21 years active US Army. Most of my service was fun.
For those who lost family members thank you for their service. And to the vets before me thanks for the hard work to make the military a better place starting with president Truman’s desegregation order.
Thank you to the military veterans of the Deacons for Defense and Justice who used surplus military weapons to fight tyranny.
Good thought!
Battle of Athens should fit here as well.
The Battle of Athens and the Deacons For Defense and Justice are both great examples of why the word “arms” is used instead of the word “firearm” in the constitution.
Military surplus explosives were used by both groups to fight tyranny. This fact makes many so called second amendment supporters very nervous. It’s easier to support machine gun rights than to support the right to arms. No matter what that form of Arms is.
Both groups used machine guns against tyranny as well. I don’t know if the Christian Oath Keepers had machine guns at the Bundy Ranch. Because they never had to pull the trigger. They also make people very nervous for their organized resistance to tyranny.
All three groups are war veterans.
Thank you all for your service. I have a deep appreciation for vets, not just because of how many we have in the family.
Life never took me down that road, but I’m still considering signing up after school.
To all Veterans:
Please accept my gratitude and respect for your service and sacrifice for our great nation.
Many heartfelt thanks today and every day.
VETERANS DAY
Those that serve not for GLORY
Serve for those who can’t and those that wont
Walk the talk needless of words
Those who served, Understand
Those who serve, Understand
Those who will serve, will Understand
Servicemen and women who have given their limbs and lives WE thank you for your sacrifice, WE pray for your courage and strength of will and hope some day will come when such is needed no more.
Share and remember that FREEDOM isn’t FREE.
FREEDOM FLIES IN YOUR HEART LIKE AN EAGLE
Dusty old helmet, rusty old gun,
They sit in the corner and wait.
Two souvenirs of the Second World War
That have witnessed the time and the hate.
Mute witness to a time of much trouble
Where kill or be killed was the law.
Were these implements used with high honor?
What was the glory they saw?
Many times I’ve wanted to ask them…
And now that we’re here, all alone,
Relics all three of that long ago war. . .
Where has freedom gone?
Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle.
Let it soar with the winds high above
Among the Spirits of soldiers now sleeping.
Guard with care and with love.
I salute my old friends in the corner.
I agree with all they have said . . .
And if the moment of truth comes tomorrow,
I’ll be free, or by God, I’ll be dead!
. . . Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy, the most decorated US Army soldier of WW-II, was born and raised in the community of Kingston in Hunt County, Texas; only 75 miles from where I grew up and still live today.
Shouldn’t veterans get, like, free subscriptions to this blog/
Forward a copy of your DD214 to RF and he’ll let you read TTAG for free. Though he does charge me $.25 per comment I post.
Wow. That’s like really expensive just to email something. Does he realize everything on the internet should be free?
Thank you, to all my fellow brothers and sisters, who took the same oath for our country as I…
I do solemnly swear to smoke, drink, cuss, and fornicate, so help me God.
I look back fondly upon those days and would do it all again in a second. I vividly recall spending all my money on chicks, beer, and chicks
” I vividly recall spending all my money on chicks, beer, and chicks”
And the rest of your money you wasted…
and the rest of it you wasted, right?
Thank you vets
Veterans, I don’t consider myself worthy of your service to this great land and I am forever in your debt.
Thank you.
On this day we remember those who served and survived, knowing not everyone escapes the yoke of service unscathed in mind and body. Whether from combat, training, or the dullness of the daily routine, a toll was asked and paid by each of us. Only the prices charged varied. So to each man and woman who ever served honorably, consider this day was set aside for reflection, not judgment. As you would not overate your own contribution, neither belittle it, nor judge yourself too harshly, or bemoan the fate of those less fortunate. In any task, great of small, all give some, while some must, by providence, give all. For those absent friends…
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them. (Laurence Binyon 1869 – 1943)
All my beloved BEES would tell you, “Thank you for your service, America” “Thank you for their being an America to come back to”.
All military historians and strategists would tell you that you cannot put a force afield without having an equal or greater force at home, and one that can even withstand a possible complete reversal of fronts.
The guys flying these colors: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzMzWDUwMA==/z/tQ4AAOxyp-BSKVaF/$(KGrHqV,!okFIlngYVPgBSKV,EkI2w~~60_35.JPG?set_id=8800005007
. . . will F your sh_t up, drink all your beer, then build you an airport, a hospital, a dam, a water treatment plant, a few very nice roads, a school, and (if you leave us alone long enough) a strip mall.
12 B / 54 E
Corps of Eng here.
Thanks to the fallen, we will never forget.
When I taught AFROTC I would play the video “A Pittance of Time” by Terry Kelly for all my cadets. It is one of the more moving songs I have heard and typically chokes me up. If you have 5 minutes it is worth finding for a listen. If you can with your job try and take a minute or two at 11am to stop and remember as that 2ad the genesis of Veteran’s Day.
You’re welcome. Eight years USMC. Happy belated birthday to my brothers and sisters. Semper Fi.
To those Veterans here I know and don’t know yet,
Thank you.
Thank you veterans for your service to our country.
Thank you for your service! Freedom isn’t free, thank you or paying the price for the rest of us.
The freedoms that most of us take for granted were paid for by our veterans who fought, died, were injured or maimed. Nobody comes back from a war unscathed. Thank you for your service Veterans. Without those sacrifices we would not live in a country where we can take our liberties for granted. Today is your special day.
It was my privilige and honor to have served at a time when we had vets still on duty that had seen ww2 and Korea first hand and still saddled up to go to VN. These were men.
I stood in awe of them.
Thank you for your service!
Semper Fidelis!
You’re welcome! It was my pleasure. 12 years Navy, medical discharge due to service-related disability.
Thank you to my fellow veterans, brothers and sisters – in – arms. I will never forget your service and your sacrifice.
