Today is the Marine Corps’ 231st birthday (they don’t look a day over 200!)…to my sister service – Happy Birthday and Semper Fi!!!
Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day…if you can read this, thank a teacher; if you can read this in English, thank a Veteran!
Don’t take your liberty and those that protect it for granted…it only takes a minute to say “thanks”…trust me, it means a lot!
Keith
Chief Warrant Officer Three, US Army, Retired
i don’t follow politics too much at the national level, but it looks like the republicans got a nice little “thank you…FOR NOTHING” from fellow republican voters. wow.
talk about squandering an opportunity for leadership. they cow-towed to the liberal media and lost their way, now HIGHER TAXES HERE WE COME!!!
keith, how high a priority do you think it is for Nancy Pelosi (Democrat House Majority Leader) to truly say thank you to a vet?
didn’t she stand next to Hanoi Jane and spit on soldiers in the 70’s - if she wasn’t there, she sure was in spirit? :o
unbelievable.
well anyway, you’ve got my solute.
SAY A PRAYER EVERY NIGHT FOR THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE OUR WARRIORS AND PROTECTORS OF FREEDOM.
AND DONATE TO THE VFW!!!
God Bless America!
What if you can’t read…blame John Kerry? ???
Hey look, don’t say Jon Carry didn’t warn you…just be glad that you’re not in Irak with the illegiterates!
Keith
Eyem lucky, im not in iRak…i got sent 2 afganerstand.
Seriously though, got friends all over the desert in various branches…everyone be sure to send plenty of cookies and greetings to them. Just to know we are all thinking about them is a big thing to them.
And what’s your excuse Rich???
My spelling is usually pretty good despite my voting record and residence in a blue state.
No, I mean why the hell weren’t you in the desert.
Even if I wanted to be in the military I probably couldn’t be, really bad shoulders, knees, and other joints. Too many mountain biking and snowboarding incidents. Thought about it though when I was single, wouldn’t consider it now.
In my narrow-minded opinion, I think everyone who is eligible should be in the military. There are waivers for being too fat, too stupid, too old, too many crimes, etc.
A “thank you” means a whole lot less coming from someone who is just taking advantage of the hard work and dead bodies it took to give them the right to speak.
p.s.- I wasn’t talking to you Rich.
Isreal and a few other countries have a good way to deal with it, every male that is physically able has to serve X number of years. However our system seems to work well also, its 100% volunteer and still hundreds of thousands of people strong…the best in the world.
Israeli women gotta go also.
There are well over 2 million volunteers in the US military. I just don’t understand why everyone doesn’t volunteer though. Support the troops with covering fire, not a yellow magnet on your car.
interesting point dan.
but alot of people don’t belong in the military. in past societies…and current ones - a mandatory 2 year service or some variation, i think has it’s positive advantages certainly, but in the end, it’s not a wise choice.
let me ask you this, why should a kid with a 1600 sat and 160 IQ, with excellent verbal skills, outgoing personality, excellent athlete, with great potential for leadership and keen frame of mind, self and spirit join…lets say the Army for 2 years or 4 years?
i could see maybe OFFICERS CANDIDATE SCHOOL, right off the bat - be a Lt. and lead men, but not the regular army where this same person will be treated like a “grunt” - and there’s absolutely no pun intended there. i’m not calling the average GI “dumb” by any means, DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND THAT POINT.
i’m simply saying that the truly gifted and talented student or any kid with very high grades and other great qualities should not even consider joining the military unless they WANT TO and better yet - they should apply for OCS - so they can LEAD.
i know OCS and fresh “green” Lt’s take their shots from in-country (street smart) Sgt’s, but i just don’t think that an extremely talented individual with an awesome potential should join the regular army. for what? to be yelled at by a Cpl?
am i talking from personal experience? no, but i know enough about the military to know the SOP for hierarchy.
some people are born to be straight up warriors. they get told, “Move it!” they go, and without guys like that, America wouldn’t be here right now.
i salute every damn soldier out there. and i do not have to had served in the military to at the very least, appreciate their sacrifices.
DONATE TO THE VFW!
God Bless America!
Excellent athlete, exceptionally smart, great verbal skills, outgoing personality and above all a great leader- sounds like every soldier in the special operations community to me! Why would you want that individual doing anything else but protecting this country and protecting you? A guy like this shouldn’t be wasted as an officer either. While there are many great officers, most are the “corporate-type” who are more interested in rank than respect, taking credit for the hard work put in by their subordinates, all with zero proficiency in any of the units capabilities. I have more respect for the men assaulting a building than I do for the man who told them to do it.
This individual would do great as a Special Forces medic or a Navy SEAL corpsman. The best and the brightest are operators performing duties most people only see in movies and which can only be carried out by the top 1 percentile of all people.
As Col. Charlie Beckwith (founder of Delta Force) said- “I’d rather go up a river into the teeth of a tiger with 7 studs than 100 sh**heads.”
p.s.- Marines and Soldiers take great pride in being known as grunts. Infact calling one a POG is a great insult- which stands for Personnel Other than Grunt.
whooah!
that same thought crossed my mind just after i posted and re read it.
