This is from one of our readers;<\/p>\n
My life was late nights and early mornings, physical exhaustion and boredom, my life was hurry up and wait.<\/p>\n
My days were broiling heat, my nights freezing cold. I lived in pouring rain, freezing snow and stifling humidity. Dust, sand and mud were my bed, my pillow a rucksack, butt pack or helmet.<\/p>\n
My feet toughened by thousands of miles of roads, paths, trails and fields trod. My back made strong and wide by days upon weeks upon years of carrying my rucksack just one more click.<\/p>\n
My youth spent learning my craft, sharpening my will and hardening my body for whatever was asked of me. Taught by men who had been taught by men who had hit the beach, held that hill or leapt from that airplane.<\/p>\n
My teacher’s lessons collected by experiences written in blood, sweat and tears. My classroom was the forest, the jungle, the desert and the mountain. My certificate a colorful ribbon, a shiny badge and those stripes.<\/p>\n
My traditions are ageless, my heritage stretches back centuries, I descended from giants and am proud to be counted as one of them. My youth was spent in service to my country. My youth was spent with my brothers and sisters I served with. My youth was not misspent.<\/p>\n
I salute all of you who served. As we approach Veterans Day let us look back and remember those we served with and also look forward and thank those that still serve. God bless you all.<\/p>\n
Blue Harrell<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This link is from Denise Williams<\/a>, a Gold Star Mom.<\/p>\n
This link is from ROS at Victory Girls<\/a>.<\/p>\n
I remember when Veterans’ Day was just another day off from work…well for everyone except veterans. My first Veterans’ Day after I left the military, in 1993, (I was actually on terminal leave at the time) was spent working as a security guard on a construction site…I was working full time while I attended college full time. I happened to pick up a newspaper on the way to work and it contained a column by the late Mike Royko on veterans and I always remembered his sage words.
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\nRoyko was a Chicago reporter and another famous Chicagoan, Matt Burden (Blackfive<\/a>) remembers Royko’s column.<\/p>\nI just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday.<\/p>\n
They all said the same thing: working.<\/p>\n
Me, too.<\/p>\n
There is something else we share. We are all military veterans.<\/p>\n
And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don\u2019t teach school.<\/p>\n
If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off.<\/p>\n
Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday.<\/p>\n
The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans.<\/p>\n
So how does this country honor them?<\/p>\n
By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing.<\/p>\n
As my friend Harry put it:<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn\u2019t kill anybody and nobody killed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar \u2014 he was a World War II vet \u2014 told me I was a \u2014-head because we didn\u2019t win, we only got a tie.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That\u2019s because he works for the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, is that a raw deal or what?\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course that\u2019s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following:<\/p>\n
– All veterans \u2014 and only veterans \u2014 should have the day off from work. It doesn\u2019t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists.<\/p>\n
Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: \u201cDrop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road,\u201d is entitled.<\/p>\n
– Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don\u2019t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men\u2019s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs.<\/p>\n
– All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual.<\/p>\n
– It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: \u201cWhat time will you be home tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n
– Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD.<\/p>\n
– Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn\u2019t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day.<\/p>\n
Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments.<\/p>\n
Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila.<\/p>\n
– Mike Royko<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"