Marine '80 - '84, currently woodworker. If I had served longer, I would have missed out on what I have now. Christian. Conservative. Married, to TMBWitW, and we have the cutest daughter ever, MEG.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
I, Cary Cartter, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae, 1915.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
To all who have served: Thank you. May this day help us all to remember those who have given everything in defense of the ideals that is the United States of America.
And thank you, Dad, for instilling in me the morals and ideals that I needed to become the man I am, no matter how painful it was at the time. I miss you.
Quite the reminder of what we are losing, everyday.
In case I haven’t said this lately, let me say it now - go out and thank as many veterans as you can find. Doesn’t matter how old they are or how young they are. Tell them you appreciate their service to this country. Doesn’t matter if they claim they were forced into it, or if they served willingly and would do it again. Thank them for their service. I thank every veteran I run across. I usually get tears in return, if the veteran is older than I am. I’ll get a “It was my pleasure, sir!” out of the younger ones. If the veteran is a little stooped, and his baseball cap with the 1st MarDiv patch on it has World War Two battlegrounds listed next to it, I’ll learn some military history and some personal service history. If the names on the cap are oriental and difficult to pronounce, I’ll get clarification of the names, and why they are on his cap. Sometimes, from a Viet Nam vet, I’ll get five minutes of silence while his stare goes out to a thousand yards and he runs down his mental list of buddies he can’t see anywhere but in his mind… that’s when I sit quietly, and watch his face, and start to tear up for him, and for my cousin, who died with the epithet of “babykiller” still ringing in his ears, thirty years after he stepped off the freedom bird. Thank them all, because they did something not everyone is willing to do - put their beliefs and their lives fully behind the greatest nation in the world.
We had dinner at Golden Corral last night. While going up to get more steak, I spotted a gentleman wearing a VietNam Veteran ball cap, with his ribbons sewn on. I stopped, thanked him for his service, and said “Welcome Home.” He thanked me for the sentiments, and said a lot of people just aren’t aware of what the average Vet has gone through. I told him I made a point of thanking the Vets I spotted, because too many of them hadn’t been thanked by anyone, and almost none of them were told “Welcome Home” by anyone outside their family. His wife sobbed loudly at that point, and he could just nod and turn away.
Watch the video, and then read the text. And then, join me in lambasting NBC for being a bunch of wussified PC leftards.
WASHINGTON - NBC has rejected a TV ad by Freedom’s Watch, a conservative group that supports administration policy in Iraq, that asks viewers to remember and thank U.S. troops during the holiday season.
NBC said it declined to air the ad because it refers to the group’s Web site, which the network said was too political, not because of the ad’s message.
“Anybody in the world who would look at this ad would come away with nothing other than we should be thankful for their service,” Freedom’s Watch president Brad Blakeman said.
The spot was to be part of a seven-figure campaign that includes newspaper ads and television commercials. The ads are to run on CNN and Fox News Channel and are running in various newspapers. The New York Times ran a full-page Freedom’s Watch ad Friday that said “Thank You!” and depicted a soldier reading a letter. The newspaper ad also contained the Web site address.
Come on, NBC, the New York Times ran the ad, and you can’t because the web site is “too political?” I am throwing the BS flag on that play, NBC. Guess which network just got blocked by the user on my satellite dish? That’s right, and all your little connected channels, too - like SciFi (Eureka is in reruns, anyway) and especially MSNBC.
Like Guy K says, if all the vets tell NBC where to go hide this crummy little weasel play, they might realize what kind of a customer base they just pissed off.
