OT: Happy Veterans Day!!!!!!

[ashley]

Just wanted to say Happy Veterans Day to all our veterans out there and thank you for your service.

Hope all the veterans have a great day, including my favorite man in the world......my dad!!!!!!! Thanks Dad!!!!

 

[Brewskies]

Just wanted to say Happy Veterans Day to all our veterans out there and thank you for your service.

Hope all the veterans have a great day, including my favorite man in the world......my dad!!!!!!! Thanks Dad!!!!

Nice thoughts '....... Veterans thank you for your service.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Nice thoughts '....... Veterans thank you for your service.

+1 X 1000%

 

[Clonamery]

Eternal thanks and gratitude to those who serve and have served with honor, courage and fidelity.

 

[PatsDeb]

Thank you to all veterans for your service to our country, particularly to our fellow Patsfans friends who fit the bill. We would not be where we are today, with the lives we lead, without you. Thanks again.

 

[archstanton543]

Nice thoughts '....... Veterans thank you for your service.

You're welcome!

 

[Froob]

Thanks. The free Denny's is what it's all about .

 

[ashley]

Thanks. The free Denny's is what it's all about .

Oh @Froob, don't make me crack up at work

 

[TK in the UK]

Thank you for the nice thoughts but I'd really like all of you to do me a favor. If you know a Vietnam vet, go out of your way to thank him personally ... it may be the first time it's ever happened. Most were sworn at, spat at, screamed at and called names that I can't repeat here. What made it worse is that it was always the females doing it... the males never seemed to be around for some reason.

I don't live in the US now but that is only indirectly related. I re-enlisted shortly after getting home when the Corps promised to send me overseas again. I happened to meet a young lady there and things occurred as the usually do. We married in 1970 and lived very happily in the US for 20 years. One day she asked if we move to her home and that's what happened. We both still love the USA and miss it but life is good wherever you go. Thanks to that welcome home in 1966, I've had a wonderful 50 (almost) years since then so I don't need your sympathy. But I know several that had it much rougher than I, so please give them a thank you if you can.

 

[MassPats38]

Thank you for the nice thoughts but I'd really like all of you to do me a favor. If you know a Vietnam vet, go out of your way to thank him personally ... it may be the first time it's ever happened. Most were sworn at, spat at, screamed at and called names that I can't repeat here. What made it worse is that it was always the females doing it... the males never seemed to be around for some reason.

I don't live in the US now but that is only indirectly related. I re-enlisted shortly after getting home when the Corps promised to send me overseas again. I happened to meet a young lady there and things occurred as the usually do. We married in 1970 and lived very happily in the US for 20 years. One day she asked if we move to her home and that's what happened. We both still love the USA and miss it but life is good wherever you go. Thanks to that welcome home in 1966, I've had a wonderful 50 (almost) years since then so I don't need your sympathy. But I know several that had it much rougher than I, so please give them a thank you if you can.

Happily. Desert Storm really brought a cultural change on treatment of veterans. The POW-MIA campaign went full force, and I strongly believe that positive response to veteran treatment was attributable to the shame of how Vietnam veterans had been treated for simply doing their duty in response to a call from their Country.

Don't get me wrong on this point: there is still plenty wrong in how veterans live. It is virtually impossible for someone exposed to death and suffering for years, such as Vietnam veterans and current soldiers, to return to civilian lives without issues. The VA facilities have improved from the chamber of horrors in Vietnam, but they are still far below even basic treatment levels civilians might expect and people still die as a result. Mental health diagnosis and treatment went from terrible to somewhat improved since 2001, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. The criminal courts have exhibited little sympathy for veteran issues (we do have Veteran Courts now, but they are not very prevalent) as our combat veterans lapse into drug abuse to cope with what they experience in war, at that brings its own criminal history and accompanying scorn. Watching judges tag clear patterns of suffering with large federal sentences for non-violent issues bothers me to no end, but it still happens.

I love each and every brother and sister in the military who felt the call to serve in an all volunteer service and endured the hardships inherent in that choice, and all the others alive and dead who experienced the horrors of war when directed to do so. It takes a great deal of personal sacrifice to serve, and is not for everybody. If we somehow find ourselves not in an active war, then I hope the good feelings continue but I expect it is human nature that the practices of businesses in recognizing and rewarding service will fall to questions of relevancy and economics. When that day comes, my only request is remember those who carry the scars of war, mental and physical, be a little tolerant of those you may encounter who may act strangely because of those scars, and help them when you can, whether that help be money, advocacy or a kind greeting. We as a Country owe that to them, this day and every day.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Just wanted to say Happy Veterans Day to all our veterans out there and thank you for your service.

Hope all the veterans have a great day, including my favorite man in the world......my dad!!!!!!! Thanks Dad!!!!

Yeah, I thanked my dad for his service today, but not before wishing my mom a Happy Birthday. He understood.

