Happy Veteran's Day

[ffemt128]

I would like to take a moment and raise a toast to all the members of the forum who are military or who have family members in the military.

I personally have a son who recenlty got out of the U.S. Marines and server a tour in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I also have a son in the PA National Guard who will be deploying next year over seas.

I ask all the members here to take a moment and remember those military personnel who gave the alltimate sacrificed for this great county of ours and I also ask that you thank any military members you may encounter, whether it be tomorrow, or any day, for their service and dedication to our country.

I know tomorrow I plan on buying alot of lunches for our service men and women.

GOD BLESS AMERICA.....

 

[Flem]

I'll second that! Here, here!!

 

[Rocky]

"Thank you!" to all the Veterans of our armed forces and to all those presently serving, as well.

I am sure we have a lot of Vets on the forum so "Thanks" to all of us, too. For me it was one of the greatest priviledges and honors of my life to serve. It has been more than 47 years and I still have contact with a number of my Army buddies.

 

[JohnT]

If I may, A short story...

I did a lot of flying in my career.

The only place in Atlanta airport, where you can smoke, is a bar in "D" terminal.

So I was in there just a couple years ago and noticed that the place was filled with a lot of service men and women. As one of them was getting a drink at the bar, I asked the soldier if he was heading home or heading "out".

He said that he was heading out for his first tour in Iraq. He said that, in fact, every one of them was heading out to Iraq. He then got his drink and walked back to his table.

Standing next to me was another gentleman in a suit. I noticed him shaking his head. He looked at me and said "ya know, noone points a gun at me when I go to work". I let this sink in for a little bit. I then said "ya know, the least we can do is buy these folks a drink".

Long story short, we opened a tab for them, set a $500.00 limit, split it 50/50, and had the annoucement made. The cheer that rang out was deafining. It was heart-warming just to find a way to do something nice for them and to show them how much they are appreciated. That cheer more than covered the cost!

But it was what happend next that really got me. The next day, I stopped back into that bar (I was flying back home), and the manager of the bar came up to me. He said that the final tab came to over 2,500.00.

When I recovered from this, the manager informed me that over a dozen people contributed to the bill. Each time the limit was getting close, someone came up and dontated more. The bar even donated free meals to anyone in uniform that did not even show up on the bill.

There are two life lessons that i gleaned from this episode, First, it goes to show you, the world is full of people that just need an opportunity to do some good. Second, we are a nation that is thankful for the sacrifices made by our service men and women.

May God bless and keep you... always.

(sorry to get do sappy, but it is a true story).

johnT.


The moral

 

[ibglowin]

Great story to share on this important day!

 

[Brintk]

JohnT,

Back in March of 1971 when it wasn't popular to be in the service, I was sitting in a bar at KOKC (Will Rodgers International Airport, Oklahoma City, OK) with six (6) other guys who had just completed Army A.I.T. at Fort Sill (Artillery). We were wearing our Class A's, having a beer, waiting for our flights to take us home for a short leave before going to our next duty station. Nobody was paying much attention to us.

A gentleman wearing a large cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a huge belt bucket walked over to the table and said something to the effect of , "Where you boys coming from?" We told him that we were coming from Fort Sill. He then asked where we we going. We answered.

At that point, he called the waitress over, and told her that our money was no good in that bar. He bought us, I can't remember how many, more rounds and paid our whole bill.
Needless to say the flights home were a little fuzzy, but I remember that experience to this day, and the gentleman who paid the tab.

To this day when I see service people sitting in a bar at an airport, I remember that experience and send a round to their table.

To anyone on this forum that has served, Thank you.

 

[gird123]

Thank you for our freedom and God bless you.

Nate

 

[tjbryner]

As a veteran,
I would like to thank all of you. It's hard to say in words, But if not for people like all of you it would be hard to get up and do the things that we have done.

Good people make it worth it and your thanks goes VERY far!

It was 2 years ago today I quit my job as a I.T. for a company, Long story short. The owner said something about one of the guys there being a stupid SOB and that he should have stayed in the Army were stupid people belong.

I just about put hands on him before I walked out never to look back.

Thank all of you for making this great country worth fighting for.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Our freedom is greatly appreciated and it is because of these men and women. Thanks for all you do and continue to do!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Happy Veterans day and thank you to all of our service men.