A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....02-07-03....Finest Profile Pages #8

A Few of FR's Finest.....
......Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders; tell a few jokes; learn a new word; write poetry; pray for those in need; and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997. I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars who posted, and now there are over 60,000 who have registered for posting privileges. The forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001

So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I can no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I've been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that doesn't seem to be enough. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why, in addition to seeing FR's Finest Military Personnel every day, I thought it might be fun to feature a different FReeper (or FReepers) each day. If you would like to be pictured, or know someone who would, please FReepmail me and we'll turn the spotlight - on YOU - for the day!

And do let me know if you'd like your picture added to the groups of Veterans/Active Military below. I will keep this page updated, and continue to add them to the comment section of the original Veteran's Day thread as well.

TOP: g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett.
MIDDLE: fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17.
BOTTOM: Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau.

TOP: ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,
dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony
BOTTOM: rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx
MIDDLE: The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law
BOTTOM: deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP: spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68.
MIDDLE: FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797
BOTTOM: usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack

We now have eleven groups of veterans/active military; we will post each group of three or four twice a week, with thumbnail/links of the remaining seven or eight groups on each thread. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the group full-size.

GROUP 1A: TOP: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete MIDDLE: T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub BOTTOM: YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

GROUP 2A: TOP: Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet MIDDLE: 4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga BOTTOM: Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

GROUP 3A: TOP: mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette MIDDLE: Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid BOTTOM: gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

GROUP 4A: TOP: porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP MIDDLE: RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian BOTTOM: USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

GROUP 9A: TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog. MIDDLE: Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son. BOTTOM: JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

GROUP 10A: TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon. BOTTOM: Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

GROUP 11A: TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son. BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset); WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.

Hi, Daisy.

A friend who used to work with me at NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, MD, but has since moved on to Mission Control in Houston, sent me the following "speech" I'd like to share with everybody. I didn't want to create a new thread so I hope you don't mind my posting it here.

We Came Here, You and I

We came here, you and I, to this place and this profession, to be great, to do great things, and give form to great dreams - and we have. Greatness is what we are about. It's who we are, and how we want to be, and how we want our world to be. We knew that there had been set-backs before us, long ago it seems now.

We knew that something called Apollo 1 happened before many of our team mates were born. That demon of fate stole three people one day in a launch pad test. Some wanted to cancel the lunar program. But they didn't, and Borman, Lovell, and Anders read from Genesis orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve two years later. Those people back then, who's legacy we continue, worked through it, fixed their problems, and chased the demon away for a time.

He almost got three more on Apollo 13 but they caught him by the ears and wrestled their friends away from him. He beat us on Challenger. He beat us bad there, real bad. They could have cancelled the program, they didn't have to keep going, that generation could have just stopped flying. But they didn't. They walked in the footsteps of those who had gone before, fixed things and moved on.

We built a space station confounding the critics who said it was too complicated, too hard and would never work. We had amazing success for 17 years. And then he got us again. Up there in the cold thin-air, in a part of the flight envelope you don't want to be in, he cornered our friends and took them. And we who are walking in the footsteps of those who lost and won in years past have the task of fixing it, just like they did.

Ten or 15 years from now when some of the folks working on our teams are walking on Mars, or the moon, or flying in the cold dark between the planets, that demon will find us again. He will, because he's always with us. And when our children are having babies and showing them the red landscape of Mars out the window he'll be there in their nursery, and he'll take some. And when their children's children are growing up under alien suns and their ships are plowing the void between the stars, he'll be there too. And he'll win from time to time. He's a persistent bastard.

But that demon of fate is a loser. He's the biggest loser in the universe because he never stops us. And the next time he comes he has to work still harder because we keep going and we keep getting better. When he does win, out there between the stars, and takes our great grandchildren, their families and friends will comfort themselves with stories of those who lost long ago, and picked themselves up and continued on. They'll talk about the people who persevered when they lost their friends on that re-entry over Texas. And we will give them that story to tell, you and I, because that is what they deserve, and that is who we are, and that is why we chose to be here.

I thought this was a nice little article...

Shuttle disaster disrupts quiet calm of life in
the piney woods - community opens up to help out

Excerpt:

Far from shunning the media, locals have offered umbrellas to reporters taking notes in the rain and telephones to those whose cellular phones can't get a connection in the piney woods. At the Dairy Queen in nearby Pineland, reporters and search and rescue workers can get anything they want for free.

Residents also are offering their homes.

Terry Vaughn, a real estate agent in Hemphill, opened her four-bedroom home to four Dallas technicians who operate global-positioning gear used to pinpoint debris.

"If it had been me, I hope someone would have done it for me," Vaughn said. Besides, with her five children grown and out of the house, Vaughn said, she had room.

Lisa Owens, the director of the Sabine County visitors' bureau, answers an endless stream of calls from residents offering up their rooms, mobile homes and summer cabins. She estimates that about 200 folks helping with the shuttle search are staying in donated homes or marinas and hotels offering reduced rates.

Owens said she's never seen the community come together like it has since Columbia fell.

"The largeness of this event has just erased all the small, petty, daily problems, you know, the silliness that people engage in," Owens said between calls. "It's taken people out of their little, tiny nucleus to see the bigger picture."

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*Smiles*

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