T-Patchers are those who served with the 36th Infantry Division in WW2. Their shoulder insignia is a 'T' inside an arrowhead that was the original National Guard patch indicating men from Texas & Oklahoma served in it. By 1940 when the unit was federalized, they were mainly an all-Texas group.

Therefore, I am a son of a T-Patcher and took this as my FR id. I was the original sonofatpatcher, but was away for a bit and came back to find I could not get my old password. (Computer crash & change of e-mails and servers, etc...) I resigned up as sonofatpatcher2.

I sometime use

but I mostly use as my signature.

Here are some Links for the T-Patchers & 1SSF from google:

T-Patchers

1SSF

Yes, Dad was more than a father, he was my best friend. If you want to see what few photos I have of him in service, go to My Geocities Homepage

To the men and women who have given their last, full measure of devotion:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy,
let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

This part of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" has alway brought tears to my eyes and I have them now as I post this.

As has this from "13 Days of Glory":
"Now the bugles are silent
And there's rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers...
Lie asleep in the arms of the Lord...

Bless them, Bless them All.

I am a writer and if you would like to read the first three chapters of my science fiction novel, Steffon of Starbonn, just click on the banner below:

If you wish to comment, feel free to do so...

Now, as to Iraq...

Why Do We Fight?

by Danny Clay Lee

During World War Two, Hollywood produced a series of films titled Why We Fight produced by Frank Capra. Shown in theaters across the nation and to every soldier, sailor, airman and marine, few if any questioned why we fought. In this second round of the Gulf War, Hollywood has produced mainly protests.

During the Second World War, many Hollywood stars enlisted in the armed services to fight for their country. Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Tryone Power and David Niven, to name just a few, not only enlisted, but went into combat. Today's Hollywood stars, for the most part, don't have the time nor the inclination to do anything for their country. Their biggest apparent fears are the war disrupting the Oscars, their latest filming schedule or their court-side seats at the Final Four.

Most have forgotten the words of one of their revered heroes, John F. Kennedy who intoned, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask why you can do for your country."

So much for the Hollywood Left's memory.

The Hollywood Left claims their protests are patriotic and their right. Yet when hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Country Music fans protests the anti-war words of Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines, the Hollywood Left shouts, "Foul!" Not buying the Dixie Chicks' CDs or asking C&W radio to suspend Dixie Chick songs from stations' playlist is not a right according to the Hollywood Left. That is persecution, they claim, an illegal boycott fostered by yet another vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.

When Martin Luther King called for boycotts in the 1960s, the Hollywood Left and many Americans of good conscience marched arm-in-arm with him. It was their right to do this. Now The Hollywood Left denies those rights to anyone opposed to their thoughts. Selective memory strikes again.

So, with the majority of Hollywood movers and shaker against serving in any capacity other than to protest, one may ask: why do our troop fight? With the majority of the Democratic Party leadership against the war, one may ask again: why do our armed services fight?

The young men and women who are now engaged in combat in Iraq, why do they fight? It is not plunder or booty. They seek no territorial gain nor gold or silver. It is not blood lust as their Rules of Engagement are the strictest in all human history ever placed on any fighting force going into battle. They will not rape and maim, nor loot and torture. No civilians will be taken as hostages nor will any be summarily executed by American or British troops.

These troops carry no chemical or biological agents to loose upon the Iraqis, civilian or military. The offer humane care to any POW and all refugees. None will be turned away or beaten up. None will be raped.

Now, consider the track record of the Iraqi troops we face commanded by Saddam Hussein. In the past twenty odd years he and his military and secret police have plundered for booty. They have invaded for territorial gain. They have looted both gold and silver. They have gassed their military foes and civilians who opposed them. They have raped and maimed. They have raped female POWs.

Their Rules of Engagement is carte blanc for the Iraq military, the ends justify the means. Nor is any act too despicable nor beyond the pale for success in battle or in control of their objectives. Hostages are taken and either killed out right or just simply disappear off the face of the earth. They care not for the ecology of the planet as they set Kuwait's oil fields ablaze in 1991 and are even now torching their own.

If these actions by the Iraqi Military and Leadership is not enough reason to fight, then one British Commander told his troops the Iraqi have a stain on their souls. His point is well founded in recent history.

So, why do our troops fight? If you are not convinced by what I have written above, then you tell me?