Funny how the government hijacked Armistice Day and turned it into a vile propaganda outlet to cheapen the political cost of their new, pointless wars.
Thank you to the resistance fighters all over the world with the moral and physical courage to resist the Washington DC murder machine and dumb animals who run it for them.
SHAME !
+1000!
I don’t even have American soldiers in my family tree or friend group, and I’m finally starting to find your ceaseless whining a nuisance. The grandest hypocrisy of all is the fact that you judge people who see the military as a faultless institution while simultaneously praising a gaggle of third-world regimes as righteously infallible, regimes that have terrorized and murdered more of their own people and immediate neighbors in the past 100 years than those in Washington could have dreamed of in just 15 of strategic blunders an ocean away.
That fact doesn’t make the recent American wars just, but it doesn’t make the Taliban or North Vietnamese paragons of virtue either; especially because muslims and communists have an embarassingly long history of killing off or imprisoning entire families (again, scores of their own people) that refused to relinquish teenage boys into their own militarized ranks, regardless of whether the enemy was a foreign army or local tribe.
You know, the good guy vs bad guy argument only works when the US military is actually a “good guy”, which it objectively is not. I do like your “third world regimes” diss, even as the US government supported then discarded those regimes as their schemes fall apart.
You sound so very young and immature and naïve .
There was a time when I was anti-America and believed that we were responsible for the Iranians taking over our embassy and that Islam was a religion of peace and I supported Ted Kennedy for President .
I was about 20 years old and knew everything .
You forgot about the CIA installing the Shah and propping up his regime after you turned 20?
STOP FEEDING THE MONKEYS !!!!
No sir , I have learned when to show respect and when to yap about politics and I have ample knowledge and memories regarding Iran before , during and after Mohammed Reza Pahlavi ( Shah ) reigned and the consequences of his departure . Colonialism has it’s place .
>Colonialism has it’s place
So you’re just angry the natives rebelled against the imperialist puppet?
Guys, he’s a troll. Full stop. Dark Triad of Personalities. Sociopathic Sadist. It’s a mental health issue. Ignore him.
I have no doubt that he’s the neighber that keys cars and swats people to get revenge.
He will not offer any answers when you ask what’s he done to try and change things. And has stated that if he had lived in nazi occupied europe he would have helped to load the Jews and other victims in the trains. He called it “going along to get along”
Irony appears to be his favorite word and he will not respond to a direct question. Waste no more time or words on him.
He’s that guy that no one is comfortable around. His own mother no doubt relaxes when he’s gone.
>And has stated that if he had lived in nazi occupied europe he would have helped to load the Jews and other victims in the trains
Ah, the delusional militarist steps in. Stop this sad projection, you were the one slaughtering Vietnamese villagers in order to save them (from something). No difference whatsoever with the Nazi Einsatzgruppen. And now you accuse others of being willing to do the same. Absolutely pathetic.
Also did you forget your “jerry” login? 🙂
Name one villager that I slaughtered in anyone’s name. Trying to deflect the blame for your own malfeseance as a citizen by libeling me is a non starter.
You made the statement. You own it. And the guilt of any unneeded wars or foreign adventures is right at the feet of the citizens like you.
I’ve asked this question of you dozens of times. Never an answer. What have you done to change things?
Prove I said I would fill the Nazi boxcars. Post a screencap. Post a link. TTAG is archived. Do it.
On the other hand you openly admit to carrying arms for the US government in Vietnam and the systemic criminality of the US military in that nation is well documented by academics and the Vietnam veterans themselves.
Couple links you wouldn’t read because you’d get mad:
Name one villager you saved as your ilk always do. It’s not like you knew the name of the lifeless corpse of child #304 that you zippo’ed.
+1. I would try to muster sympathy for him, while ignoring him. Obviously a badly broken child.
I love it when militarists accuse critics of being children, even as their “heroes” obey orders from authority figures and have curfews. 🙂
Prove I killed any civilian. Back at you. We all, yourself included, unless you’re lying again, bear arms. Does that make us all murderers?
You enjoy the benefits of living in a free nation but you accept no responsibility for that nations actions. Doesn’t wash.
You proudly and unrepentantly served a military that massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians in Vietnam. Even if you were just a desk jockey (which would make your militarism even more amusing), you supported that system willfully.
How you can compare willful service to a criminal system to all civilian gun owners is beyond comprehension.
Also, your lame attempt to attribute responsibility to the entire nation for the actions of the criminal political class lacks the your willful acquiescence to the military. Especially since there is no option to opt-out of representative politics. But hey, since you asked me personally: I voted third party, so I literally bear no responsibility.
Also feel free to explain how this country’s “freedoms” (or what is left of them) depended on your little jaunt in Vietnam.
You just couldn’t let us have this, could you?
Thankfully, I hold Veterans Day above the politics that brought our service members to wherever they served, and I refuse to let your self-righteous sense of butt-hurt over my brothers and sisters – in – arms sacrifice to spoil my observation of this day. Shame on you for your attempt at politicizing this day.
Good day, sir or madame.
Implying “Veteran’s Day” isn’t politicized to the maximum possible extent by the militarists and chickenhawks.
By the way, war is politics, and today’s *volunteers* claim to be the forced conscripts of yesteryear. They chose to participate in today’s criminal wars, and bear as much responsibility as the politicians themselves.
Sweetie, I see in your previous converstaion with JWM you called out to me. I am here. I would never leave you in your time of need, particularly when we have made so much progress. Are you having the dreams again? When your father comes to your room in the middle of the night and makes you do those “icky things” Remember it is just a dream. He can’t hurt you anymore. Try not to hate your mother for allowing those things to happen, she was a victim just like you. If you need any further help, I am ready to assist.
Oh look, jwm/jerry found his login. Glad you can join us.
