Veterans' Day 2006
Veterans' Day, 2006 - © Kent Fletcher
November 11, 2006
Today, November 11, 2006, this nation will celebrate Veterans' Day. Flags will be flown at half-mast, speakers will make speeches around the country in small communities and large cities alike, some folks will go to cemeteries to place flags by the head-markers of those veterans who have passed on lately as well as years ago. Small towns and large cities will hold parades, veterans groups such as the VFW and the American Legion will participate on floats, in cars, in marching units, and standing along the sidelines celebrating the veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms they all enjoy now.
Of course, there will be multitudes of other folks who will work on Saturday for any number of reasons, and still others who have no inkling of the debts they owe the veterans, could care less, will bitch and complain because the holiday falls on a Saturday instead of during the work-week so they can have a day off work.
This nation has survived all the days of the republic mainly because of the men and women of our armed forces. Without being able to mount a defense, even a minute one, the republic we all so cherish would fail at the first hint of armed conflict. As we all know appeasement just simply does not work. While the United States has never - to my knowledge - gone the appeasement route, many other countries around the world have. France, England, most of the European countries tried appeasement to Germany, and what did they get? Stomped on, conquered, belittled.
This country now has a new Congress, with a different majority party in both house. There is much dread believed by the losing party of the eventual outcomes in the War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. The active forces are said to be in a state of shock, knowing the Democrats lethargy and ambivalence toward war, toward conflict. I heard this morning on the radio that there is now yammering in Congress about having all the troops in Iraq 'redeployed' by summertime 2007. Pretty demoralizing as a whole, but also the will of the party in power. So be it.
However, the men and women serving in our armed forces today have nothing to be ashamed of. They are the best trained, best equipped, most powerful of any military units around the world today. I'm proud of them, and for them, and nothing will change that, nothing.
To those men and women of past and present times, who fought, lived, and died valiantly on battlefields the world round, I owe them plaudits I cannot imagine. Thank you, Veterans all, for giving me the freedoms I enjoy today, and the freedoms I will enjoy in the future, and for the freedom to express myself in this little commentary.
Kent Fletcher
YN1, USN Retired
November 11, 2006
Today, November 11, 2006, this nation will celebrate Veterans' Day. Flags will be flown at half-mast, speakers will make speeches around the country in small communities and large cities alike, some folks will go to cemeteries to place flags by the head-markers of those veterans who have passed on lately as well as years ago. Small towns and large cities will hold parades, veterans groups such as the VFW and the American Legion will participate on floats, in cars, in marching units, and standing along the sidelines celebrating the veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms they all enjoy now.
Of course, there will be multitudes of other folks who will work on Saturday for any number of reasons, and still others who have no inkling of the debts they owe the veterans, could care less, will bitch and complain because the holiday falls on a Saturday instead of during the work-week so they can have a day off work.
This nation has survived all the days of the republic mainly because of the men and women of our armed forces. Without being able to mount a defense, even a minute one, the republic we all so cherish would fail at the first hint of armed conflict. As we all know appeasement just simply does not work. While the United States has never - to my knowledge - gone the appeasement route, many other countries around the world have. France, England, most of the European countries tried appeasement to Germany, and what did they get? Stomped on, conquered, belittled.
This country now has a new Congress, with a different majority party in both house. There is much dread believed by the losing party of the eventual outcomes in the War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. The active forces are said to be in a state of shock, knowing the Democrats lethargy and ambivalence toward war, toward conflict. I heard this morning on the radio that there is now yammering in Congress about having all the troops in Iraq 'redeployed' by summertime 2007. Pretty demoralizing as a whole, but also the will of the party in power. So be it.
However, the men and women serving in our armed forces today have nothing to be ashamed of. They are the best trained, best equipped, most powerful of any military units around the world today. I'm proud of them, and for them, and nothing will change that, nothing.
To those men and women of past and present times, who fought, lived, and died valiantly on battlefields the world round, I owe them plaudits I cannot imagine. Thank you, Veterans all, for giving me the freedoms I enjoy today, and the freedoms I will enjoy in the future, and for the freedom to express myself in this little commentary.
Kent Fletcher
YN1, USN Retired
posted by Fletch @ 8:05 AM
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