Today is Memorial Day….a day set aside to remember our fallen service people during a time of war.
We build monuments to them and then they are soon forgotten…at least this day the public is forced to remember…..all the “sunshine patriots” come out of the woodwork…..and most will beat their chests like sex crazed primates….the sound and fury that signifies (what?)…….
But first a musical interlude….
This will be my only post of the day for I intend to honor our vets in my own way…..first I post this video of the group that I was part of during the Vietnam War…the LRRPs…..with the 9th Infantry Division….Mekong Delta….Republic of South Vietnam…..
Please take the time to learn about a group of men that did all asked of them and for the most part have been forgotten….something I hope to rectify…..
Although the LRRPs of Vietnam became the 75th Rangers…..I was a LRRP then and will always be a LRRP. I refuse to let my guys be eaten up by the legend of the Rangers…..we were there first and we did it better…….
In closing let me leave my readers with a couple of thoughts……
Our veterans are having a rough time…as they always have when they return home from war……we need to do better in their care…..we need to care more than we do today……
The Veterans First Act, does almost nothing to fix the structural problems with the VA. Instead, this bill will increase costs and further entrench an unaccountable bureaucracy. Worst of all, under this bill, veterans will continue to be left waiting for the critical medical care they need.
“The VA, riddled with scandal, needs an overhaul focused on accountability and choice that leads to improved delivery of health care to our veterans. The Isakson-Blumenthal bill meets all the demands of the federal employees, but none of the demands of veterans.
Don’t let mere political activity be mistaken for actual progress.  Our veterans deserve better. We strongly urge Senators to reject the Isakson-Blumenthal bill, and keep the door open for real VA reform.“
One last thought……
Please take a moment of your time today to remember all those that did not return home to their loved ones…it is the least we can do!
Go now and enjoy your Holiday activities….I shall return tomorrow in full force….
Peace Out!
“Pile the Bodies High at Austerlitz and Waterloo
And Pile them High at Gettysburg
And Pile them High at Ypres and Verdun
Shovel Them Under..
And let Me Work
I Am The Grass
Let Me Work”
Carl Sandburg
(an American poet)
Well said…thanx
Hole in his head more like….*wink*
I am soooo wicked…..grin
Don’t you eva say to me ‘have a good day’
or I will come over and wring your neck!
😉
Yes dear…I will watch for that….LOL
Dear Chuq — I just wanted to say, “Thank you for your service.” Some of my Nam buddies didn’t make it — some are on “The Wall” and some came back “Different” than they were before they went “Over There.” I feel lucky and blessed to have made it this good and this far. So one more time … “Thank you for your service.”
My contribution for today
A House divided cannot stand
Thanx Larry
He’s alive! He’s alive!
I respect the service given by those who died in our ‘wars’, as well as the service of all those who believed they were fighting to preserve the American Dream. They were honorable men, and I thank them all.
What I can no longer do is celebrate war, or glorify those who engage in it, in any fashion. I believe most of those who have died in wars we have fought since WWII have died for reasons other than those they believed in; all of our conflicts since that time have been motivated by corporate influence and have nothing at all to do with preserving liberty; in fact, their purpose has been to find ways to justify the eradication of our liberties….
So, today, I do not celebrate the lives of those who have died; I mourn their loss, as being unjustified. They were sent to their deaths under false pretenses, and there is nothing about that to be admired….
The poem above, submitted by Lady P. (who is British) says it perfectly…. Respect is due, but, there is no celebration here, at all. Nor should there ever be any…. not for those who have died unnecessarily….
gigoid, the dubious
Thanx my friend…well said…chuq
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News and commented:
Peace out, indeed Lobo!
Thnx for the re-blog….their story needs to be told….chuq
Had not heard of LRRP units till now. Whew! My closest buddy’s – now gone – father served in similar Marine unit in the Pacific in WWII. If I remember correctly only 10 of his original group survived. Terry and I both went downtown LA for draft examinations in 1964. Both of us rejected – him flat feet and me hole in spine. His father had severe PTSD after his final mission until five years before his early death at age 55. My esteem for your sacrifice and his is high. CCR well remembered for Run in the Jungle and Fortunate Son. James Brown (RIP) 2nd Raider Battalion – Bougainville (designated Feb. 19, 1942) was commanded by Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson.
Midway Island (June 4|6, 1942)
Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll (Aug. 17|18, 1942)
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands (Nov. 4|Dec. 17, 1942)
Bougainville, Solomon Islands (Nov. 1, 1943|Jan. 12, 1944)
I appreciate your thoughts…have a good day…chuq
On the upside…at least Vietnam inspired some damn fine films! (The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, etc) But apart from that….it produced nothing other than a massive body count and massive profits for you-know-who.
America has been involved in so many wars, it needs 2 separate holidays to remember its war dead. I don’t want to overplay this, but the 2 days America already has is much more “celebratory” in nature than similar holidays in most other countries. If not for the corporate resistance to holidays in general, there would undoubtedly be even more in America’s future of perpetual war.
Corprate does not want us to recall too much…they prefer the cheery “Band of Bros” sort of stuff…..
I can see, from reading lots of blogs today, that the general consensus is that we do mourn more than celebrate. There is nothing, IMHO, to celebrate. It is not a day to celebrate anything. It is a day to contemplate; to remember those lost; to wonder if the number of lives lost in other parts of the globe really did that much to change things except to shatter a generation of our young men, and leave families to mourn and to try to go on with their lives.
Thanx for your thoughts….chuq