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Karagin
Imperial Karagin Army
Imperial General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4120
Location: United States
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 Posted: 29-May-2005 22:08 Post subject: What is a Vet? |
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WHAT IS A VET?
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing
limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may
carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a
piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner
steel:
The soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in
parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe
wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia
sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel
carriers didn't run out Of fuel.
He is the student, who set aside his books to remove a tyrant
and bring freedom back to a nation and help rebuild a nation.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks,
whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times
in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the
38th parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went
to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another -
or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat -
but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account
rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to
watch each other's backs.
He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons
and medals With a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and
medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns,
whose Presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever
preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor
dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's
sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied
now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death
camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive
to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a
person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the
service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so
others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness,
and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on
behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our
country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most
people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any
medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU."
_________________
Karagin
Only the dead have seen the end of war. - Plato
"Wasted trip Man. Nobody said nuthin' about lockin' horns with no tigers." Oddball
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DarkAdder
Clan Star Adder
Star Commander
Joined: 10-Jan-2004 00:00
Posts: 604
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| Posted: 30-May-2005 02:03 Post subject: RE: What is a Vet? |
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My Granddad was a Marine in WWII. He would drive amphib tanks of guys up to a beach that had DEATH wrtten all over it in blood and corpses, and drop them off to fight, then turn around and go back for more. He survived the assault on Peleleu because he was in the second assault wave, the first was all but annihilated.
He was on the island of Pavuvu, after the Marines took a chunk of that Godforsaken coral hell and turned it into a place you could live, using their bare hands and anything else they could.
I made the mistake of moving up to Canada before I could tell him, thank you. Hes still alive, and someday, Im going to go back home and tell him 'Thank you for everything.'
"And when he gets to Heaven, to St. Peter he can tell, "Another Marine reporting, sir. Ive served my time in Hell." '
_________________
Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
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Motown Scrapper
Clan Ice Hellions
Galaxy Commander
Joined: 24-Jul-2003 00:00
Posts: 2074
Location: United States
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| Posted: 30-May-2005 05:51 Post subject: RE: What is a Vet? |
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Darkadder you can still write him a letter ...that will mean a lot to him trust me.
_________________
Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have-Rush Limbaugh www.rushlimbaugh.com
Force of nature
Still crazy after all these years
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chihawk
Clan Blood Spirit
Master Bartender
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 8072
Location: United States
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| Posted: 30-May-2005 07:45 Post subject: RE: What is a Vet? |
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Quote:
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On 2005-05-30 02:03, DarkAdder wrote:
My Granddad was a Marine in WWII. He would drive amphib tanks of guys up to a beach that had DEATH wrtten all over it in blood and corpses, and drop them off to fight, then turn around and go back for more. He survived the assault on Peleleu because he was in the second assault wave, the first was all but annihilated.
He was on the island of Pavuvu, after the Marines took a chunk of that Godforsaken coral hell and turned it into a place you could live, using their bare hands and anything else they could.
I made the mistake of moving up to Canada before I could tell him, thank you. Hes still alive, and someday, Im going to go back home and tell him 'Thank you for everything.'
"And when he gets to Heaven, to St. Peter he can tell, "Another Marine reporting, sir. Ive served my time in Hell." '
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Call him and tell.
_________________
www.210sportsblog.com
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