Veteran tribute

In the Country shared this with me today and I thought it was so powerful. I think we all have a friend or family member that has served. We should all really do more to help.

Thanks for sharing that with me, hun. It was very touching.

Thank you Ginger...and I thank you for your father's service as well.

Very Cool! I served and proud of it!

I'm not a ra ra 'Merica guy but the way veterans are treated in this country is awful.

Thank you bawdyboy (and the rest of our Veterans) for your service !!! I too proudly served for nearly a decade and have a long list of family members and friends who served!
Thank you Ginger for posting!

FFDP is an awesome group. Got a back stage pass with my suns whose a drummer. Met the guys, got some signed sticks and some wicked photos. Them, Stone Sour, Metallica fill my iPod for gym days.

Salute to the men who've served our nation.


Semper Fidelis!

Thanks Ginger and ITC

HAIL!

You bet! I always proudly offer a Veterans discount. There is no way we can truly repay them for their service to our country.

Nice!! A veterans discount!

I served as well- a long time ago when things were very different:

• I did not volunteer, I enlisted in the Navy with my draft notice folded neatly in my back pocket. I ended up in VietNam anyway.
• The nation then was willing to take its angst and ambiguity about the war out on those of us who fought in VietNam. I had people spit on me and call me all kinds of names. My girlfriend had found another guy while I was gone "killing babies (her words exactly) and no father wanted his daughter dating a sailor- especially in cities where there was a navy base.
• The little shed by the road outside Long Beach Naval Station where sailors used to get a ride to town during WW2 was full of cobwebs. If you stopped there hoping for a ride, people would slow down to throw things at you.

Today it is more complicated - and in my opinion much worse. At one end of the spectrum, people offer their first class seats and buy meals for people in uniform. If there is a soldier on a flight, the crew says thank you. I am sometimes uncomfortable about how over the top it can get. Especially since it all changes when the uniform comes off.

The Veteran's Center where I volunteer is full of men and women who are invisible based on their need for basic services. As sad and angry as I was when I came back- 19 and pretty screwed up- I think that the invisibility of today's veterans is much worse than the active rejection of the VietNam era. No one wants to be invisible- especially those who can barely see themselves. It took me years to get my shit together but I was lucky enough not to fall off the grid. For these men and women, the climb back is much much harder. And it is our national shame that we tolerate it.

I am one of the lucky ones... and I still occasionally wake up at 2AM in a cold sweat.

Powerful video. Thanks for sharing.

Semper Fi - Once a Marine always a Marine!

That is a great video and message. As a Vet with 22+ years of active duty it losses me off the way some Vets are treated. Promises made years ago (agony PAID for with blood, sweat, and tears) erode further every day. That said, I'd go back and do it all again in a heartbeat.

I never served myself but I fathered two sons that have. One is still serving and, the other I lost in Iraq. Six years ago next September...

Sorry for your lost "In the Country" I know you are a proud father!

I never served myself but I fathered two sons that have. One is still serving and, the other I lost in Iraq. Six years ago next September... Originally Posted by In the Country

God bless you, In the Country.

I never served myself but I fathered two sons that have. One is still serving and, the other I lost in Iraq. Six years ago next September... Originally Posted by In the Country

I hate to hear that. A parent should never have to bury their child.