Got any new sexual war crimes to project? I know it’s been a while since Vietnam but I’m sure deviants like you have keepsakes.
Honey, Jwm and I are two separate people, your issues with him will not interfere with the progress we have made. It has taken me some time, but I have finally come to understand your bitter hatred for soldiers. Your daddy would dress up like General Mcarthur before he did all those naughty things. It all makes sense now. Please know that your father is not representative of all military personnel and the awful things he did to you was not the fault of anyone else. You can get through this honey, but you must let go of this hate, of this anger. On the other hand, this could all be the result of your vaginal irritation and we have already discussed your treatment options on that regard. As always, I am here for you.???
From everything that is in me , all politics aside , and in behalf of my family and every American , I offer my complete and humble gratitude , their sacrifice ‘ is our freedom ‘ .
My father in law laid in a wet , muddy , frozen fox hole for 11 days in the middle of one of Germanys coldest winters on record with low ammo while German bullets snapped over his head , saw two friends be cut down next to him and waited for reinforcements when his company ran into a high caliber panzer division in one of the two final German offensives at Herrlisheim . Several American soldiers from his company were taken into a snow covered field and executed by the Germans after being captured , one of which was his best friend . He witnessed the opening of at least two concentration camps and helped capture over 7000 German soldiers along their march up the Rhine . I am absolutely honored to have known this true hero and get his blessing in marrying his daughter .
I salute all veterans and acknowledge their gift to our GREAT NATION .
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER VETERANS !
As an ROTC who never went active, my continuing thanks and admiration to all who served and serve now.
yeah, i noticed you were missing at the recruiting station. i made not of that to arlo guthrie, and he promised to include you in a really long ballad about a restaurant run by some hippie chick named alice. i got a drill sergeant, and you got immortal fame in a song. what a world.
I was proud to serve in Korea, and would do it again! The minds there, but the body isn’t.
Thanks to all veterans.
I’d do it again in a heartbeat, too, Gunr – I’m a better shot now but doubt I could run across the street. Bet we’d make a pair of blood, guts and veins in our teeth drone pilots, though, and it’s a sitdown job.
I can maybe “walk” across the street, if it was a narrow road.
At least I can still shoot, but not the stuff that was on our Destroyer Escort.
The forgotten war , but not for me . God bless you Gunr . When people talk about the cold war , I always tell a few stories about Korea from the accounts of people who were there .
To the families and friends of Veterans, who appreciate their service: Thank you.
-USN, (ret) 23 years.
I’ve got the T-shirt: IF THE TROOPS DEFENDED FREEDOM, THEY’D ATTACK THE GOVERNMENT.
It’s my sincere pleasure to serve this great nation. I’d like to extend a big thank you to my fellow vets and active duty folks out there, thank you for your service!
Sincerely,
SSgt Will Berrigan, USAF
Your welcome
Good job to most here , a few quirky remarks but generally commendable , I only wish there were more .
We should have had 150 – 200 comments by 5:00 PM since this post was up first thing today .
Come on guys , lets show the LOVE !
Stop it. Just stop it.
We veterans do not fight or die for anyone’s freedom. Stop making us into heroes. WWII was the last time anyone could credibly claim that the military defended our freedom.
If you want to show us some appreciation for our willingness to be sent all over the world to eat your tax dollars, then fix the government that sends us to die for the glory of the empire. Tell the criminals in DC to bring us home, to defend THIS country. The middle east can go to hell. Ukraine can go to hell. Japan and Taiwan can go to hell. We’re supposed to be the US military. We will never let the enemy overrun our beaches, but we don’t belong in their countries any more than they belong in ours.
Bingo. We served the .gov. It was the people of this nations responsibility to reign in that .gov. Soldiers do not make policy or laws. We don’t remove or install governments. That’s up to the citizens.
If the US has an out of control or illegal .gov then the citizens need just to look in their mirrors to place fault.
Yeah, just like how the German people were collectively responsible for the crimes of the SS. That’s why the US government hung them all.
Oh wait, that didn’t happen. 🙂
No. It didn’t. But they were divided and occupied for generations afterward. Collective punishment for the collective guilt.
Except collective punishment was not the stated goal of the occupation, nor was it demonstrated in practice. The Iron Curtain, go read about it.
The gaping holes in the militarist worldview is demonstrated once again. 🙂
Remember, just a dream. He can’t make you play swallow the sword ever again.
Erudite response as always, jerry. 🙂
But one wonders how your wet dreams have anything to do with your woeful ignorance of Cold War history.
Legitimate points to be made for sure , but not here , not on their day .
Politics aside , if you sacrificed your life , liberty and honor for your country as most all veterans have , you deserve a day of respect , we can discuss legitimacy on another day in another forum .
What mother would want to talk about the debacle that is abortion on mothers day , it’s the day we honor mothers , not discuss the tragedy that is government sponsored baby murder .
Pick your moments and have a little understanding and you’ll go a lot farther .
God Bless .
They shed their blood only for the Washington DC political class, and they did it because they are ignorant of history and because there were benefits checks. What kind of honor is that?
The US military is nothing more than the American Schutzstaffel.
Financed by the American people and serving their will. .
>Financed
>by taxes extracted by threat of violence and imprisonment
It’s like blaming the Italian street vendor for the crimes of the mafia because he pays protection money under threat.
>serving their will
>wars were approved by Congress, ergo it is the will of politicians
>these days Congress doesn’t even bother so it is the will of one man
There, fixed your infantile grade school civics blurbs for you.
Still refuse to accept your responsibility in the matter? Denial, sad really. You live in a free nation. You have the right to vote, to speak and you can’t do anything better to correct percieved injustices but come to TTAG and try to deflect your blame onto others.
If you’re too afraid to resist paying the taxes to the “evil gubmint” then move to another country. If this system is so corrupt and you don’t have the stones to do anything but whine, get out. You’ll be happier in Canada or some such place.
