Semper fi

Rules for the nonmilitary: kicking ass

This was forwarded to me:

Dear civilians,

We know that the current state of affairs in our great nation has many civilians up in arms and excited to join the military.

For those of you who can't join, you can still lend a hand. Here are a few of the areas where we would like your assistance:

1. The next time you see any adults talking or wearing a hat during the playing of the National Anthem, kick their ass.
2. When you witness someone burning the American flag in protest, kick their ass.
3. Regardless of the rank they held while they served, pay the highest amount of respect to all veterans. If you see people doing otherwise, quietly pull them aside and explain how these veterans fought for the very freedom they bask in every second. Enlighten them on the many sacrifices these veterans made to make this nation great. Then hold them down while a disabled veteran kicks their ass.
4. If you were never in the military, do not pretend that you wore battle dress uniforms or jungle fatigues or tell others that you used to be in the special forces. Collecting G.I. Joe memorabilia may have been OK when you were 7, but now it will only make you look stupid and get your ass kicked.
5. The next time you come across Air Force members, do not ask them, "Do you fly a jet?" Not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot. Such ignorance deserves an ass-kicking (children are exempt).
6. If you witness people calling the Coast Guard nonmilitary, inform them of their mistake -- and kick their ass.
7. The next time the U.S. flag prances by during a parade, get on your damn feet and pay homage to her by placing your hand over you heart. Quietly thank the military member or veteran lucky enough to be carrying her. Of course, failure to do either of those could earn you a severe ass-kicking.
8. "Your mama wears combat boots" never made sense -- stop saying it! If she did, she would most likely be a vet and therefore would kick your ass.
9. Flyboy, Jarhead, Grunt, Squid and Puddle Jumpers are terms of endearment military members use to describe each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. Using them could get your ass kicked.
10. Last, but not least, regardless of whether you become a member of the military, support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and religious holiday that you enjoy with family and friends, please remember that there are thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen far from home wishing they could be with their families. Thank God for our military and the sacrifices they make every day. Without them, our country would get its ass kicked.

It's the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It's the veteran, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech.

It's the veteran, not the community organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate.

It's the military 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.

A letter to Ella Ann

From Keith Westbrook on Aug. 25:

My name is Keith C. Westbrook or to you in the start of your life poppa or grandpa. When your mom and dad told us that you were going to be our first grandchild everything in our lives, in my life changed from that moment on. We love your mom and dad, but there is something about knowing that a part of me and your grandmother will live on through you, not just the DNA but the essence of what our lives have been, has changed us forever. You are the embodiment of all our hopes and dreams f0r a brighter future than ours and our chance to live on, past what our mortal existence allows.

But what will that future bring to you and those that will share it with you I cannot foresee, all I can do is tell you that I am fighting today so you can have the tomorrow I would want for myself. To be FREE to experience all that life has to offer, to love with all of your heart and to grow and become the best you, in the greatest most free nation on earth.

It is a very tumultuous time in the history of this country, we have for many years let ourselves believe that the things we cherish the most: freedom, honor, family were sacred and could never be taken from us: WE WERE WRONG!

When I was born many years ago in the middle of the last century in 1953 it was a very different time than the one you will experience. We were very naive about many things and happy to be so, there was an innocence and a belief that our great Republic with its foundation in the Constitution was always going to be the shining star of this little blue marble spinning in space.

We had problems: I remember things that (if they write history as it really happened) we faced every day that were scary, we sat on the brink of technology that some were willing to use to destroy this planet. ( Mutually Assured Destruction) The people in charge of all of the countries could not then and still not today try to understand each other and if they cannot agree or get along, take from the other person what they have and don't want them to have. (like the bullies you will meet in the school yard one day).(kick their ass!)

And it was not just the bullies from the other neighborhoods it was our own bullies here in our neighborhood who hid from everyone while they schemed and planned to take away what made this country and we the people great, because they feared it and us.

Ella: bullies are more afraid of you that you are of them, ALL bullies are cowards deep inside and to keep you from seeing that fear they hide it by attacking what they fear the most!

The most cherished and fought over of these things is FREEDOM! It frightens me to think that you may never get to live your life with this being the most cherished and fought over right endowed to us.

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A lesson from the grave

Click to enlarge.

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Videos: Soldiers surprising their loved ones, Parts I and II

Try to get through these without crying -- I dare you!

Find more videos at Welcome Home: a celebratory blog.

On This Memorial Day There Are Two Americas

By William R. Forstchen Ph.D., as published in the Orlando Political Press on May 30:

Memorial Day. Those of us old enough to remember might recall a parent or grandparent who referred to it as “Decoration Day.” We might recall as well that “Memorial Day,” was not on the last Monday of the month of May, serving as a convenient three day weekend for sales and summertime vacations, but instead was observed on May 30th, no matter what day of the week that was.

According to tradition it started shortly after the Civil War when General Logan, who was part of the forces occupying the South, observed Southern women laying spring flowers on the graves of both Confederate and Union dead, graves still fresh and barely covered with the grass that covers over memories. When he asked why they were thus decorating the graves of their former foes, a woman dressed in the black of mourning supposedly replied that the dead were now comrades in peace and she prayed that southern dead, buried far from home, might be tended by mothers, wives and daughters of the Union. Logan wrote of it, urged a national day of commemoration and thus “Decoration Day” became a tradition in nearly all states.

After World War One, the fallen of that conflict became part of the memorial services as well. After World War Two, with hundreds of thousands of new graves to tend, the tradition evolved that “Decoration Day,” would be a day of national commemoration of those who gave “the last full measure of devotion,” and that “Armistice Day,” November 11th, would become a day of honoring all veterans who served.

And thus it was until 1971 when Congress, creating three day weekends for government employees, including themselves, reordered Memorial Day to the last Monday of the month.

As a boy growing up in the 1950s I recall Memorial Day in my town as one of solemn dedication. Streets would be blocked off and a parade would weave through the community, visiting the various cemeteries. I would march with the boy scouts, my father with his American Legion post, and at each cemetery prayers would be offered, wreaths laid, followed by a volley salute and taps, which even then made my throat constrict.

We were a single America, united in memory. Yes there was already the blaring of ads on a new thing called television, about Memorial Day sales, and the exodus to the beach by some, but as a shared culture, Memorial Day was a day of memory, recollection and prayer.

We are two Americas today. Yes Presidents have “missed” visiting Arlington before this day but this time, the reasons why and what commentators have said in defense so clearly shows a national divide.

Earlier this week a notice from the White House announced that the First Family would “vacation” this weekend in Chicago. The First Lady was quoted as saying that this time the children “decided” where they would spend their mini vacation.

Vacation? So Memorial Day is a vacation weekend now, even for the First Family? Of course it was quickly pointed out that the President would visit a military cemetery near Chicago. Of course.

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Gene Simmons' military salute

Happy Memorial Day! Thank a veteran today, and take a moment to honor those who died.

Then rock out to this KISS tribute to the armed forces.

Hearing aid

Ever have hearing problems when a politician's talking? You might want to invest in one of these: