Veterans Day Open Thread
Happy Veterans Day! Hoping that you could enjoy the discount and appreciation that your community has for you. If not, you could enjoy the company of others on this thread.
Category: Open thread
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First
Took the day off to meet up with a few other retirees from the CSAR days.
Cheers!
Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow vets and your families.
A Veteran’s Day Message
I know this warrior well. He has lived the life, and still is:
Hello friends, This is my Veteran’s Day post. In 2002 I began my career in the U.S. Army, which culminated in 2016 after 14 years of unconditional sacrifices including over 60 months deployed to hostile environments.
I’ve been to many countries and seen the world by boat, plane, train, helicopter and automobile. I’ve engaged in combat with armed enemies at great distances and others at close range. I’ve fought beside some of the finest warriors on this planet, and been part of a brotherhood with the greatest men I’ve ever known. We’ve shed blood, sweat and tears together, and unfortunately a few handfuls never made it home. I’ve been targeted by the enemy in over 100 Improvised Explosive Devices while operating in the Sunni Triangle of Death, all having kitted up and left the wire again the next day to continue the fight. I’ve seen timid men come alive with courage, and hard men break down and cry. I know what it feels like at rock bottom, and had the privilege to come alive with selflessness when on top. I’ve carried 100+ lbs of gear across the desert on my back in 120 degree heat with 1 quart of water. I’ve been fortunately only minorly wounded by shrapnel and mortar blasts, shot once, fallen off a roof wearing 60 lbs of kit after chasing an escaping Al Qaeda member, and worst of all…. lost a young Soldier under my charge.
With all of my intense experiences in those 14 years, I would not change a damn thing. I’m proud to be a veteran and even more proud to celebrate this day with my military brothers and sisters. We thank everyone for your love and support, and God bless our Great Nation! RLTW
Amen!
God Bless all veterans!
I wish you all the best
Have a great day!!!
Love you all,
Willy
Hello Willy. I hope you are well.
Hello Willy.
Good to hear from you.
Continuing to pray for you.
Hey, Willie!
Hey fuckhead good to see you posting I was thinking about you the other day and looked your name up on the blog to see when the last time was that we had chatted about you.
Happy Veterans Day and I hope all is going well with you we miss you😘
A most Peaceful and Reflective Day is wished for all of my Brothers and Sisters. I will avoid the freebies offered. Would hate to get trampled by the Buffet Assault Commandos of Meal Team Six. I will take time at the 11th Hour to go visit the Resting Place of some of the Forgotten Ones. Yeah, I know that’s a Memorial Day Thing, but I do it then, too.
Again, remembering The Fallen is normally done at Memorial Day, but I’d like to take this time to ask all to say a few words to the True “Big Guy”, located on The Highest Ground, asking that He continue to bring His Blessings and Comfort to our Only Army Mom. Her son, PFC Andrew Meari, was laid to rest on this date in history, 11 Nov 2010. Going by her comment, on yesterday past, she is probably at a Ceremony at The Infantry Museum, located near the Benning School for Wayward Children. Salute!
Here is some good news for veterans in Northern Maine:
https://thecounty.me/2021/11/09/news/va-clinic-construction-continues-on-schedule-in-presque-isle/
Quite a few Air Force types made the area home after
Loring AFB closed. With 11.3% of the county population veterans
you can see there is something attractive about the area.
Must be the winters…
Not to close to Portland?
About 300 miles north of Portland.
Salute to the family.
Now ya got my allergies kickin’ in. Time for a kleenex. (sniff sniff)
Happy Veteran’s Day to my Brothers and Sisters in Arms. I too will likely spend it at home just puttering around the yard and house. I hope today finds the rest of you in good health. May those who passed before rest in Peace.
I’m off to the VFW to make 3 gallons of SOS, and fry up some Spam. Should I put some green food coloring in the eggs?
My Range exercise today will be “Multi-Gun”, with some Ranger Tomahawk workout thrown in. Thinking of the “Latter Day Veteran”, since the turn of the Century; guys like this, and his ilk. Crossed Rifles Forever RLTW:
https://frankieceecanseetheseasi.blogspot.com/2021/11/i-know-good-people-i-know-good-people.html
ChipNASA sent this for posting. “To understand a Military Veteran you must know: We left home as teenagers or in our early twenties for an unknown adventure. We loved our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives. We said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew. We learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corners of the Earth. We found new friends and new family. We became brothers and sisters regardless of color, race or creed. We had plenty of good times, and plenty of bad times. We didn’t get enough sleep. We smoked and drank too much. We picked up both good and bad habits. We worked hard and played harder. We didn’t earn a great wage. We experienced the happiness of mail call and the sadness of missing important events. We didn’t know when, or even if, we were ever going to see home again. We grew up fast, and yet somehow, we never grew up at all. We fought for our freedom, as well as the freedom of others. Some of us saw actual combat, and some of us didn’t. Some of us saw the world, and some of us didn’t. Some of us dealt with physical warfare, most of us dealt with psychological warfare. We have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can’t fully describe or explain, as not all of our sacrifices were physical. We participated in time honored ceremonies and rituals with each other, strengthening our bonds and camaraderie. We counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all. We have dealt with victory and tragedy. We have celebrated and mourned. We lost a few along the way. When our adventure was over, some of us went back home, some of us started somewhere new and some of us never came home at all. We have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures. We share an unspoken bond with each other, that most people don’t experience, and few… Read more »
This is outstanding, and I’ve given it WIDEST possible dissemination.
