chuck@olive-drab.com
www.olive-drab.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon W. Bell <bellsurveying@smithville.net>
To: MV <mil-veh@skylee.com>
Date: Thursday, March 11, 1999 6:34 AM
Subject: [MV] Thought You guys might enjy this one. ~ What's a VET
>Guys,
>
>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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