USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Post a Holiday Message to the Military ~ December 4 2002

68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub and FRiends of the Canteen

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Please visit this Department of Defense web page
and sign a brief message
thanking the men and women of the U.S. military services
for defending our freedom.
The compiled list of names will be
sent out to members of the military.
More than 2.1 million people have signed Defend America's online Thank You Note
to men and women of the U.S. military.

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning ~~ Troops ~~ Canteen Crew

[Mo1]

[Soaring Feather]

Military and Canteen Men

Thank you for the lovely flowers this morning!

Good Bless America
Stay Safe if you can
Thank you for service to our country.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Todays transportation for you and the Girlz.

[Soaring Feather]

Today's FEEBLE attempt at humor:



You mean it will get worse???

[Soaring Feather]

At sea aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1) Nov. 1, 2002 -- Airmen Karen Grunert (left) and Marissa Gutierrez

HAPPY ~ HAPPY ~ WOMEN
Thinking of you, thank you for serving our country!

[tomkow6]

You WANT worse?

You CAN'T STAND worse! LOL!

[tomkow6]

At sea aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1) Nov. 1, 2002 -- Seaman Danielle Pafford stands watch while U.S. Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) head to shore in a utility landing craft (LCU). The amphibious assault ship is participating in a Component Training While Underway Exercise (COMPTUEX) off the coast of Southern California, the first of three major training exercises with the U.S. Marine’s 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) and Tarawa’s Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). U.S. Navy photo by Navy Chief Journalist William Polson.

[Mo1]

http://www.debsfunpages.com/happyholidaypenguins.htm

[Soaring Feather]

Aboard Misawa Air Force Base, Japan (Nov. 21, 2002) -- Senior Airman Emilio Loera assigned to the U.S. Air Force, 35th Security Forces Squadron

[Mr. Silverback]

Ya know, I told your "Santa Claus FAA inspection" joke to 3 people so far, and not one of 'em got it. Must be tellin' it wrong...

[Mo1]

You want worse ... hehe

A blonde called the Canon help desk because she was having a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was"running it under Windows."The blonde responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that's a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his is working just fine."

[Soaring Feather]

[Soaring Feather]

At sea aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1) Nov. 1, 2002 -- Seaman Danielle Pafford stands watch while U.S. Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU)

Happy Holidays

So proud of you woman!

bentfeather

[Valin]

My Marine is defending us
By FRANK SCHAEFFER

Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about who was defending me. Now, when I read of the war on terrorism or the coming conflict in Iraq, it cuts to my heart. When I see a picture of a member of our military who has been killed, I read his or her name very carefully. Sometimes I cry.

In 1999, when the barrel-chested Marine recruiter showed up in dress blues and bedazzled my son John, I did not stand in the way. John was headstrong, and he seemed to understand these stern, clean men with straight backs and flawless uniforms. I did not. I live on the Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston. I write novels for a living. I have never served in the military.

It had been hard enough sending my two older children off to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the question ''So where is John going to college?'' from the parents who were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were going into the military.

RICH, POOR, BLACK, WHITE

''But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?'' asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. ''What a waste. He was such a good student,'' said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should ``carefully evaluate what went wrong.''

When John graduated from boot camp on Parris Island, 3,000 parents and friends were on the parade deck stands. We parents and our Marines were not only of many races but also representative of many economic classes. Many were poor. Some arrived crammed in the backs of pickups, others by bus. John told me that a lot of parents could not afford the trip.

We in the audience were white and Native American. We were Hispanic, Arab, and African American and Asian. We were former Marines wearing the scars of battle, or at least baseball caps emblazoned with battles' names. We were Southern whites from Nashville and skinheads from New Jersey, black kids from Cleveland wearing ghetto rags and white ex-cons with ham-hock forearms defaced by jailhouse tattoos. We would not have been mistaken for the educated and well-heeled parents gathered on the lawns of John's private school a half-year before.

After graduation, one new Marine told John, ''Before I was a Marine, if I had ever seen you on my block I would've probably killed you just because you were standing there.'' This was a serious statement from one of John's good friends, an African-American ex-gang member from Detroit who, as John said, ``would die for me now, just like I'd die for him.''

My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His younger brother is in the Navy.

Why were I and the other parents at my son's private school so surprised by his choice? During World War II, the sons and daughters of the most powerful and educated families did their bit. If the immorality of the Vietnam War was the only reason those lucky enough to go to college dodged the draft, why did we not encourage our children to volunteer for military service once that war was done?

A GREAT GENERATION

Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to having somebody else defend us? What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm's way than are any of the students whose dorms are cleaned by the parents of our military?

I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me. I feel hope because perhaps my son is part of a future ''greatest generation.'' As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them. He is the best I have to offer. He is my heart.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book, co-written with his son, Marine Cpl. John Schaeffer, is Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps.

Posted on 12/03/2002 4:36 PM CST by Weimdog

[tomkow6]

At sea aboard USS O’Bannon (DD 987) Nov. 24, 2002 – Sailors aboard a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) assists in the recovery of probes used during a test of the Integrated Maritime Portable Acoustic Scoring and Simulation (IMPASS) system. IMPASS is part of the Virtual at Sea Training (VAST) system used to test the accuracy of shipboard weapons systems as well as live fire skills. U.S. Navy Photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Marthaellen L. Ball.

[tomkow6]

At sea aboard USS Tarawa (LHA 1) Nov. 1, 2002 -- Plane handlers move an AV-8B “Harrier” aircraft in the ship’s hangar bay. The amphibious assault ship is participating in a Component Training Underway Exercise (COMPTUEX) off the coast of Southern California, the first of three major training exercises with the U.S. Marine’s 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) and Tarawa’s Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). U.S. Navy photo by Navy Chief Journalist William Polson.

[Dubya]

Two little kids are in the hospital, laying on a gurney next to one another outside the operating room. First kids asks "What are u in here for? The second kids reply's " I am in here to get my tonsils out and I am a little scared." First kids reply's " You have nothing to worry about." I had that done when I was 4 years old. They put you to sleep and when u wake up they give u plenty of jello and ice cream. Its a breeze." So the second kids asks " What are u in for "? First kid replys "a circumcision", Second kids reply Wooooohoooo had that when I was born could'nt walk or talk for
two years.

[Soaring Feather]

USS Tarawa (LHA 1)

[tomkow6]

At sea aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Nov. 27, 2002 -- Country musician Trace Adkins entertains Sailors aboard Abraham Lincoln during a USO-sponsored concert held in the ship’s hangar bay. Sailors took advantage of the opportunity to meet Mr. Adkins ‘up close and personal,’ for photo opportunities and personalized autographs. USS Abraham Lincoln is deployed on a regularly scheduled deployment conducting combat missions in support of Operation Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom.