In 2017-8, the Deep State deep sixed Trump's plans to honor those who fought in the Great War. In this article, Admiral Stavridis whines about challenge coins as well as all the marching he had to do as a midshipman:
We who served stand, salute, and remember ALL those who served in the past. And we especially honor and remember those absent friends who paid the ultimate price. We personally knew and served with them in peacetime and wartime. Whether they died in training, day to day military operations, or in combat, they all gave of themselves in service to the greater whole of the nation. Let us hope and pray that the nation will choose to expend the lives of its service personnel with wisdom and honor as we look to the future. “We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”...George Orwell. Please, choose wisely.
Yes, the Brits (and other select members of the old Empire) continue to set the standard of remembrance of the honored dead and noble traditions of commemoration. Would that our own armed forces sought to do the same (we have a long way to go maintaining our own traditions and connection to those who served before us). May we be worthy of the sacrifice.
I am no fan of the royals but they do raise the bar when it comes to military service. Queen Elizabeth, Mountbatten, George VI, Prince Phillip, King Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince William, Prince Harry, etc. all got their hands dirty and didn't rest on the laurels.
Granted we do have a handful of veterans in both political parties but on the whole i think America didn't really respect it's military until after 9/11 and only then begrudgingly.
One day of the year with some free food scattered around and lip service doesn't do justice nor does it go anywhere near helping our veterans.
I've said it once and I'll say it a million times if the USA had mandatory military service our country and it's citizens wouldn't be in the unsat condition were are in now.
If a country is good enough to live in then it's good enough to fight for.
Concur 100%. The UK royals are the inverse of the neocon "chickenhawk" class in the U.S...There is a sense of "service" of the ruling class, a sense of shared "skin in the game" with those ruled (the "working", lower class "commoners"). While not totally unique in history, they have indeed set the standard (IMO). The concept of universal service, be it by military "federal / state" service (Germany is NOT a good example of how to do this) has great merit for consideration as both a productive and educational tool as our younger generation matures.
I don't think military service can be required of a free people (absent local defense of the community) but I do like Heinlein's idea of service required to enjoy full citizenship and voting privileges.
The poem at the end of your post was written by a Canadian doctor, John McRae who served in the trenches, and is read aloud at every Remembrance Day service.
In the 90s, I was in London on November 11. I liked the little fabric and wire poppies you could put in the lapel of a jacket. In the UK, there's a greater recognition of the losses of WWI. Back in the 60s, there were still WWI vets hanging around my town's VFW, which was in a big, old, Tudor-style manor on the grounds of our town's then-new public swimming facility. The WWI vets ran a snack bar and sold hot dogs to the kids.
22 years in, and lost 5 squadron mates over those years. I still remember the date of each one. Served as escort officer for 2 - painful, humbling, yet somehow inspirational. They all deserve for their memories to be cherished, celebrated with friends and a glass of cheer, and for their deeds (and mis-deeds) to be re-told with just a slight bit of "altitude" - "oh man, you had to see it to believe it" - to the unknowing. Rest in God's Hands, Brothers. Until that day.
Concur. Not UK, but in the 1980s CDR Mongo and I were stationed in Italy, and happened to be touring in the vicinity of the Isonzo on 11/11. We were just entering a memorial cemetery when all the church bells rang and everything stopped--cars buses, pedestrians, everything. After a pause, traffic resumed, and we wandered over to a six story building on the grounds of the cemetery. When we got there we realized it was full of skulls. Six stories of skulls. Sobering and thought provoking.
WWI just pisses me off. It’s not just the poets, but the engineers we lost. The scientists and doctors. The best men of an entire generation; murdered.
if not straight up murdered, which can be debated, certainly wasted, to no good purpose, by at minimum gross incompetency of national leaders and strategists.