Thank you Chip NASA.
If you’ve BTDT, no explanation is necessary.
If you haven’t, no explanation is enough.
AW1Ed & ChipNASA,
Excellent post.
AW1Ed,
you have email.
Yes, it’s new developments about Thomas Cole,
from November 9 & 10, and tomorrow, November 12.
🙂
Everyone, please remember exactly what today is all about. This is the day the guns fell silent ending the first great bloodletting of the 20th century. This day should be a day of somber refection on the great loss that was had by all.
It troubles me greatly that the observances and comments from the ‘national leaders’ (spit, spit) fail to note that historical fact.
“Ruff men stand ready to do violence so that ‘good’ men may sleep peacefully in their beds”
Eric (The OC Tanker)
SSG, USA (Ret)
1975-1995
Many of my friends and family thought I was crazy to join the Navy. Some were arrogant in their belief that I was “lowering” myself to join the service.
Well, I don’t have one regret for spending 25 years of my life in the naval service. I’ve experienced things that my friends riding the 0645 to Grand Central would envy me for.
I guess Roy Batty said it best (except for the “time to die” part). Awe at having experienced the things I did and regret that eventually those memories will be gone like dust in the wind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdUq2opPY-Q
Happy Veteran’s Day, brothers and sisters!
MC,
Those memories will continue on within your soul in the afterlife, even after you’re dust in the ground.
It’s just everyone else still living that will be missing out on those rich experiences.
Happy Veterans Day to all on TAH. My late Uncle Harry was in the Brooklyn Guard which was a Horse Cav. I tried googling the unit but their were a lot at the time and I couldn’t get the right outfit at the time and when he visited us before he passed, he mentioned the outfit and his adventures on the Mexican border replacing Black Jack Pershing hunting down Poncho Villa. Next was his outfit going over to France and just missing the Halifax explosion. He lived in Flatbush Brooklyn and when the area went south if you know what I mean, he refused to move and was mugged 13 times. He had a 25 auto out when he was opening up his apartment door and their was an AD opening up his femoral artery and he passed away right there. I had the news article that was in the news about the muggings and over the years I lost it. I always wondered what happened to his Service guns that were in his safety deposit box. If I remember he was a LT Col Colonel at the time.
I wonder what The False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) has planned today?
Balls.
The answer is always “Balls”, unless the question is does Phil have any? Then, no.
From INDIANA,
on the Book of the Fake page for White River District, BSA…
Phony 2 Purple Hearts Phony Bronze Star
Thomas Cole’s Boy Scout District.
(paste)
White River District, BSA
1h
Happy Veterans’ Day.
Let’s give a shout out to all our veteran leaders and scouts that have served.
Thank you so much for serving.
(end paste)
As of now, 4 Like clicks, and no shout out comments.
I wonder…..
Will anyone in Indiana (or anywhere else in the USA)
be giving a Veterans’ Day shout out to Troop 232’s Thomas Cole?
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteRiverCAC/
Not doing the free meals but am taking the day off to spend with someone special.
First, a salute to those who served, both the fallen and the returned.
Second, a news snippet: Some of you might remember the name F.W. de Klerk, the leader of South Africa who got Nelson Mandela out of jail, led the country through a (mostly) peaceful transition, and served as deputy president under Nelson Mandela during a transition process, and shared a Nobel Peace Prize with him as well.
Well, he recently died at age 85 after a battle with cancer.
Now the ANC’s youth league doesn’t want him to have a state funeral on the grounds that he was the (last) leader of the apartheid regime. Apparently, to them, all the other stuff he did to dismantle it without an implosion doesn’t count.
Without suggesting that his service was in any way the same as that of those who served in battle, there seems to be a sad irony in the death of a man on Armistice Day whose service to his country left a mark in history that the whole world recognised, and that a collection of rabble-rousers don’t even want to acknowledge for his role because it doesn’t suit them. Even though his very actions gave them the significance that they have today.
Nobody here can change things, of course. And the word of Cyril Ramaphosa, the current president, has yet to be heard, so we don’t know where this will end. But I thought that you might be interested.
All I can say is “Thank you.”
And all I will say is, “you’re welcome”.
From the bottom of this heart, Thank You to all my Brother and Sister Veterans.
God bless America, long live the Republic. Cheers!
You, and all of your buddies, are in my thoughts today.
A little something I found:
There is a thoughtful article on remembering those who served and those who supported their service found here:
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/11/11/on-veterans-day-let-us-honor-those-who-served-as-well-as-those-who-stood-by-them/
On this Nov. 11, take a moment to share your gratitude for the life and the service of our veterans. And then take one more moment to thank the ones standing next to them for the incredible sacrifices they have made while in the shadow of another.
Friday, November 12 @ 6:00 am to Saturday, November 13 @ 2:00 pm.
The 9th Annual VFW Post 23 Homeless Veterans Awareness Campaign.
Veterans and volunteers stand, man cash buckets, sleep, and repeat for
32 hours outdoors, to raise awareness (and donations)
for homeless veterans in 3 counties in Pennsylvania.
6 ways to donate,
on the streets of Lebanon, PA at the cash bucket locations,
with your PC (PayPal),
cellphone (Venmo, CashApp),
at the link on the FaceBook page,
or by mailing a business or personal check.
Thank you for your generosity. 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/HomelessVetsAwareness
Now underway, with morning coverage by WGAL NBC TV 8
& WFVY (100.1 FM, “Froggy Valley 100.1”).
6:00am Pouring rain and street flooding in the dark,
due to leaf clogged gutters around town.
9:00am Rain is slowing, and water on the streets is improving.
Temp 55F (warmer than expected),
but everyone is soaked… and so are the cash donation buckets.
(I came home for a pot pitstop on the throne of my choice,
in the dry and warm.)
https://coastalcourier.com/opinion/classic-mike-royko-veterans/
Best Veterans Day column ever.
Owning to a fairly serious car accident, been in hospital for the past week. My care-nurse came in this morning to tell me that my Doc thought I was healed enough to go home. THE happiest sight I’ve seen in many days, was seeing my dearly beloved Missus Hatchet coming to bring me home and on the way home, telling me that if I was up for it, she had made preparations to take me Remembrance Day ceremonies. The past few few days being full of rather unwanted surprises, I really didn’t know what to expect but my ‘proud’ moment came when Missus Hatchet and I arrived home and found four of my former team-mates waiting there to meet us – they picked me and wheelchair up and while loading me into one of my team-mate’s van, one of my guys pinned a Poppy and an Aboriginal veterans pin on my lapel and told me how proud they’d been – not only to serve our country but to serve with me. Must be a really high dust and pollen count day as my eyes are still leaking… All I can add is – it was great to be able to form up and parade today, it’s really great to be back home and as I’ve missed this place and it’s denizens as much as I have, it’s really great to be able to visit TAH again.
Glad you feeling better.
Damn, Hatchet, surely glad you made it. That happen right after you commented on working too late? Get well, Good Sir and tell the Missus Thanks for looking after you and to keep us up to date. Take a few shots of Crown…might not cure your ails, but it will help you forget/not feel some of them.
Thank you, friend. Actually, the accident happened the following day – oh, the irony – on my way to work to drop off my retirement papers. All I remember was pulling up to the traffic light(red) a block away from work like I’d done many hundreds of times before and waiting for it to turn and then BLAMMO! Waking up to a lady police officer kneeling down beside me, quietly telling me not to worry that I’d been hit by a ‘suspected drunk driver’, the ambulance was on it’s way and in spite of having been ‘ejected’ I was probably going to be OK. First thing I remember thinking to ask was, is the other driver OK? She didn’t immediately answer but smiled, shook her head and said ‘You’ve got to be ex-Forces – you’re more concerned about the other guy than yourself’. At that point, I remember the left side of my body being being oddly numb and that I thought I was bleeding somewhere but don’t really remember the ambulance load-up and ride or anything too much past that. Woke up some time later to Missus Hatchet looking down at me, pretty worried. I remember her stroking my head and telling me to sleep as much as I possibly could. Guess I must’ve took that advice literally as according to her, I slept on and off for two days straight. Accident tally – eighteen stitches, three broken ribs, a dislocated left shoulder and a left knee that will require some reconstructive surgeries and lot of here and there body-bruising. But hey! Pain is weakness leaving one’s body, right? Also fair to make mention that my four wheeled steed gave it’s all to protect me – day three I was apprised that our Insurance company declared my much-loved, gas-powered Rez Pony was officially considered to be a complete write-off. Cold comfort but the good news is, insurance will completely cover it. According to our family Doc, my overall prognosis is good but healing from all of this is definitely going take time. According to one of my long-time Metro… Read more »
Hug and kiss that Guardian Angel that saved yore azz, Hatchet Or there’s a situation going where Heaven don’t want you and Hell is afraid you’ll take over. Ya coulda broke yore damn fool neck. Imma making book that the drunk wasn’t hurt hardly any, that’s the way it usually works. We’re glad you gonna be hanging around for awhile longer. Good news is, you’ll have plenty of time to hang out with us here. Keep self medicating with God’s Golden Elixars, my Friend.
