"REMEMBER THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS!"

"REMEMBER THE ALAMO!"

"REMEMBER THE MAINE!"

"REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR!"

"REMEMBER THE BERLIN WALL!"

"REMEMBER THE CUBAN CRISIS!"

"REMEMBER 9-11 ... THE TWIN TOWERS!"

"REMEMBER ALL OF OUR VETERANS... ALWAYS!"

VETERANS

Copyright: September 26, 2007 - Tom Hyland



Their Medals were Earned… Expressions of Valor,
They did What was Needed… They did Not Cower.
Remember our Sons and Daughters… Give us the Power,
To Honor Their Presence, Lord… Hour after Hour!


I wrote the above brief poem in the wee hours of the morning, and posted it on Authors Den, first as a comment on MR. ED’s website there, as a response to what he had just written. Then I copied and pasted it as a document in my WORD software.

Then, on Wednesday evening, after a long day of work, I relaxed and watched a DVD, “Buying The Cow.” A romantic comedy - yes that was the ticket to some relaxation. When the movie finished, I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet, so I started channel hopping.

There it was, on Channel 22, Maryland Public Television - “THE WAR” by Ken Burns. As I missed the very beginning, I am unsure but think it was Part 3, because at the end of it, around 1:00 am, Part 4 was announced as being next in the series.

WAR IS HELL! There is absolutely no doubt to this fifty-plus year-old statement. Atrocities were committed on BOTH sides, everywhere, in every country, by all involved.

The AXIS POWERS - NAZI GERMANY, started it all with ADOLPH HITLER’S command - TOTALITARIAN ITALY, led by TITO MUSSILINI, sided with the NAZIS - EMPERIAL JAPAN, the third part of the EVIL TRIANGLE, led by the JAPANESE EMPEROR, were ALL determined to TAKE OVER THE WORLD, BY FORCE!

THE ALLIED POWERS - GREAT BRITAIN, led by Prime Minister, WINSTON CHURCHILL - THE U.S.S.R. - UNITED SOVIET SOCIALISTIC REPUBLIC, led by JOSEPH STALIN - and initially, several smaller EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES - were trying their best to defend against the NAZI invasions, and were not being very successful at it.

Even though the UNITED STATES was originally trying to stay out of the fracas, we were in fact, using our Merchant Marine Service to supply arms, ammunition, and supplies to our closest
‘cousins’ in ENGLAND, and many of our ships were sunk by German U-BOATS. THE WAR IN EUROPE had been waging for about three years, and we still were not technically involved yet. It finally took the INFAMOUS JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII, on December 7th, 1941 for our President, FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, and CONGRESS TO ACTUALLY DECLARE WAR ON JAPAN!

Up until that fateful day, we technically did not have any VETERANS since WORLD WAR I, the supposed “War to End All Wars!”

The ‘Good Ole Days’ of trying to maintain the old MONROE DOCTRINE, and keeping our noses out of other countries’ business - was NO MORE!

SOLDIERS, SAILORS, MARINES, AIRMEN, NURSES, DOCTORS, CIVILIANS HAD ALL BEEN RUTHLESSLY MURDERED BY A ‘SNEAK ATTACK!’ SIXTY-SIX YEARS LATER, THE HULLS OF SOME OF THE SHIPS DESTROYED ARE STILL SITTING THERE IN THE HARBOR - AN ETERNAL MEMORIAL - NEVER EVER TO BE FORGOTTEN!

Getting back now to the PBS SPECIAL, as I watched and listened I was being reminded of just how HORRIFIC WAR IS! As the narrator states the statistics of the various battles, and fronts, and locations of the various theaters of operation - TENS of THOUSANDS, HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS, MILLIONS - DEATH AND DESTRUCTION AND MAIMING - PERPETRATED BY BOTH SIDES, ON BOTH SIDES - ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE!

INSANITY? PERHAPS! But tyrants, despots, radicals, fanatics, power-crazed HEINOUS MURDERERS only understand ONE THING … STRENGTH! THEY MUST BE CHALLENGED - THEY MUST BE STOPPED! “Turning the other cheek” is NEVER AN OPTION… NEVER!

After D-DAY, The NORMANDY INVASION, on June 6th, 1944, it took tremendous sacrifices, determined dedication, and seemingly never-ending persistence to finally drive the Nazi troops back into retreat. As I watched the triumphant entrance of the Allies into PARIS, FRANCE, a minor statistical fact suddenly became aware to me - it was on August 25th, 1944, my FOURTH BIRTHDAY! I never knew that, being a small ‘puddin’-head at the time. It took them almost three months to travel that distance, and took me Sixty-Seven YEARS to find out!

AMERICAN VETERANS MARCHED UNDER THE ARCH D’TRIOMPHE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON MY BIRTHDAY…now tell me that ain’t SPECIAL!

V.F.W. - VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS --- A.L. - AMERICAN LEGION ---
BUYING THE LITTLE RED PAPER POPPIES TO HONOR THEM ALL ---

Yes, this is a nice act, as a remembrance on those few SPECIAL DAYS of the year; but guess what, PILGRIMS --- IT AIN’T ENOUGH!


Before I go any farther in this article, let me say this: I AM NOT A VETERAN! Ergo, I have no ‘axe to grind’ so to speak. While I did earn an Honorable Discharge from The U.S. ARMY, it was strictly for being a “WEEK-END WARRIOR.” I joined the RESERVES at age 19, took Basic Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, then four months’ Advanced Training in Fort Eustis, Virginia, followed by five and a half years of “MICKEY MOUSE” weekend meetings, and six two-week periods of Summer Camp. WAHOO! EYUT! What did YOU do in the war, DADDY?