As they say in Office Space: why should I leave? It’s the government that is violent and corrupt. It’s people like you who willingly kill people for the government.
Maybe if people like you stopped killing for the government, then the government wouldn’t be so violent.
Maybe if people like you got out of their momma’s basement and stood up to that violent .gov it would stop being so violent.
Being a coward and blaming others for your failings doesn’t really achieve anything. Man up. Move out. Make that violent system your bitch. Or just accept that you’re all blow and no show and move on with your life.
Observe this dumb, violent animal. Real change comes from peaceful revolution. It is obvious you cannot comprehend this, since you have known nothing besides the state and its violent ways.
I called it right. Your words are violent. “Dumb” “animal”. Words of hate and anger. Yet you try to hide your cowardice behind john lennon style double speak.
No change will ever come from you. You’re a bigger part of the problem than any dumb military animal(your words) could ever hope to be.
Just another troll.
It’s expected for you to miss the Kissinger quote reference, where he accurately refers to military men as “dumb, stupid animals”. Which is quite humorous since you worked for that man in Vietnam.
How do you feel about killing for these politicians who hold you in such contempt?
Kissinger ain’t the one using that line today. You are. Again you deflect the truth. You use words that denigrate your “enemy” or those you percieve to be an “enemy”. Words like that are the language of genocide. Makes it easy to shove people into ovens or bash them with machetes.
You claim that only a peaceful revolution can replace the evil .gov but you ramp up the rhetoric to genocide levels.
Admit it. You want to kill, to harm others.. But you’re a physical and moral coward. That’s why you fall into the Dark Triad of Personalty disorders. You’rea Socieopathic Sadist. You enjoy trying to hurt others so long as there’s no risk to you.
That’s why you dance in the blood of American soldiers from the safety of your basement.
But that’s what quotes are. Insights that can be applied throughout history. Kissinger’s statement that military men are “dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy” is just as correct now as it was four decades ago.
And how does using a quote with historical context infer violent tendencies? Citations are violent? Words are violent? Pointing out your ignorance is violent? You sound like a millennial shrieking about triggers.
You’re a slippery troll. But I stand by my assesment. Socieopathic Sadist. The quotes taken in the context of your statements and the derision you go out of your way to heap on the “sub humans”(see, another historical quote.) all add up to a not so peaceful revolutionists. After all, this is a blog about guns. But when was the last time you actually discussed guns or gun related matters here?
You only show up at the worst possible moment and when you know your presence will be the most disruptive. Dark Triad of Personalities leading to Sociopathic Sadist.
Do you try to swing people to your way of thinking? No, you go right for the insults and you use these “quotes” which you only give credit for when you’re called on them. So they ain’t really quotes at all.
I stand by my assesment. You may have convinced yourself this is just fun and games but you and I know you have a much more dangerous side. You’re at war with yourself every day. Don’t have the courage to actually act on your fantasies but you feel the need to escalate building inside you.
Only a matter of time.
>sub humans
My my, all that inference. But hey, I’ve been using that Kissinger quote verbatim for quite some time, it is simply amusing that you did not realize it all this time.
>Don’t have the courage to actually act on your fantasies
Like you did in Vietnam? Yes, so courageous, gunning down civilians and burning their huts. Much courage.
And since when is this politicized, militarist holiday relevant to guns or 2A?
Salty Bear,
“We veterans do not fight or die for anyone’s freedom.” I’m not dead, but I certainly did fight like hell for other people’s freedoms. There are families that are alive today because my team and I killed and destroyed the “Taliban” thugs that were extorting, raping, starving, and brutalizing them. I am, and should be, damn proud of my service in Afghanistan, where I repeatedly witnessed young American men commit acts of kindness and heroism on behalf of other people.
If your service was shameful, the shame is all on you. If you committed acts that hurt innocent people, acts that endangered their lives and freedoms, regardless of your orders, that guilt is on you and you alone.
You don’t speak for all veterans, and you certainly don’t speak for me.
>Anyone who resists the US invasion is Taliban
A familiar line reminiscent from another war the US lost miserably in Asia, and about to lose another with the same mentality. 🙂
How do you feel about your service to the US puppet regime who does plenty of extorting, raping, starving, and brutalizing?
I was in Al-Qaeda’s Air Force (USAF) during the late 90’s so I have mixed feelings about my military service. The KLA was on the ground (with embedded mujahideen) and we bombed for them. There will be neither peace nor freedom as long as the Military Industrial Complex exists.
Blessed Armistice Day!
Thank you for your service, I served 7 years in the Navy and my family has served in EVERY war in America starting with the French and Indian war in 1763. Those that lost their lives paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we have and I, for one, am very thankful for that. For those that served and went back to civilian life, like me, we are stronger for that. For those that came back not whole, in either mind or body, I also thank you since you will live with that situation for the rest of your life. I try to help veterans when I can, but never do enough.
Thanks to all of my fellow vets who signed the blank check – made payable to the United States of America.
Willie S called it –
“By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death and let it go which way it will he that dies this year is quit for the next.”
“That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
Thank you from me and my family
21 years active US Army. Most of my service was fun.
For those who lost family members thank you for their service. And to the vets before me thanks for the hard work to make the military a better place starting with president Truman’s desegregation order.
Thank you to the military veterans of the Deacons for Defense and Justice who used surplus military weapons to fight tyranny.
Good thought!
Battle of Athens should fit here as well.
The Battle of Athens and the Deacons For Defense and Justice are both great examples of why the word “arms” is used instead of the word “firearm” in the constitution.
Military surplus explosives were used by both groups to fight tyranny. This fact makes many so called second amendment supporters very nervous. It’s easier to support machine gun rights than to support the right to arms. No matter what that form of Arms is.
