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 armoured personnel carriers didnt run out of fuel. He is the bar-room loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behaviour 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 didnt come back AT ALL. He is the Parris 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 others 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 anonymous heroes whose valour dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the oceans sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - paralyzed now and excruciatingly 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 lifes 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 savoir 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. Thats 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. by: Father Denis Edward OBrien/USMC
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 15:28:07 +0000
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