thank you, semper fi

I am humbled and grateful. I have experienced the family aspect of being embraced my sons brothers in arms. I have 2 Marines, a Gunny on his last tour, suffering with traumatic brain injury from and explosion in Iraq and my LCPL in the reserves. At one point both were serving in country at the same time.
When my husband was diagnosed with acute mylocytic Leukemia, it was my son's Gunny that came to me at the hospital with the embrace of the family and help that month. Something I could never have expected.
Since his death in 2005, I am still thought of and encouraged.
It is not the big wheel that keeps us going, it is the love care of those that have been there, those that came home. That is what keeps the wheel moving.
I am saddened by the lack of understanding many people have. I am deeply saddened by the political climate and the powers that be who disrespect all who have served and are serving at present.
I am humbled by those who are giving their all.

> Will You give this to my Daddy?

> As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support 'Red Fridays.'
> Last week I was in Atlanta , Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed One of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen.
> Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering.
> When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and Cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.
> Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.
>
> Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our Service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said 'hi...'
>
> The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her...
>
> The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.
>
> The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.
>
> When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second... Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it..
>
> After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.' He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'
>
> The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.
>
> As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.
>
> We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.
>
> RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority'. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.
>
> Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday - and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.
>
> By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.
>
> If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED.
> The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is.....We need your support and your prayers.
>

Althogh I am no longer in the Air Force I will always be an Airman and my wingmen always know I got their backs


I am an American Airman.
I am a Warrior.
I have answered my nation's call.

I am an American Airman
My mission is to fly, fight, and win.
I am faithful to a proud heritage,
a tradition of honor,
and a legacy of valor.

I am an American Airman,
Guardian of freedom and justice,
My nation's sword and shield,
Its sentry and avenger.
I defend my country with my life.

I am an American Airman:
Wingman, Leader, Warrior.
I will never leave an Airman behind.
I will never falter,

AND I WILL NOT FAIL!!!!!!!

HOOOYAH Baby

I've been in the AF since '06 and just got back from my first deployment last November. It was only 4 months but it was 4 months of non stop work with no days off. I can't complain though since it was only 4 months. It seems that we (or at least I) forget how many people support us serving past or present.

Thank you everyone for your support and thank you everyone serving, past and present!

I spent 10 years in the Army. My business partner spent two tours in Vietnam and his son just finished his third tour in the middle east.

Words can't say how honored I am to know him and work with him, and how proud I am of any man or woman that puts on the uniform.

Thanks to all who served past an present

I am an American Solider
I am a Warrior an a member of a team
I serve the people of the united States an live the Army Values
I will all ways place the mission first
I will never accept defeat
I will never quit
I will never leave a fallen comrade
I am disciplined, physically an mentally tough, trained an proficient in my warrior tasks an drills
I all ways maintain my arms, my equipment, my self
I am an expert and I am a professional
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a gaurdian of freedom an the American way of life.
I am An American Soldier

I know how that is 4 months in Quwait 6 days sometimes 7 days a week 12 hours a day for 4 long arse months lol

11 years USAF myself

Oh for sure when I was in the military I thought the same thing , people come up thank me when I was in my uniform, and I am like what are you thanking me for


Were not even fighting for freedom these days lol I think the last time we fought for anything worth while was in WWII and probably the Korean war to I believe that was good.

But other than that I have heard of a lot of bad things done but still a Soldier/Airman/Marine/Sailor , we all have lived a rough life that was pretty demanding and done things no other people have ever done unless they served before
and that alone deserves respect

Guam a US territory one time before I was ever even stationed there ,
there was a lot of problems with military and the locals

and they wanted us off the island

both the Navy and Air Force base put a week restriction that Military members could not go off base to shop or anything and the local economy lost so much money and then there were no protests after that lol

I am returning this topic. Please remember the post that was already posted in here by Kristi

It's pretty clear you don't understand how it actually works. When you sign up for the military (I did 10 years in the Canadian Air Force on CC-130 Hercules) you commit to two very specific things:

The first is unlimited liability, which means they have the right to order you into a situation that may be fatal, and the danger does not represent an excuse to say no.

