Veterans Day

[catman]

As a Viet Nam War combat vet I'd like to thank all those that have served, the families of those young folks that didn't make it back and the wonderful young men and women now serving. I'll never forget, not for a minute. My flag flies 24/7.

http://www.patrioticon.org/images/animatedflag1.gif

It has always been a policy on my boat that all active military fish for free. It's the least I can do.

[RuddeDogg]

Thanks goes to YOU to my friend. I lost a brother in country in that war. Thank YOU sir for fihghting for the freedom that we all enjoy. ;) ;)

[catman]

Thanks Dogg. It's heros like your brother who gave the ultimate to assure we have the freedoms we enjoy everyday. I went over with 4 other buddies, only 2 of us came back. :( :( I just wish our government would have let us win that war. :(

[markedwards]

all gave some, some gave all

WHAT IS A VET

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a
jagged 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 who 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 protester to burn the flag."

Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

[Blue Heron]

I'd like to thank all vets and all folks currently in the military for the sacrifices they have made for America, so that we at home are safe and able to live in freedom. Thank you.

Blue Heron

[catman]

Mark thanks for sharing that with us. I've never seen or heard it said better.

[punkineeeter]

a bunch of my friends are serving in the marines right now...they have really become true heros in my life. god bless america

[combatcatcher]

While serving in Iraq I lost 3 friends in the fall of 04. They are the real heros. They paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Just like Cat said I hope we finish what we started in Iraq not just to honor those we lost but because its the right thing to do. To all the other Vet's out there I thank you for youre service to a great nation. To all those who know me please throw a prayer upstairs for my company, had I not been injured there the first time I would have my boots on the ground in that big beach with no water. But my friends are there as Im sure others on here have friends there now. Belive me all the prayers people said for me are the reason Im not paralyzed and still breathing. So I say thank you to the Vets from the past and the Vets serving now. Pray for our Troops.

[shaggy]

Me, just can offer my sincerest gratitude, thanks to all that have, and are serving. It's them who fought so I can fish, and speak my peace, sometimes crossing that line and being an ASS, so thank you and your families.

Freedom, AIn't free.

Have Jeep will travel :D