Day: November 11, 2017

Veterans Day 2017

Today we take some time and remember our war veterans…..their sacrifice and their bravery.

Duty–Honor–Courage

As usual I honor my comrades from Vietnam with this Vid on our unit…the 9th Division LRRPs…..50 years ago today I was on my first recon mission into Southern Laos…..LRRP legacy gets lost once they became the Rangers….It is my duty to keep their legacy alive……I never felt like a Ranger……But I will for always be a LRRP……

A bit of music from those years……enjoy…..

 

In closing this is a good article about the Wall in DC….a place we all go to help us heal…….sometimes it works and sometimes it brings back memories long suppressed…

Americans still argue, if perhaps less passionately than in past decades, about the war their country fought in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, though, has been safely outside that argument for many years. For the millions of people who visit it each year and for the country as a whole, the memorial is overwhelmingly accepted as a place to remember the soldiers who fought and mourn those who died — and not a place to continue debating the war.

Source: Remembering Those Who Fell in Vietnam: A Rancorous Birth of a Place of Healing – War on the Rocks

Thanx for your time and your visit…..also take a moment to remember the vets that gave their lives for their country.

Hope everyone has a good day…..I shall return tomorrow….chuq

Our Debt To Military Spouses

On this Veterans Day (this should have been posted on Memorial Day but as usual I got side tracked–apologies) we need to pay homage to a forgotten slice of society…..the Military Spouse.

While the soldier is away fighting America’s endless wars the spouse stays behind and keeps the family together….keeps the home fires burning if you will.

November we celebrate the military family…….

November is Military Family Appreciation Month. Of course, our nation owes military families a debt of gratitude: Their sacrifices and stressors should not go unnoticed. We do try to honor them, with thanks and praise, but during this month set aside to appreciate military families, we should consider practical ways we can do more to address the challenges they face. Fortunately, such efforts are underway.

In August, the White House hosted a listening session of military spouses, and the common themes were disruptions in career development and employment.

Ninety-two percent of military spouses are female, but the unemployment rate for military spouses (16 percent) is four times higher than the rate for all adult women in the U.S. (4 percent). About half of military spouses who are now working part-time report that they are underemployed; they would prefer full-time work.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/11/06/our_debt_to_military_spouses_112585.html

Take a moment out of your holiday activities to remember the hard work these spouses do to keep their families together….

Veterans: Appropriate Homage

When we celebrate we do it with love and gratitude for their sacrifice.  But first a little history of Veterans Day…..

In 1926, a concurrent resolution of the US Congress held it “fitting that the recurring anniversary of [the armistice which brought World War One to an end] should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations …”

In 1938, Congress enshrined November 11 of each year as an American holiday “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’”

Somewhere between 15 and 19 million human beings — 1/3 of them civilians — perished in World War One. Fitting, don’t you think, to set aside a day each year for remembrance of the tragedy and for resolve against its repetition, however vain the latter hope might prove?

But Armistice Day is a thing of the past. In 1954, Congress acted yet again, striking the word “Armistice” from the 1938 law and inserting the word “Veterans.” Why? “[I]n order,” wrote president Dwight D. Eisenhower, “that a grateful Nation might pay appropriate homage to the veterans of all its wars.”

http://original.antiwar.com/thomas-knapp/2017/11/10/veterans-day-appropriate-homage/

Best Way To Honor A Veteran

Today is Veterans Day and we Americans pull out all stops to honor our veterans…..with parades…..with concerts……we try to do it all in the name of our Veterans.

Duty–Honor–Courage

You truly want to honor our Veterans then tell the truth about the wars and the situations you put them in in the name of the USof A………

Stop me if you’ve heard this: American soldiers didn’t lose in Vietnam. In fact, our brave troopers had the commies whipped by the late ‘60s; that is, of course, before a conspiratorial cabal of cowardly hippies, anti-war protestors, and dovish liberals pulled the rug out from under an all-but-victorious U.S. military. It’s quite a tale, replete with heroes, villains, and glib moral lessons. It is all wrong of course, faulty and fallacious.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-best-way-to-honor-a-vet-is-with-the-truth/

Pray for those that came home but are fighting inner demons……and pray for those that did not return to their families…..

Thank you one and all…..chuq

Let The Banners Fly!

Today is Veterans Day and we all should spend a moment or two remembering those that gave their lives in defense of their country.

This will be a short day for posting for me….I want to spend some quality time with my better half….

If there is a parade in your area to celebrate our veterans then there will also be the iconic flag flown….the black POW/MIA flag.

Did you know the origins of this flag?  Or the story behind the flag?

National POW/MIA Recognition Day may be Friday, but many Americans are accustomed to seeing the now-familiar flag of their cause — the silhouette and white letters on a black background — flying outside post offices, military properties, hospitals and government buildings all year round. Far less well-known are the people who created the flag.

Mary Hoff of Orange Park, Fla., gets credit for coming up with the idea for such a flag. She had just given birth to her fifth child when her husband, Navy Lieutenant Commander Michael Hoff, was shot down in a flight over Laos in 1970, during the Vietnam War. His body was unaccounted for.

Source: National POW/MIA Recognition Day: Story Behind the POW Flag | Time.com

If you are lucky enough to have the day off….then by all means enjoy your time and please say a pray for those that could not be there to celebrate with their families.