Both groups used machine guns against tyranny as well. I don’t know if the Christian Oath Keepers had machine guns at the Bundy Ranch. Because they never had to pull the trigger. They also make people very nervous for their organized resistance to tyranny.
All three groups are war veterans.
Thank you all for your service. I have a deep appreciation for vets, not just because of how many we have in the family.
Life never took me down that road, but I’m still considering signing up after school.
To all Veterans:
Please accept my gratitude and respect for your service and sacrifice for our great nation.
Many heartfelt thanks today and every day.
VETERANS DAY
Those that serve not for GLORY
Serve for those who can’t and those that wont
Walk the talk needless of words
Those who served, Understand
Those who serve, Understand
Those who will serve, will Understand
Servicemen and women who have given their limbs and lives WE thank you for your sacrifice, WE pray for your courage and strength of will and hope some day will come when such is needed no more.
Share and remember that FREEDOM isn’t FREE.
FREEDOM FLIES IN YOUR HEART LIKE AN EAGLE
Dusty old helmet, rusty old gun,
They sit in the corner and wait.
Two souvenirs of the Second World War
That have witnessed the time and the hate.
Mute witness to a time of much trouble
Where kill or be killed was the law.
Were these implements used with high honor?
What was the glory they saw?
Many times I’ve wanted to ask them…
And now that we’re here, all alone,
Relics all three of that long ago war. . .
Where has freedom gone?
Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle.
Let it soar with the winds high above
Among the Spirits of soldiers now sleeping.
Guard with care and with love.
I salute my old friends in the corner.
I agree with all they have said . . .
And if the moment of truth comes tomorrow,
I’ll be free, or by God, I’ll be dead!
. . . Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy, the most decorated US Army soldier of WW-II, was born and raised in the community of Kingston in Hunt County, Texas; only 75 miles from where I grew up and still live today.
If any of you have access to Grit TV { http://www.grittv.com/tv-schedule/ }, they are showing the docudrama about Audie’s life, ‘To Hell And Back’ { http://www.grittv.com/movie/to-hell-and-back/ }, today @ 14:00 hours CST.
If you’ve never seen it, you’ve missed a most excellent movie.
http://www.grittv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/to-hell-and-back-375×556.jpg
Shouldn’t veterans get, like, free subscriptions to this blog/
Forward a copy of your DD214 to RF and he’ll let you read TTAG for free. Though he does charge me $.25 per comment I post.
Wow. That’s like really expensive just to email something. Does he realize everything on the internet should be free?
Thank you, to all my fellow brothers and sisters, who took the same oath for our country as I…
I do solemnly swear to smoke, drink, cuss, and fornicate, so help me God.
I look back fondly upon those days and would do it all again in a second. I vividly recall spending all my money on chicks, beer, and chicks
” I vividly recall spending all my money on chicks, beer, and chicks”
And the rest of your money you wasted…
and the rest of it you wasted, right?
Thank you vets
Veterans, I don’t consider myself worthy of your service to this great land and I am forever in your debt.
Thank you.
On this day we remember those who served and survived, knowing not everyone escapes the yoke of service unscathed in mind and body. Whether from combat, training, or the dullness of the daily routine, a toll was asked and paid by each of us. Only the prices charged varied. So to each man and woman who ever served honorably, consider this day was set aside for reflection, not judgment. As you would not overate your own contribution, neither belittle it, nor judge yourself too harshly, or bemoan the fate of those less fortunate. In any task, great of small, all give some, while some must, by providence, give all. For those absent friends…
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them. (Laurence Binyon 1869 – 1943)
All my beloved BEES would tell you, “Thank you for your service, America” “Thank you for their being an America to come back to”.
All military historians and strategists would tell you that you cannot put a force afield without having an equal or greater force at home, and one that can even withstand a possible complete reversal of fronts.
THESE COLORS DON’T RUN:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=american+flag+pictures&view=detailv2&&id=1EC0CEB56DB9E80867CAF6E264147D92568A87EE&selectedIndex=25&ccid=YClm%2fcpp&simid=608012806906577718&thid=OIP.M602966fdca694777d5c737ccd7f5ea7co0&ajaxhist=0
The guys flying these colors: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzMzWDUwMA==/z/tQ4AAOxyp-BSKVaF/$(KGrHqV,!okFIlngYVPgBSKV,EkI2w~~60_35.JPG?set_id=8800005007
. . . will F your sh_t up, drink all your beer, then build you an airport, a hospital, a dam, a water treatment plant, a few very nice roads, a school, and (if you leave us alone long enough) a strip mall.
: )
Don’t know what that other link is. Seabee flag:http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=white+seabee+flag+picture&view=detailv2&&id=771B3F992BCF73991E498504EC9A7900F44A36AE&selectedIndex=0&ccid=BjSiwaxz&simid=608024033947814861&thid=OIP.M0634a2c1ac7372ac6d1aea856accf416o0&ajaxhist=0
12 B / 54 E
Corps of Eng here.
Thanks to the fallen, we will never forget.
When I taught AFROTC I would play the video “A Pittance of Time” by Terry Kelly for all my cadets. It is one of the more moving songs I have heard and typically chokes me up. If you have 5 minutes it is worth finding for a listen. If you can with your job try and take a minute or two at 11am to stop and remember as that 2ad the genesis of Veteran’s Day.
You’re welcome. Eight years USMC. Happy belated birthday to my brothers and sisters. Semper Fi.
To those Veterans here I know and don’t know yet,
Thank you.
This.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/11/11/chick-fil-restaurant-sets-special-table-for-veterans/?intcmp=hpff
Now *that* is class…
Thank you, veterans.
Thank you veterans for your service to our country.
Thank you for your service! Freedom isn’t free, thank you or paying the price for the rest of us.
