I know it is not about vehicles, really, but, I also can't think of any
place that is more appropriate to post and share. Of course, in truth I
must confess, I did think of some of our metal, wheeled friends and the
threads of late on the import ban.
Anyway, I just hope that it means as much to you as it does to me.
Best wishes to all,
Gordie
> > > > "What Is A Vet?"
> > > > Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing
> > > > limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may
> > > > carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone
> > > > together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another
> > > > sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of
> > > > adversity.
> > > >
> > > > Except in parades, however, the men and women who have
> > > > kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell
> > > > a vet just by looking. What is a vet?
> > > >
> > > > He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi
> > > > Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored
> > > > personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
> > > >
> > > > He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks,
whose
> > > > overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times
> > > > in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near
> > > > the 38th parallel.
> > > >
> > > > She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went
> > > > to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
> > > >
> > > > He is the POW who went away one person and came back
> > > > another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
> > > >
> > > > He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen
> > > > combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy,
> > > > no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and
> > > > teaching them to watch each other's backs.
> > > >
> > > > He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his
> > > > ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
> > > >
> > > > He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons
> > > > and medals pass him by.
> > > >
> > > > He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The
> > > > Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National
> > > > Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the
> > > > anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with
> > > > them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
> > > >
> > > > He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket -
> > > > palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a
> > > > Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife
> > > > were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
> > > >
> > > > He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a
> > > > person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the
> > > > service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so
> > > > others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
> > > >
> > > > He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness,
> > > > and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on
> > > > behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
> > > >
> > > > So remember, each time you see a man or a woman who has served
> > > > our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most
> > > > people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any
> > > > medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
> > > > Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU." >>
> > >
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