[Chronic Diarrhea]

What Is A Vet?

Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC


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 protestor to burn the flag."

Father Denis Edward O'Brien
USMC

[newt.]

wheres the quote from?

[Zoner]

A heartfelt Happy Veterans Day to you U.S. peeps and a Happy Remembrance Day to us canucks.

Lest we forget.

[img]http://www.on.legion.ca/_0211_img/poppy_bl.gif[/img]

[Pyro]

Originally Posted by Zoner

A heartfelt Happy Veterans Day to you U.S. peeps and a Happy Remembrance Day to us canucks.

Lest we forget.

[img]http://www.on.legion.ca/_0211_img/poppy_bl.gif[/img]

[Chronic Diarrhea]

[quote="newt.":4468e]wheres the quote from?[/quote:4468e]

[url:4468e]http://www.juntosociety.com/military/rp_wiav_011003.htm[/url:4468e]

[TonyMontana]

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

----------
To the brave men and women that sacrificed their lives and fought for our freedom,

We Salute You.

[Sgt>Stackem]

without Vetrens I would not have the freedoms I so enjoy today. This is for all vets of all countries. IMHO they all should have the day off, it is crazy only govt jobs get the day off when most didnt even serve

[Apocalypse | NoW]

God Bless the Veterans

[Tripper]

We have remembrance day as well - Although ANZAC day is taken more seriously (Day off, etc) - God bless the vets. Lest we forget.

[butch]

God bless the fallen soldiers. No matter what country they gave their lives to protect.

[Pyro]

I don't agree with a day off. Unless everybody's wages to the day went in some sorts to helping out veterans.

[Zoner]

Originally Posted by Pyro

I don't agree with a day off. Unless everybody's wages to the day went in some sorts to helping out veterans.

I'd be up for that.

At least the morning off so we could go to the memorial service. That's not too much to ask.

[bukdez]

day off for sure, even just outta respect...

[img]http://www.on.legion.ca/_0211_img/poppy_bl.gif[/img]...

[Machette]

God bless all vets.

Taps always sends shivers down my spine.

[Pyro]

Not having work is more of a selfish act to get out of work, than respect. That's why i believe you shouldn't be paid for it. If it was for respect you wouldn't need to be paid.