to serve.

[COB1]

GOOD MORNING TO ALL!

G'nad, thank you for your service, old son.
You sure picked some garden spots of the world to show in the pictures!
LOL!
Twenty-Nine Palms and Bridgeport couldn't be more opposite!
Twenty-Nine Palms was where I learned that there IS a place that's hotter than the hinges of hell!
Bridgeport is where I learned that it CAN be fun to jump backward off a 200' cliff with nothing between you and the ground but a thin rope and a Swiss seat!
LOL!
Have a great one, my friend.

[g'nad]

Thank you gents, it's truly an honor to serve. Semper Fi!

[The Mayor]

and another great 2 cents it is...

[MeekOneGOP]

Some days I don't find anything I want to post here, others (like today) they're ALL
suitable for posting, LOL! I thought this was an amazing story. But I've always been
fascinated by anything above the clouds!

Largest Asteroid in Years Misses Earth - "We never saw it coming"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/703675/posts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An asteroid the size of a soccer field whizzed by Earth at a distance much nearer than the Moon, the biggest such space rock in decades to get this close, scientists said on Thursday.

Asteroid 2002MN was not detected until Monday, three days after its closest approach on June 14, when it got within 75,000 miles of Earth and was traveling at a speed of some 23,000 miles per hour, astronomers said.

It is now several million miles away, according to Brian Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' Minor Planet Center, which tracks asteroids.

"It's the largest (asteroid) we've seen at that distance in the last several decades," Marsden said in a telephone interview.

The last time any asteroid came this close was in 1994, according to the Near Earth Object Information Center in Britain.

The big rock, with a diameter of roughly 50 yards to 120 yards, would not have caused global catastrophe if it had struck Earth. That would take an asteroid of several miles diameter.

However, if it had hit Earth, it had the potential to cause as much local devastation as a 1908 hit in Tunguska, Siberia, which flattened some 800 square miles of forest.

Asteroid 2002MN was first spotted by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research program, based in Socorro, New Mexico.

"It's a good thing it missed the Earth, because we never saw it coming," Steve Maran of the American Astronomical Society said in a telephone interview. "The asteroid wasn't discovered until three days after it passed its closest approach to our planet."

LINEAR is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's initiative to find 90 percent of all near-Earth objects, including asteroids, that measure .62 mile or more in diameter by 2008.

An asteroid the size of 2002MN may hit Earth about once every hundred years or so, and the planet may not have seen the last of this one, Marsden said.

"There is a slim chance it could hit in 2061," he said, putting that chance at about one in 100,000.

"At some level, it behooves us to look out for these things," he said.

Asteroid 2002 MN will be observable by some telescopes but it is getting fainter as it moves away, Marsden said.

[g'nad]

Thank you ladies. It's an honor and a privilege. You two have a wonderful day!

[DontMessWithMyCountry]

Good morning to you, dear ClaraSuzanne. Hope you and all our fellow Freepers have a beautiful day today ! We've got ideal weather here in YankeeLand. Perfect 'beach day'-- can't ask for more for the longest day of the year! i have to study, though. whaaaaaa! whine whine. Okay, done whining now. whew! i love what i'm studying, so it's really not bad at all ;-)

[The Mayor]

I'm a Marine. My loyalty is to my God, my family, my country, and my Corps, in that order. g'nad

Thankyou sir for your service to our Country.

For FREEDOM !!

[g'nad]

It could be worse,they might have put you at "8th &I".

Not a chance... I'm too vertically challenged...only 69"... You're right though, I gotta do my turn in the barrel... staff duty sounds like some kind of infection...

[COB1]

Something I received that was interesting...

"TWENTY SUPPRESSED FACTS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST:

Thank you, Jim Bramlett:

1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C, two thousand years before the rise of Islam.

2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C. the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.

4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 A.D. lasted no more than 22 years.

5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.

6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Qur'an.

7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.

8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.

11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.

12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory.
Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands.
Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.

13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation.
The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.

14. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with weapons. [See Fatah Charter/Constitution]

15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship.
Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.

16. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990; there were 97 directed against Israel.

17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.

18. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.

19. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

20. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall."

Thanks to my lurking Jewish friend in California.
I'll see you soon, friend.

[Pippin]

Perfect Beach day? Where are you at? It's muggy,Hot and humid here in Baltimore. Send some of that weather you have down here! LOL.

[lodwick]

"At some level, it behooves us to look out for these things," he said.

And....then what?

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you. JH2 comes out with some good stuff!

[lodwick]

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone From the beginning...to the
end.
He noted that first came her date of birth, And spoke the following date
with tears, But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years. (1934-1998)
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth...
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left, That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile.
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy's being read
With your life's actions to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say About how you spent your dash?



4 posted on 6/21/02 4:05 AM Central by grannie9

[DontMessWithMyCountry]

Why, ClaraSuzanne, i'm surprised at you, lol. You don't know that "YankeeLand" is none other than Boston, haha. Sure, i'll send it to you...after i get my fill of it. Hey, i'm charitable, but not a sucker, lol! It's a good and LONG day for driving, Clara...hop in the car...trek up this way; i'll take ya' to the beach (good excuse for not hitting the books, haha). k--gotta' fly again. I'll drop in here late tonight.

[tomkow6]

Isn't today laundry day?

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep! There are two things that I've call JH2 in my comments to his commentaries:

1. The Mark Steyn of FreeRepublic.com

2. John Mark McGuire Huang2 (he's always hittin' a 4-bagger!)

[Pippin]

Today is laundry day? Did it change from Monday? Monday used to be laundry day.

[g'nad]

I'm havin' a ball, thanks! I've always told my wife, "when it stops bein' fun, it's time for me to leave..."

BTW, I've always loved Fiddler's Green...