TScottW99
09-23-2002, 07:31 PM
What is a Vet.........
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating ttwo gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is overweighed 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 Paris Island 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 Legioniare 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 anonynous heros in The Tomb Of The Unkowns, whose presence at The Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heros whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and 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 alot, "THANK YOU."
It's the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us our freedom of the press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who gave us our freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gave us our freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is drapped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Written by:
Brian Strickland
brianstrickland@earthlink.net
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating ttwo gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is overweighed 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 Paris Island 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 Legioniare 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 anonynous heros in The Tomb Of The Unkowns, whose presence at The Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heros whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and 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 alot, "THANK YOU."
It's the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us our freedom of the press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who gave us our freedom of speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gave us our freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is drapped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Written by:
Brian Strickland
brianstrickland@earthlink.net