Here’s to us…and those like us…there’s damn few of us…The rest are dead.
Wonder if nobunny gots any cures for broken hearts? Think I could just drop in to see what condition my condition is in? 😉
Cures for broken hearts? Who has a broken heart?
It’s been a hot second since I’ve considered the cure for broken hearts, but I’m quite certain it needs to be breaded and fried. Maybe with a dash of Crystal hot sauce.
Breaded and fried? That’s what I did with them catfish fillets today. Went real good with them chilli cheese fries. Self medicated with a slab of red velvet cake and strawberry ice cream.
I put them heart pieces in a cast iron dutch oven and encased it all in a titanium rebar re-enforced cement box.
Willie Nelson:
No worries, KoB – got that one covered with a LOT of prayers of humble gratitude. Yeah, according to my Doc, it could’ve been a helluva lot worse – following day he spoke to one of the accident-scene investigators, who related that the impact actually ruptured my pony’s gas tank and if there had been even even the smallest spark… So yeah, Spirit was very definitely watching over me that day.. Interesting that you mention ‘God’s Golden Elixars’ – another former team-mate -who was unable to attend yesterday’s Remembrance Day ceremonies with us- departed about an hour ago and left me with a tall bottle of Jameson and one very nice Cuban cigar(Upmann) so I could go – in his words – ‘full Daddy Warbucks’. Aside from hobbling and limping around, my left shoulder is actually more painful today than my knee and let me tell ya – typing one-handed is a full-on pain in the ASS!! Thanks KoB! Don’t know of a better and more adorable bunch of Adorable Deplorables to hang out with than the one’s found here at TAH. *hoisting the glass* Cheers to all here!
P.S. hoisting a very large glass of Crown Royal in your direction, KoB. Cheers to you!
Good grief Hatchet. I was just wondering where you were today, since you post regularly. So glad you’re out of the hospital. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and I hope Canada handles pain/injuries better than the US. 😉
Thank you, nobunny. Means the Earth to me. And yeah, our Medical ‘system’ has been taking good care of me, leaving me very little to worry about. Time’s ahead will definitely be a bit challenging but what’s life without a good fight? Some Crown Royal? *clink* Cheers to you too.
Hatch, I was a paramedic for fourteen years, on ambulances and in ERs. I hope, with every fiber of my being, that there is a very special place in hell (and jail) for drunk drivers.
Cheers to you! Glad you’re home.
Yeah, I’ve got absolutely no love for drunks either. Especially the unlicensed and driving-while-intoxicated-kind…
No two ways about it – he’s definitely looking at some serious jail time.
*The oldest living WWII veteran, now 112, wants to be remembered as a ‘good soldier’*
https://www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/salute-veterans/2021/11/11/the-oldest-living-wwii-veteran-now-112-wants-to-be-remembered-as-a-good-soldier/
Slow salute
Cheers to all y’all.
It’s already been a very long day with more to come so must just add my thanks to everyone no matter how you contributed to the war effort, whichever one it might have been.
And a prayer request for a Vietnam buddy who fell a coupla days ago, had surgery yesterday and is in for some very difficult days ahead. He made it through surgery but had a very tough time of it.
All just to say, read enough to know that it will take some time to read the comments properly. Good stuff.
Again, thank you each and every one. It takes everyone from the tip of the spear to the very back end of said spear. And maybe those who sharpen them from safe places in the rear especially.
Took my favorite vet out to breakfast AND lunch. After 43+ years together, figured she deserved it.
Joy, some dirtbag stole 2 of the post’s POW/MIA flags off Main St in Broad daylight
Went to our bi-weekly breakfast this morning with a bunch of guys from high school. All but one of the crowd is a veteran. Thoroughly enjoyed it. All but one of the guys enlisted, the one draftee spent his entire 2 years at Ft Belvoir. The rest of us went to Germany, Okinawa, Korea and Ft Lewis, to name a few. The guy stationed in Okinawa was the only one who went to Viet of the Nam, and only a few days at a time, TDY.
Happy Veteran’s Day to all. I will hoist a glass of fine Canadian whiskey to us, tonight. Maybe two glasses.🥃
Now that I’m done cooking, I’m attempting to deplete the Post’s supply of Jack Daniels. And we’re watching Battleground to be followed br Mr Roberts