SpecOps is a whole different realm.
however, those men WANT IT…BAD.
if the athlete, talented, personality, etc, wants to be a real estate tycoon and has no interest in being in the military - the chances of him lasting through uummm ONE DAY of a SEAL or any other SpecOps is about i’d say a big fat 0%.
my personal story - i’m 31, after 9/11 - and i wanted to join the Army. I wanted OCS with a future possibility in Special forces. i had a dwi back in 1995…almost 7 years after my initial application for the Army. i was told…join, go through BASIC and then apply for OCS because you can’t be considered for OCS with a record.
i considered and talked with my grandfather WWII vet, my best friends father Vietnam Vet, and several other current soldiers ranging from Air Force MP to Marine Pvt 1st class (served in Iraq)…with the exception of the Marine - all said forget it.
they said if you want to be a leader of men, you’re not going to get where you want to, by joining regular army…they said basically, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a Master Degree (which i do), are a quick learner (which i am), and an excellent athlete (i am…was…lol) - you’ll be getting yelled at by 24 year old Sgt.'s (not a big deal) but the kicker was they said FORGET the Army guarantee’s - you will not be accepted ever into OCS with a record.
so i decided not to join. Marines - you have to be under 27 to join, i know there make considerations, but i would have been in the same boat.
just to give you an example of me - i learned EVERYTHING about being a soldier, as i considered enlisting. the ranks, times, dates, trainings, guns, some explosives, equipment, all MOS’s, and really did consider Infantry - Airborne - Air Assault - Ft Bragg, NC - All Americans.
but i didn’t. some days i do wish i did it and served my country. others i thank God, not for “keeping me out of Iraq”, but since then, helping me to become a “Born Again” Christian - i’m not apart of Born Again Faith, i’m Roman Catholic - but about a year ago - my spirit was awakened and i realized the Indwelling of Christ.
for what it’s worth - I salute our soldiers and pray every night for their victory and safe return.
DONATE TO THE VFW!
I didn’t score 1600 on my SATs (only in the high 1500s)…I guess that’s why I had to join the Army. I came from a large family (5 kids) with a lower income. In my little section of New England paradise (literally Norman Rockwell’s New England), there just aren’t many real jobs…and I wasn’t an exceptional athlete, just a moderate/steady one…
Keith
however, those men WANT IT...BAD.if the athlete, talented, personality, etc, wants to be a real estate tycoon and has no interest in being in the military - the chances of him lasting through uummm ONE DAY of a SEAL or any other SpecOps is about i’d say a big fat 0%.
I believe the Army recently raised it’s age limit to 42 so your still eligible. Maybe better off as a Chaplain rather than in SF where your sole purpose is to kill- not really the best job for born again Christians. You’d probably get a waiver to go to whatever the chaplains school is called, neither basic nor OCS. I am not a recruiter either! Just a thought.
Keith- What did you do before you became a WO?
i could never presume to be SF material. maybe, MAYBE when i was like 23 to 26. when i was 31, i had alot of stuff going on personally after 9/11 - i was so messed up that i really thought there was only one option and that was to join the Army.
i have to be completely honest - even though they would not allow me to go straight to OCS, i believed my recruiter and thought i’d just join regular infantry and then apply for OCS after BASIC so i did sign up. i have a college degree so i would have been an E-4 (i think - Cpl) I went to Ft. Hamilton, was processed (86th Infantry Ft. Bragg)and set for a delayed entry (6 months) in order to sell (at that time) our business. right in December 02, after hanging around for 6 months, i guess i wondered what the F i was doing with my life and my whole family was in complete disbelief…
truth is, i was all out of wack, and all i could think about was (long pause here while i’m typing) all i could think about was f**kin killing whatever mother******* that even looked like a terrorist.
i was depressed about personal stuff and basically felt that the world was going to end anyways, so why not be in the thick of it.
needless to say, i came to my senses, realized that there was more to life than being filled with anxiety and hatred - and decided to “be a coward” (in the words of the Sgt 1st class - recruiter) and back out.
“came to my senses” doesn’t mean being a soldier would have been a bad thing, not at all. but FOR ME, it just would not have been the right choice for my life’s course.
anyway, my original point was that the military is not for everyone. and i think in my heart of hearts, while the media would have you believe that these kids are “brainwashed”…from my experience - about 8 in 10 WANT IT. THEY WANT IN. they may want it for different reasons, but man, some of them, that i met just wanted to so badly to serve their country. the 2 in 10 are lost souls that don’t have anything else…and i salute every damn one of them!
that sh*t will make you cry. unbelievable.
truth is, i was all out of wack, and all i could think about was (long pause here while i'm typing) all i could think about was f**kin killing whatever mother******* that even looked like a terrorist.
i hope that doesn’t come across like juvenile BS. it’s very real. i wasn’t sleeping, i was having nightmares about killing people and liking it.
my best friend is NYC FF - Engine 102 Truck.
His father (my second father) is retired Lt - Rescue 1
the life stories of many of the FF’s who perished that day would have you crying like a little baby. Awesome individuals that deserved BETTER. I know everyone who died that day is a hero, but i don’t know everybody, but i know names of FF’s and their families and lives that are amazing. i’m sure many of us can think of someone touched by that day and the wars since.
so basically, what i wrote is real - back then, for me, i was a freakin TRAINWRECK.
now, 4 years later - my best friend has two beautiful boys, i’m engaged to be married, i’m a behavior specialist working with mentally retarded adults, and an up and coming real estate tycoon…and above all…a PRACTICING SOLDIER IN GOD’S ARMY!
I’M UNSTOPABLE!
thanks to our vets!
okay that’s enough