The freedoms that most of us take for granted were paid for by our veterans who fought, died, were injured or maimed. Nobody comes back from a war unscathed. Thank you for your service Veterans. Without those sacrifices we would not live in a country where we can take our liberties for granted. Today is your special day.
It was my privilige and honor to have served at a time when we had vets still on duty that had seen ww2 and Korea first hand and still saddled up to go to VN. These were men.
I stood in awe of them.
Thank you for your service!
Semper Fidelis!
You’re welcome! It was my pleasure. 12 years Navy, medical discharge due to service-related disability.
Thank you to my fellow veterans, brothers and sisters – in – arms. I will never forget your service and your sacrifice.
Funny how the government hijacked Armistice Day and turned it into a vile propaganda outlet to cheapen the political cost of their new, pointless wars.
Thank you to the resistance fighters all over the world with the moral and physical courage to resist the Washington DC murder machine and dumb animals who run it for them.
SHAME !
+1000!
I don’t even have American soldiers in my family tree or friend group, and I’m finally starting to find your ceaseless whining a nuisance. The grandest hypocrisy of all is the fact that you judge people who see the military as a faultless institution while simultaneously praising a gaggle of third-world regimes as righteously infallible, regimes that have terrorized and murdered more of their own people and immediate neighbors in the past 100 years than those in Washington could have dreamed of in just 15 of strategic blunders an ocean away.
That fact doesn’t make the recent American wars just, but it doesn’t make the Taliban or North Vietnamese paragons of virtue either; especially because muslims and communists have an embarassingly long history of killing off or imprisoning entire families (again, scores of their own people) that refused to relinquish teenage boys into their own militarized ranks, regardless of whether the enemy was a foreign army or local tribe.
You know, the good guy vs bad guy argument only works when the US military is actually a “good guy”, which it objectively is not. I do like your “third world regimes” diss, even as the US government supported then discarded those regimes as their schemes fall apart.
You sound so very young and immature and naïve .
There was a time when I was anti-America and believed that we were responsible for the Iranians taking over our embassy and that Islam was a religion of peace and I supported Ted Kennedy for President .
I was about 20 years old and knew everything .
You forgot about the CIA installing the Shah and propping up his regime after you turned 20?
STOP FEEDING THE MONKEYS !!!!
No sir , I have learned when to show respect and when to yap about politics and I have ample knowledge and memories regarding Iran before , during and after Mohammed Reza Pahlavi ( Shah ) reigned and the consequences of his departure . Colonialism has it’s place .
>Colonialism has it’s place
So you’re just angry the natives rebelled against the imperialist puppet?
Guys, he’s a troll. Full stop. Dark Triad of Personalities. Sociopathic Sadist. It’s a mental health issue. Ignore him.
I have no doubt that he’s the neighber that keys cars and swats people to get revenge.
He will not offer any answers when you ask what’s he done to try and change things. And has stated that if he had lived in nazi occupied europe he would have helped to load the Jews and other victims in the trains. He called it “going along to get along”
Irony appears to be his favorite word and he will not respond to a direct question. Waste no more time or words on him.
He’s that guy that no one is comfortable around. His own mother no doubt relaxes when he’s gone.
>And has stated that if he had lived in nazi occupied europe he would have helped to load the Jews and other victims in the trains
Ah, the delusional militarist steps in. Stop this sad projection, you were the one slaughtering Vietnamese villagers in order to save them (from something). No difference whatsoever with the Nazi Einsatzgruppen. And now you accuse others of being willing to do the same. Absolutely pathetic.
Also did you forget your “jerry” login? 🙂
Name one villager that I slaughtered in anyone’s name. Trying to deflect the blame for your own malfeseance as a citizen by libeling me is a non starter.
You made the statement. You own it. And the guilt of any unneeded wars or foreign adventures is right at the feet of the citizens like you.
I’ve asked this question of you dozens of times. Never an answer. What have you done to change things?
Prove I said I would fill the Nazi boxcars. Post a screencap. Post a link. TTAG is archived. Do it.
On the other hand you openly admit to carrying arms for the US government in Vietnam and the systemic criminality of the US military in that nation is well documented by academics and the Vietnam veterans themselves.
Couple links you wouldn’t read because you’d get mad:
http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Anything-That-Moves-American/dp/1250045061
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Winter_Soldier/WS_entry.html
>Name one villager
Name one villager you saved as your ilk always do. It’s not like you knew the name of the lifeless corpse of child #304 that you zippo’ed.
+1. I would try to muster sympathy for him, while ignoring him. Obviously a badly broken child.
I love it when militarists accuse critics of being children, even as their “heroes” obey orders from authority figures and have curfews. 🙂
Prove I killed any civilian. Back at you. We all, yourself included, unless you’re lying again, bear arms. Does that make us all murderers?
You enjoy the benefits of living in a free nation but you accept no responsibility for that nations actions. Doesn’t wash.
You proudly and unrepentantly served a military that massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians in Vietnam. Even if you were just a desk jockey (which would make your militarism even more amusing), you supported that system willfully.
How you can compare willful service to a criminal system to all civilian gun owners is beyond comprehension.
Also, your lame attempt to attribute responsibility to the entire nation for the actions of the criminal political class lacks the your willful acquiescence to the military. Especially since there is no option to opt-out of representative politics. But hey, since you asked me personally: I voted third party, so I literally bear no responsibility.
Also feel free to explain how this country’s “freedoms” (or what is left of them) depended on your little jaunt in Vietnam.
You just couldn’t let us have this, could you?
Thankfully, I hold Veterans Day above the politics that brought our service members to wherever they served, and I refuse to let your self-righteous sense of butt-hurt over my brothers and sisters – in – arms sacrifice to spoil my observation of this day. Shame on you for your attempt at politicizing this day.
Good day, sir or madame.
Implying “Veteran’s Day” isn’t politicized to the maximum possible extent by the militarists and chickenhawks.