The second, and much more important in this context, is a very specific obligation to follow ALL lawful orders. Or would you rather the folks in charge of the country's ability to respond with and to violence get to decide on their own which orders to follow? Of course we think for ourselves, and I can promise you that anybody that has experienced combat would think longer and harder than any civilian before committing to it again. But, if it's a lawful order, the guys in uniform will go and do it. That is why the job they do for society is worthy of all the support you can muster.

Just for completeness in the thread, I served in the first Gulf War, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Haiti and others. I like to think the work we did in peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance was worthwhile.

Cheers.

Oops, this was originally in response to a post that was moderated. I believe the basic thrust of my comment is still useful, but confusing without this little note.

I concur, I would love to see a thread dedicated to our military. This would a fantastic addition to the site!

A little something amusing for the military folks in the crowd. A friend sent me this a few days ago. For those of you who are civilians, please take this as it is intended, a light bit of humour. It's not intended to be insulting or offensive. I also edited out a few pieces as being really inappropriate here.

Military vs. Civilian Friends

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Tell you not to do something stupid when drunk
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will post 360 security so you don't get caught

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Hope the night out drinking goes smoothly, and hope that no one is late for the ride home.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Know some wild **** will happen, and set up rally points and an E & E route.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Bail you out of jail and tell you what you did was wrong.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will be sitting next to you saying, Damn...we screwed up...but hey, that **** was fun as ****!

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Steal each other's stuff so often nobody remembers who bought it in the first place.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Are happy that someone picked up a one night stand and leave them alone.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will Low Crawl naked into the room with a camera and hope for the tag team.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will listen to your relationship problems and hope it works out for you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will listen to you over a long hard road march, and will help you straighten it out better than Dr. Phil.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Know a few things about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Might try to hit on your girl behind your back.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Have spooned with you in the field more than your girl has, and would never even think about doing that.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that's what the crowd is doing.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowd's *** that left you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Would knock on your door.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Walk right in and say, "I'm home!"

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will try and talk to the bouncer when you get tossed out of the bar.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will man up and go after the bouncer for touching you on the way out.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will wish you had enough money to go out that night, and are sorry you couldn't come.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will share their last dollar with you, drag you along, and try to steal free drinks all night.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will take your drink away when they think you've had enough.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, "Dude, you better drink the rest of that ****, you know we don't waste.. That's alcohol abuse!!!"

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Want the money they loaned you back next week.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Can't begin to remember who owes who money after taking care of each other for so long.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will say "I can't handle Tequila anymore".
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will say "okay just one more" and then 2 minutes later "okay just one more".

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will talk **** to the person who talks **** about you.
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will punch their lights out!!

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will tell you "They'd take a bullet for you."
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will actually take a bullet for you.

CIVILIAN FRIENDS: Will ignore this
MILITARY FRIENDS: Will repost this

Cheers.

Man I heard so crazy stories about Bosnia and Somalia from some CCT and Pj's when I went through training to be a CCT

Glad to see you experienced all of that and can share your stories brother

Sharing the stories helps keep me sane.
Down time in Africa was loads of fun. During both ops there (Somalia and Rwanda) we managed to get a silly amount of golfing and drinking in, and even an occasional safari.

Cheers Brother

I was Drafted and when I reported,,they said to disregard my papers,,as the drift had officially ended two months earlier..
I was ready to go....but as that was not the case,,I didn't and VN
came to it close their after....
I have always felt that as we have many forums for many areas and types of people here...there should be a forum for our Fighting men and women,,and all their families to also post in and to them..in..
AT THIS TIME OF WAR,,,when our children are dying everyday fighting in it,,,,WE NEED TO SHOW THEM and THE WORLD OUR SUPPORT FOR WHAT THEY ALL HAVE TO GO THROUGH FOR US BACK HERE....



MILITARY, FRIENDS AND FAMILIES!!!!!!
TO OUR TROOPS, FOR OUR TROOPS!!!!!