Veterans Day Remembrance

[Rick]

Hi,
I hope your day is going well. Please take a minute to read a tribute to our Veterans and those currently serving our country.

I'll say my thanks now.

Here goes:

WHAT IS A VET?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a aged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg, or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia Sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket – palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You.

That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

by Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, Lt. Col., USMC

I'm back and want to say it again:
I say Thank YOU Veterans and Current Defenders

[Guest]

"A soldier prepares for war and prays for peace."

Let us never forget the sacrifices made by others so we can live free.

Thank you to all those who once stood or now stand to serve our nation.

Ed Carlson

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Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300
[email protected]
http://ed-carlson.fishingbuddy.com

[Guest]

I would also like to thank my fellow veterans today, Thank you for all those who have served before me, thank you for securing our freedom, at a great personal cost. THANK YOU! For defending our home. I would also like to say Thank you for all those who currently serve or will serve one day, you may be asked to pay a high price for the decisions of our leaders, thank you for your bravery and steadfastness that will carry the United States of America into the future as a free nation. Thank you veterans! On this day we remember you, and the courageous things you have done for your country.

"Land of the free, and the HOME of the BRAVE"

[Guest]

I want to thank all the vetran's and those who serve now, If It wasn't for you we might not be here.I know alot of vetran's and most of them don't like talking about what they went through, but you have to admire there courage, leaving home and family at a very young age to protect our country. they went through hell and should be respected.

I'll shut up now. before I get to carried away.

[Aqua Eye]

Here is something many of you may find interesting. When ever I have been at an memorial service for a Veteran of our country and the bugler plays "TAPS" I always wondered what the words were. Now I know,....
Fading light dims the sight, and a star gems the sky,gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh-Falls the night.

Day is done,gone the sun,
From the lake,from the hills,from the sky
All is well,safely rest, God is nigh.

Then a good night,peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near,do not fear-Friend good night.

Thank you men and women of uniform for your sacrifices, I pray we never forget them.-TROY

[nunzio]

For those that have, for those that are and those that will..... Thank you!
-nunzio