By the way, war is politics, and today’s *volunteers* claim to be the forced conscripts of yesteryear. They chose to participate in today’s criminal wars, and bear as much responsibility as the politicians themselves.
Sweetie, I see in your previous converstaion with JWM you called out to me. I am here. I would never leave you in your time of need, particularly when we have made so much progress. Are you having the dreams again? When your father comes to your room in the middle of the night and makes you do those “icky things” Remember it is just a dream. He can’t hurt you anymore. Try not to hate your mother for allowing those things to happen, she was a victim just like you. If you need any further help, I am ready to assist.
Oh look, jwm/jerry found his login. Glad you can join us.
Got any new sexual war crimes to project? I know it’s been a while since Vietnam but I’m sure deviants like you have keepsakes.
Honey, Jwm and I are two separate people, your issues with him will not interfere with the progress we have made. It has taken me some time, but I have finally come to understand your bitter hatred for soldiers. Your daddy would dress up like General Mcarthur before he did all those naughty things. It all makes sense now. Please know that your father is not representative of all military personnel and the awful things he did to you was not the fault of anyone else. You can get through this honey, but you must let go of this hate, of this anger. On the other hand, this could all be the result of your vaginal irritation and we have already discussed your treatment options on that regard. As always, I am here for you.???
From everything that is in me , all politics aside , and in behalf of my family and every American , I offer my complete and humble gratitude , their sacrifice ‘ is our freedom ‘ .
My father in law laid in a wet , muddy , frozen fox hole for 11 days in the middle of one of Germanys coldest winters on record with low ammo while German bullets snapped over his head , saw two friends be cut down next to him and waited for reinforcements when his company ran into a high caliber panzer division in one of the two final German offensives at Herrlisheim . Several American soldiers from his company were taken into a snow covered field and executed by the Germans after being captured , one of which was his best friend . He witnessed the opening of at least two concentration camps and helped capture over 7000 German soldiers along their march up the Rhine . I am absolutely honored to have known this true hero and get his blessing in marrying his daughter .
I salute all veterans and acknowledge their gift to our GREAT NATION .
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER VETERANS !
As an ROTC who never went active, my continuing thanks and admiration to all who served and serve now.
yeah, i noticed you were missing at the recruiting station. i made not of that to arlo guthrie, and he promised to include you in a really long ballad about a restaurant run by some hippie chick named alice. i got a drill sergeant, and you got immortal fame in a song. what a world.
I was proud to serve in Korea, and would do it again! The minds there, but the body isn’t.
Thanks to all veterans.
I’d do it again in a heartbeat, too, Gunr – I’m a better shot now but doubt I could run across the street. Bet we’d make a pair of blood, guts and veins in our teeth drone pilots, though, and it’s a sitdown job.
I can maybe “walk” across the street, if it was a narrow road.
At least I can still shoot, but not the stuff that was on our Destroyer Escort.
The forgotten war , but not for me . God bless you Gunr . When people talk about the cold war , I always tell a few stories about Korea from the accounts of people who were there .
To the families and friends of Veterans, who appreciate their service: Thank you.
-USN, (ret) 23 years.
I’ve got the T-shirt: IF THE TROOPS DEFENDED FREEDOM, THEY’D ATTACK THE GOVERNMENT.
It’s my sincere pleasure to serve this great nation. I’d like to extend a big thank you to my fellow vets and active duty folks out there, thank you for your service!
Sincerely,
SSgt Will Berrigan, USAF
Your welcome
Good job to most here , a few quirky remarks but generally commendable , I only wish there were more .
We should have had 150 – 200 comments by 5:00 PM since this post was up first thing today .
Come on guys , lets show the LOVE !
Stop it. Just stop it.
We veterans do not fight or die for anyone’s freedom. Stop making us into heroes. WWII was the last time anyone could credibly claim that the military defended our freedom.
If you want to show us some appreciation for our willingness to be sent all over the world to eat your tax dollars, then fix the government that sends us to die for the glory of the empire. Tell the criminals in DC to bring us home, to defend THIS country. The middle east can go to hell. Ukraine can go to hell. Japan and Taiwan can go to hell. We’re supposed to be the US military. We will never let the enemy overrun our beaches, but we don’t belong in their countries any more than they belong in ours.
Bingo. We served the .gov. It was the people of this nations responsibility to reign in that .gov. Soldiers do not make policy or laws. We don’t remove or install governments. That’s up to the citizens.
If the US has an out of control or illegal .gov then the citizens need just to look in their mirrors to place fault.
Yeah, just like how the German people were collectively responsible for the crimes of the SS. That’s why the US government hung them all.
Oh wait, that didn’t happen. 🙂
No. It didn’t. But they were divided and occupied for generations afterward. Collective punishment for the collective guilt.
Except collective punishment was not the stated goal of the occupation, nor was it demonstrated in practice. The Iron Curtain, go read about it.
The gaping holes in the militarist worldview is demonstrated once again. 🙂
Remember, just a dream. He can’t make you play swallow the sword ever again.
Erudite response as always, jerry. 🙂
But one wonders how your wet dreams have anything to do with your woeful ignorance of Cold War history.
Legitimate points to be made for sure , but not here , not on their day .
Politics aside , if you sacrificed your life , liberty and honor for your country as most all veterans have , you deserve a day of respect , we can discuss legitimacy on another day in another forum .
What mother would want to talk about the debacle that is abortion on mothers day , it’s the day we honor mothers , not discuss the tragedy that is government sponsored baby murder .
Pick your moments and have a little understanding and you’ll go a lot farther .
God Bless .
They shed their blood only for the Washington DC political class, and they did it because they are ignorant of history and because there were benefits checks. What kind of honor is that?
The US military is nothing more than the American Schutzstaffel.
Financed by the American people and serving their will. .
