THANKS

[shooter]

Its OK 53. This jerk is killing me. Its a shame we have to deal with people like him. Have a good evening brother.

[srt8-in-largo]

Brian had a good post goin; I wanted to post my two cents but looks like it was closed.

It takes a BIG person to wear a service uniform; if you've never done so and you *think* you know what it's like, then you think you know more than you actually do.

To wear that uniform in the face of death takes an unfathomable courage that most of us can only imagine.

My hat is off and head bowed in remembrance. Thanks indeed.

[Jimmytee]

[flat6bagger]

Amen to this.
I have family members from past to present that were/are highly decorated soldiers.
I have seen the good and bad effects of war.
That being said,I still do not have the capacity to make any statements regarding anything that a soldier has experienced.
The events of my life prevented me from having the honor to serve.
I have a respect and a special love for these people.
The same as I love this country.
They are what keeps this country the greatest country in the world.
I enjoy my freedoms because of them.
I pray for every soldier no matter what capacity they served/serve and their families.
God bless them always.

On a side note,I was sickened that one person seems to be out for destruction every time he posts.
In my opinion he ruined what began as an honorable post that had turned into a very good discussion thread.

[shooter]

He ruins everything he touches guys. The guy is evil to the core. Hang in there. Good will prevail. And yeah it was a good thread till he jumped in. George I never wore the uniform. Somehow with the family business and at a point in history that I wasn't really needed it wasn't a choice for me. I do however have the utmost respect for those that have. Carry on men.

[stroguy]

It wasn't hard for me to join the military. I had a hero father that did a tour in Korea and 2 in Vietnam. I swallowed the treble hook of patriotism very deep in my throat. John Wayne, Audie Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Ted Williams, Chuck Yeager. These were my references to what makes America great. It was a no brainier for me to join and serve. It was a pleasure and I feel just as indebted to you that didn't serve to allow me that opportunity. You folks are the producers of this great nation. You provide the jobs, the economic tides that allow us to have a strong military. You job makers and workers are just as responsible for a great nation.

But there are some that have fooled themselves that they are intellectually superior. They are so wrapped up in the negatives that they have to tear apart what started out as good. Our resident fool is full bore hell bent on injecting negativity into any post that might make Americans feel proud. This is the agenda of today. If we can get people to hate America it makes it far easier to 'fundamentally reshape' this nation.

Thanks again for your gratitude and prayers to all that paid the ultimate price.

[Fla_rider]

I knew when I was 12, I was going in the military. I never took a college SAT test in High school. Entered the Air Force about 6 months after graduating from High School. Served from 1976-1999. This weekend I rode with about 500 bikes to Bushnell National Cemetary in Florida. I payed my respects to those that paid the ultimate price, over 100,000 headstones mark their final resting place. As I waited there in the hot Florida sun a girl scout walked up and offered me a bottle of water. I asked her why she was out there and her reply was " my grandfather is buried in section 402 and this is the least I can do to honor those who gave us this country". As long as we remember and teach those that don't understand it's not National Bar-B-Q day the lost will not be for nothing.

Attachment 14163Attachment 14164

[53driver]

As I reflected on those who gave all, i wondered what their wish for us to be?
To spend one day a year, remembering them, is the very least we can do.
Having lost friends, classmates, and brothers & sisters in battle and in peacetime, I am saddened by their untimely departure.
They died for a cause they so believed in, so cared about, so loved.
We should honor them daily in our thoughts and actions; preserving what they knew to be true:
America IS the greatest country on the planet and she is worth dying for, that others may carry on.
For something so valuable, we can thank those who offer it to us, to care for it, to nurture it and bring it along.

I know many of the Marine friends I have lost, would want me to raise a glass high and not leave a drop, and repeat until I couldn't possibly do it again.
Then they would laugh.

On this day, let us be thankful for what we have. Not be envious for that which we don't have.
Let us come together as a grateful nation, recognizing the gifts we have been afforded through the blood and sacrifice of so many others just like us.
Slainte.

[srt8-in-largo]

Well said Steve; agree.

[stroguy]

On point Steve.

Monday was a holiday, but I still had to work. Shortly after 6:30AM we raised a fresh Stars and Stripes on our mast. It was 8 pulls to the top, then 4 down. Several young folks stood on the patio watching as myself, another AF vet and our young gun in the shop with no military background finished our work. As we walked in the building the patio gawkers asked why we did it that way. Young gun clued them in on how the flag was displayed on this day. My AF buddy looked at me and I at him with a bit of 'you tell em big dog'. He finished schooling them and we went on our way. After returning to our office I quizzed our young steed on how he knew that. He just looked at us and chirped.........'cmon man, you are looking at one bad ass Eagle Scout'. Shortly after noon I raised the flag to the top as the patio gawkers returned to verify our good deed was completed.

It's such a simple thing that pays some measure of respect for the lost guards.