Happy Veteran's Day!!!

Glock1975

To all if you that served and protect our Country, I thank you for your service. God Bless. Smoke something Great.

Rain

Murica!

The3Stogies

Glock1975:

To all if you that served and protect our Country, I thank you for your service. God Bless. Smoke something Great.

Well said, Happy Veteran's Day.

WaltBasil

Thanks Glock. and from one to all others... Have a safe and memorable Veterans' Day.

jd50ae

Gee, I think I'll smoke a Cinco Vegas Gold Toro. And I think later today I will take out the good scotch and do a little remembering about the people I served with. Thanks.

mmccartneydc

Happy Veteran's Day to all Service BOTL's and SOTL's. Thank you so very much!

First Warrior

Thanks fellas, h-ll all I was doin was tryin to stay alive. Semper Fi

raisindot

It's never a day too early or too often to give thanks to all of you brave and selfless soldiers for protecting our country in times of war and peace. Bless you all.

webmost

Denny's is giving all vets a free grand slam breakfast tomorrow. Check it out at dennys.com.

Puff_Dougie

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." - Gen George S. Patton

Remembering with gratitude those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and saying Thank You to all who have stepped up to stand in the breach. Happy Veteran's Day to all my BOTLs and SOTLs in uniform, and thank you for your service!

Tyland64

Puff_Dougie:

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." - Gen George S. Patton

Remembering with gratitude those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and saying Thank You to all who have stepped up to stand in the breach. Happy Veteran's Day to all my BOTLs and SOTLs in uniform, and thank you for your service!

Doug, that is one of my favorite quotes.

Tyland64

Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow Veterans. I am reminded of what Tim Craft said February 1968 Khe Sanh " For those that will fight for it... FREEDOM ...has a flavor that the protected shall never know "

jd50ae

....and a big steak for supper....I didn't say a word.

First Warrior

Puff_Dougie:

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." - Gen George S. Patton

Remembering with gratitude those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and saying Thank You to all who have stepped up to stand in the breach. Happy Veteran's Day to all my BOTLs and SOTLs in uniform, and thank you for your service!

I've though about this quote for a couple of days and here is my combat veteran two cents. I don't really expect most of you guys to understand but here are my words. I mean no disrespet to anyone and thank you for thanking me and the rest of our botl vets. Patton was right but he was also wrong. It is foolish and wrong to mourn at the point in time that men are killed in combat. If you express grief at that time it will get you killed or it will get your buddys killed. You have to roll the dead up in their ponchos, carry them to a chopper and they are whisked away as if they never existed. The grief is still there, you just put it into a box, nail the lid shut and cram it down deep inside yourself. Thats what we all did. If you survive war you carry that box every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year that you live. The grief has to be dealt with. When I first started to open the box I carried it was overwhelming. Over the years opening the box has gotten easier and I have mourned a lot of men. So in sistained combat you don't have the luxury of dealing with the loss of friends and Patton was right. Patton was also wrong saying that it is foolish to mourn the men who were killed. You have to deal with the grief at some point or it will bite you on the azz.

Puff_Dougie

First Warrior:

Puff_Dougie:

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." - Gen George S. Patton

Remembering with gratitude those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and saying Thank You to all who have stepped up to stand in the breach. Happy Veteran's Day to all my BOTLs and SOTLs in uniform, and thank you for your service!

I've though about this quote for a couple of days and here is my combat veteran two cents. I don't really expect most of you guys to understand but here are my words. I mean no disrespet to anyone and thank you for thanking me and the rest of our botl vets. Patton was right but he was also wrong. It is foolish and wrong to mourn at the point in time that men are killed in combat. If you express grief at that time it will get you killed or it will get your buddys killed. You have to roll the dead up in their ponchos, carry them to a chopper and they are whisked away as if they never existed. The grief is still there, you just put it into a box, nail the lid shut and cram it down deep inside yourself. Thats what we all did. If you survive war you carry that box every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year that you live. The grief has to be dealt with. When I first started to open the box I carried it was overwhelming. Over the years opening the box has gotten easier and I have mourned a lot of men. So in sistained combat you don't have the luxury of dealing with the loss of friends and Patton was right. Patton was also wrong saying that it is foolish to mourn the men who were killed. You have to deal with the grief at some point or it will bite you on the azz.

You're absolutely right about this, Rodger, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Patton's quote was meant to emphasize the gratitude that we have for those who are willing to put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms, but you're right that he overstated his case by downplaying the sense of loss that comes with the death of fathers, brothers, uncles, husbands. Please know that I did not intend to minimize that loss. I did not have the honor of serving, but I have many friends in the military and I know the pain they carry from the grief they've had to suppress in order to survive. Maybe Patton should have said

"It is natural and necessary to mourn the men who died, but we should also thank God that such men lived."

Blessings to you, sir!

Rain

Deep, and true. Nobody on the battlefield deserves to die alone.