I was a lousy GI, actually THAT is a misnomer which, no one ever gets corrected on! G.I. means Government Issue, which applies to everything about a soldier, EXCEPT the soldier himself. We are each P.I. - Parental Issue, at least until the guvmint starts CLONING, but that’s another story.
Anyway, I hated everything about the military: when to get up, when to eat, what to eat, how to eat, what to do, how to do it, when to CRAP, how to CRAP… Get the picture?

So, every one of us guys who did this type of SERVICE, was singled out by the government as NOT being eligible for ANY benefits: NO G.I. BILL for education, NO life or health insurance for ourselves, or families, NO Commissary privileges, NO HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY… NUTTIN’ HONEY! Bottom line? WE WEREN’T WORTHY! WE WERE ‘PIECES OF SHIT!’


Now, back to the REAL VETERANS - DAMN IT, THEY ARE WORTHY! THEY EARNED RESPECT! THEY SAW ACTION AND PERFORMED WITH HONOR! THOSE THAT DIED, AND NEVER CAME BACK EARNED ALL THOSE PERKS JUST MENTIONED FOR THEIR FAMILIES! THE ONES THAT DID COME BACK EARNED IT ALL, AND MORE!

BLIND, BRAIN-DEAD, DEAF, MISSING LIMBS - ARMS, LEGS - WHATEVER! THEY EARNED BOTH THE RESPECT OF A GRATEFUL NATION, BY RESPRESENTING US, AS WELL AS ABSOLUTE FREE MEDICAL CARE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES!

In the movie, THE WAR, each and every PATRIOT who was taped and told his or her story, did so with TEARS IN THEIR EYES! THEY SUFFERED FOR US! Most of these gals and guys are in their MID-EIGHTIES NOW, and very few are left alive to tell THE TALE! They were in their late teens and early twenties when they SERVED! An entire generation of VETERANS from WWII was WELCOMED HOME with: bands, and ticker-tape parades, and parties, and hooping and hollering, and dancing in the STREETS! BY THE PEOPLE - BY THE PUBLIC - BY THEIR FELLOW AMERICANS… AH, but what about the GOVERNMENT? DID ‘THEY’ SOMEHOW CONVENIENTLY FORGET?

YES, my friends, WAR IS HELL - EVERY WAR - NOT JUST THAT ONE! What about the survivors of The KOREAN CONFLICT? OH, THAT WAS JUST A ‘POLICE ACTION’ WASN’T IT? What about The VIET NAM WAR? WAS THAT ‘CHOPPED LIVER?’

THE WAY THESE VETERANS WERE TREATED AFTERWARDS WAS A DISGRACE!
WHY? Because the American public - JOHN Q. and BETTY SUE - were sick and tired of watching this FRIGGING STUPID, USELESS, LOSING WAR ON TV EVERY NIGHT!
And guess what, the government LOWLIFES CAPITALIZED on it! THEY SCREWED THOSE VETERANS ROYALLY… and then about twenty years later, probably out of GUILT, finally BUILT A FREAKING WALL IN D.C. WHOOP-DE-DOO!

Now, my Fellow Americans (sound familiar?) - it is almost like an INSTANT REPLAY of a damned football game! The BUSH ADMINISTRATION, THE BUSHITS, CONGRESS, THE GOD-DAMNED WARMONGERING CORPORATIONS MAKING BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ON THIS NATION’S LIFE BLOOD… WANT TO GET AWAY WITH THE SAME BULLSHIT!

WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL = FIASCO! TBI - TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY - GEE, NOW THEY HAVE A SPECIAL NAME FOR IT! POST-TRAUMATIC SYNDROME IS STILL THE RESULT OF LIVING THROUGH HELL!

THE WAR IN IRAQ, fighting AL QUEDA? SUNIS? SHIITES? KURDS? TURDS? THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, fighting the TALIBAN… are these VETERANS LESS VALUABLE, LESS HONORABLE? LESS WORTHY?

WHAT ABOUT THEIR: HEALTHCARE, AND MEDICAL CARE, AND FAMILY CARE, AND LIFE INSURANCE, AND HOMES LOST, AND JOBS LOST, AND MINDS LOST, AND LIMBS LOST, AND DIGNITY LOST?

Right about now, my blood is boiling, and if yours isn’t also… then don’t wave the FLAG in my face, don’t tell me about MOTHERHOOD and APPLE PIE, and CHEVROLET… GO BACK TO SLEEP IN YOUR CAVE!

WANT TO SUPPORT OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS? BRING THEIR SWEET ASSES HOME NOW! NOT NEXT DAY, OR NEXT WEEK, OR NEXT MONTH, OR NEXT YEAR… NOW!

Thus far, I have signed on to no less than THREE PETITIONS FOR IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS! If History someday proves me WRONG, then SO BE IT!

BUT, BY THE LIVING GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB -- MY CONSCIENCE IS CLEAR!


VETERANS? GOD BLESS THEM ONE AND ALL!


OH, YEAH, ALMOST FORGOT:

GOD BLESS THE KATRINA VICTIMS ALSO…
BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT SURE DOESN’T GIVE A RAT’S ASS !!!


Pax Tecum! Tom.