To all those who have served in the forces that defend our great nation. Thank you for your sacrifices and God Bless You! Today is YOUR day. Now, get out there and whack some deer!
Indeed, you will always have my utmost respect. The self-sacrifice that you give for the freedoms of many is very humbling.
Amen to that! I think alot of us take for granted that there are still many folks on the battle grounds fighting for our freedoms right now. God Bless em, and protect em.
Thanks... Spent 4 hours in the rain - got in before light, sat in the rain...only thing I saw was a dumbass who came busting through my area right after first light. I guess my big green truck parked on the road I walked in on was not enough of a clue that I was in the area. Sadly that was the last time I can hunt before the gun season starts. Not motivated enough to put my wet gear back on and go back out for a PM sit. Nap time. Sean
Great back to back days!! Yesterday I wished all my fellow Marines happy b-day. Today I thank all branches for everything you do!
There's a special place in my heart for those of you who have served or plan to serve. Many many thanks!
I was going to post this earlier, but didn't have the time... it's a semi-short read. 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 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.” Remember November 11th is Veterans Day. “It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC Thank you all for your service. It is an honor to be counted among you! -Steve (fmr. Sra. USAF)-
Many thanks and prayers to all the service men and woman and their families ... past, present and future