>Financed
>by taxes extracted by threat of violence and imprisonment
It’s like blaming the Italian street vendor for the crimes of the mafia because he pays protection money under threat.
>serving their will
>wars were approved by Congress, ergo it is the will of politicians
>these days Congress doesn’t even bother so it is the will of one man
There, fixed your infantile grade school civics blurbs for you.
Still refuse to accept your responsibility in the matter? Denial, sad really. You live in a free nation. You have the right to vote, to speak and you can’t do anything better to correct percieved injustices but come to TTAG and try to deflect your blame onto others.
If you’re too afraid to resist paying the taxes to the “evil gubmint” then move to another country. If this system is so corrupt and you don’t have the stones to do anything but whine, get out. You’ll be happier in Canada or some such place.
As they say in Office Space: why should I leave? It’s the government that is violent and corrupt. It’s people like you who willingly kill people for the government.
Maybe if people like you stopped killing for the government, then the government wouldn’t be so violent.
Maybe if people like you got out of their momma’s basement and stood up to that violent .gov it would stop being so violent.
Being a coward and blaming others for your failings doesn’t really achieve anything. Man up. Move out. Make that violent system your bitch. Or just accept that you’re all blow and no show and move on with your life.
Observe this dumb, violent animal. Real change comes from peaceful revolution. It is obvious you cannot comprehend this, since you have known nothing besides the state and its violent ways.
I called it right. Your words are violent. “Dumb” “animal”. Words of hate and anger. Yet you try to hide your cowardice behind john lennon style double speak.
No change will ever come from you. You’re a bigger part of the problem than any dumb military animal(your words) could ever hope to be.
Just another troll.
It’s expected for you to miss the Kissinger quote reference, where he accurately refers to military men as “dumb, stupid animals”. Which is quite humorous since you worked for that man in Vietnam.
How do you feel about killing for these politicians who hold you in such contempt?
Kissinger ain’t the one using that line today. You are. Again you deflect the truth. You use words that denigrate your “enemy” or those you percieve to be an “enemy”. Words like that are the language of genocide. Makes it easy to shove people into ovens or bash them with machetes.
You claim that only a peaceful revolution can replace the evil .gov but you ramp up the rhetoric to genocide levels.
Admit it. You want to kill, to harm others.. But you’re a physical and moral coward. That’s why you fall into the Dark Triad of Personalty disorders. You’rea Socieopathic Sadist. You enjoy trying to hurt others so long as there’s no risk to you.
That’s why you dance in the blood of American soldiers from the safety of your basement.
But that’s what quotes are. Insights that can be applied throughout history. Kissinger’s statement that military men are “dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy” is just as correct now as it was four decades ago.
And how does using a quote with historical context infer violent tendencies? Citations are violent? Words are violent? Pointing out your ignorance is violent? You sound like a millennial shrieking about triggers.
You’re a slippery troll. But I stand by my assesment. Socieopathic Sadist. The quotes taken in the context of your statements and the derision you go out of your way to heap on the “sub humans”(see, another historical quote.) all add up to a not so peaceful revolutionists. After all, this is a blog about guns. But when was the last time you actually discussed guns or gun related matters here?
You only show up at the worst possible moment and when you know your presence will be the most disruptive. Dark Triad of Personalities leading to Sociopathic Sadist.
Do you try to swing people to your way of thinking? No, you go right for the insults and you use these “quotes” which you only give credit for when you’re called on them. So they ain’t really quotes at all.
I stand by my assesment. You may have convinced yourself this is just fun and games but you and I know you have a much more dangerous side. You’re at war with yourself every day. Don’t have the courage to actually act on your fantasies but you feel the need to escalate building inside you.
Only a matter of time.
>sub humans
My my, all that inference. But hey, I’ve been using that Kissinger quote verbatim for quite some time, it is simply amusing that you did not realize it all this time.
>Don’t have the courage to actually act on your fantasies
Like you did in Vietnam? Yes, so courageous, gunning down civilians and burning their huts. Much courage.
And since when is this politicized, militarist holiday relevant to guns or 2A?
Salty Bear,
“We veterans do not fight or die for anyone’s freedom.” I’m not dead, but I certainly did fight like hell for other people’s freedoms. There are families that are alive today because my team and I killed and destroyed the “Taliban” thugs that were extorting, raping, starving, and brutalizing them. I am, and should be, damn proud of my service in Afghanistan, where I repeatedly witnessed young American men commit acts of kindness and heroism on behalf of other people.
If your service was shameful, the shame is all on you. If you committed acts that hurt innocent people, acts that endangered their lives and freedoms, regardless of your orders, that guilt is on you and you alone.
You don’t speak for all veterans, and you certainly don’t speak for me.
>Anyone who resists the US invasion is Taliban
A familiar line reminiscent from another war the US lost miserably in Asia, and about to lose another with the same mentality. 🙂
How do you feel about your service to the US puppet regime who does plenty of extorting, raping, starving, and brutalizing?
I was in Al-Qaeda’s Air Force (USAF) during the late 90’s so I have mixed feelings about my military service. The KLA was on the ground (with embedded mujahideen) and we bombed for them. There will be neither peace nor freedom as long as the Military Industrial Complex exists.
Blessed Armistice Day!
Thank you for your service, I served 7 years in the Navy and my family has served in EVERY war in America starting with the French and Indian war in 1763. Those that lost their lives paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we have and I, for one, am very thankful for that. For those that served and went back to civilian life, like me, we are stronger for that. For those that came back not whole, in either mind or body, I also thank you since you will live with that situation for the rest of your life. I try to help veterans when I can, but never do enough.
Thanks to all of my fellow vets who signed the blank check – made payable to the United States of America.
Willie S called it –
“By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we owe God a death and let it go which way it will he that dies this year is quit for the next.”
“That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
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