 

[Patjew]

Thank you for the nice thoughts but I'd really like all of you to do me a favor. If you know a Vietnam vet, go out of your way to thank him personally ... it may be the first time it's ever happened. Most were sworn at, spat at, screamed at and called names that I can't repeat here. What made it worse is that it was always the females doing it... the males never seemed to be around for some reason.

I don't live in the US now but that is only indirectly related. I re-enlisted shortly after getting home when the Corps promised to send me overseas again. I happened to meet a young lady there and things occurred as the usually do. We married in 1970 and lived very happily in the US for 20 years. One day she asked if we move to her home and that's what happened. We both still love the USA and miss it but life is good wherever you go. Thanks to that welcome home in 1966, I've had a wonderful 50 (almost) years since then so I don't need your sympathy. But I know several that had it much rougher than I, so please give them a thank you if you can.

That was really powerful. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[captain stone]

A double Ooh-Rah to my fellow Jarheads who can celebrate both Veterans Day and the Marine Corps Birthday. FTS, and Swing with the Wing, my Bruddahs!

 

[Nikolai]

Thanks. The free Denny's is what it's all about .

Yeah, the free Applebees was the final tick in the "pro" column. I was at the recruiter the next day.

Thank you for the nice thoughts but I'd really like all of you to do me a favor. If you know a Vietnam vet, go out of your way to thank him personally ... it may be the first time it's ever happened. Most were sworn at, spat at, screamed at and called names that I can't repeat here. What made it worse is that it was always the females doing it... the males never seemed to be around for some reason.

I don't live in the US now but that is only indirectly related. I re-enlisted shortly after getting home when the Corps promised to send me overseas again. I happened to meet a young lady there and things occurred as the usually do. We married in 1970 and lived very happily in the US for 20 years. One day she asked if we move to her home and that's what happened. We both still love the USA and miss it but life is good wherever you go. Thanks to that welcome home in 1966, I've had a wonderful 50 (almost) years since then so I don't need your sympathy. But I know several that had it much rougher than I, so please give them a thank you if you can.

Yep. Spot on. Afghanistan sucked in its own way, but being in the bush and then having to come home to that? Viet Nam vets deserve our gratitude, and really, their mistreatment is what has spurred the support we have today. I go out of my way to tip my hat to Viet Nam vets when I see them.

Thank you for sharing, and thank you to everyone else. It means a lot.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Thank you for the nice thoughts but I'd really like all of you to do me a favor. If you know a Vietnam vet, go out of your way to thank him personally ... it may be the first time it's ever happened. Most were sworn at, spat at, screamed at and called names that I can't repeat here. What made it worse is that it was always the females doing it... the males never seemed to be around for some reason.

I don't live in the US now but that is only indirectly related. I re-enlisted shortly after getting home when the Corps promised to send me overseas again. I happened to meet a young lady there and things occurred as the usually do. We married in 1970 and lived very happily in the US for 20 years. One day she asked if we move to her home and that's what happened. We both still love the USA and miss it but life is good wherever you go. Thanks to that welcome home in 1966, I've had a wonderful 50 (almost) years since then so I don't need your sympathy. But I know several that had it much rougher than I, so please give them a thank you if you can.

My brother. Dropped alone into VC territory in the AM to scout. Picked up PM. Made it back.

 

[Patjew]

My brother. Dropped alone into VC territory in the AM to scout. Picked up PM. Made it back.


View attachment 14794

What a great picture. That should be framed.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Appreciated
Even though he's a dorky younger brother, he's raised 4 great kids.

 

[Patjew]

Appreciated
Even though he's a dorky younger brother, he's raised 4 great kids.

edit: sorry, I remember that it was your sister, not your brother, that you told me about. I'm sorry.

 

[Nikolai]

Hey, and if you're the praying type, send one up for the servicemembers who died or were wounded in Afghanistan yesterday. They were apparently forming up to do a Veteran's Day run.

RIP

 

[tom444]

I'd just like to weigh in here as a Vietnam Veteran. I think there's a tendency today to knock our institutions, and believe they are a greater failure then the reality suggests. I was wounded in Vietnam severely enough to have spent the first year home in the hospital. I spent 6 months at Chelsea Naval Hospital, now a condominium complex, and 6 months at JP, and West Roxbury, VAs. I was operated on multiple times at all of these institutions, including a couple I haven't mentioned. They did a great job. While some of these old wounds are beginning to catch up to me as I age the work that was done at these Military, and VA, hospitals allowed me to live a pretty full life. I'm very grateful.

Further, while there was a deep disconnect between the returning Veterans from Vietnam, and the population at large, the reports of Veterans being spit on etc. are grossly exaggerated.

You can be prouder of the way our vets were treated in the VA system then the current prevailing wisdom would have you believe.