The Heroes' Wife is the story of Dora Smith Griffin Bell, who has been married to two heroes of the Vietnam War. Her first husband, a navy pilot, was shot down over Hanoi on Ho Chi Minh's birthday, 1967 and captured. In this book Dora shares letters Jim Griffin wrote home from the war and her own experiences during years of hopeful waiting, only to learn at the end of the conflict that her husband had died just days after capture. After the war Dora married Jim Bell, another POW who had survived seven an a half years in Hanoi, and she tells about his experiences and his nightmares.
In 2017-8, the Deep State deep sixed Trump's plans to honor those who fought in the Great War. In this article, Admiral Stavridis whines about challenge coins as well as all the marching he had to do as a midshipman:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/admiral-stavridis-troops-deserve-better-165523549.html
The Deep State just could not stand the idea of Trump presiding over a parade.
Stavridis is the first in line at Applebees today. Probably waiting for the doors to open.
When I see him I will tell how proud I am of the challenge coin I rec’d in the E Ring.
We who served stand, salute, and remember ALL those who served in the past. And we especially honor and remember those absent friends who paid the ultimate price. We personally knew and served with them in peacetime and wartime. Whether they died in training, day to day military operations, or in combat, they all gave of themselves in service to the greater whole of the nation. Let us hope and pray that the nation will choose to expend the lives of its service personnel with wisdom and honor as we look to the future. “We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”...George Orwell. Please, choose wisely.
Yes, the Brits (and other select members of the old Empire) continue to set the standard of remembrance of the honored dead and noble traditions of commemoration. Would that our own armed forces sought to do the same (we have a long way to go maintaining our own traditions and connection to those who served before us). May we be worthy of the sacrifice.
The Brits also take care of the cemeteries in their former dominions.
Forever more, a little piece of England.
I’ll be at our downtown Cenotaph this morning with fellow 🇨🇦 veterans. Lest We Forget
it should be sacrosanct, a Remembrance of honor and sacrifice; but sadly, POPPY has been preempted by "woke" DEI crowd
The DEI crowd thinks poppy is something to smoke.
I was shocked (and humbled) to find that I am distantly related to the first MoH recipient, Jacob Parrott.
At 19, he participated in the Great Locomotive Chase, which could characterized as a proto Spec Ops effort...
https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/history/the-great-locomotive-chase-the-first-awarded-medal-of-honor/
They were all captured by the Confederates, and some were executed.
Jacob was repatriated in a prisoner swap, and Lincoln awarded the first of the newly conceived Medals of Honor to Jacob, as he was the youngest.
It's now a little known story, so thought I would share.
That is something to note. Lest we forget.
I am no fan of the royals but they do raise the bar when it comes to military service. Queen Elizabeth, Mountbatten, George VI, Prince Phillip, King Charles, Prince Andrew, Prince William, Prince Harry, etc. all got their hands dirty and didn't rest on the laurels.
Granted we do have a handful of veterans in both political parties but on the whole i think America didn't really respect it's military until after 9/11 and only then begrudgingly.
One day of the year with some free food scattered around and lip service doesn't do justice nor does it go anywhere near helping our veterans.
I've said it once and I'll say it a million times if the USA had mandatory military service our country and it's citizens wouldn't be in the unsat condition were are in now.
If a country is good enough to live in then it's good enough to fight for.
Concur 100%. The UK royals are the inverse of the neocon "chickenhawk" class in the U.S...There is a sense of "service" of the ruling class, a sense of shared "skin in the game" with those ruled (the "working", lower class "commoners"). While not totally unique in history, they have indeed set the standard (IMO). The concept of universal service, be it by military "federal / state" service (Germany is NOT a good example of how to do this) has great merit for consideration as both a productive and educational tool as our younger generation matures.
I don't think military service can be required of a free people (absent local defense of the community) but I do like Heinlein's idea of service required to enjoy full citizenship and voting privileges.
or running for office. If you send soldiers to fight, you should understand what that means, to them and their families
I agree.
But is fighting in all these endless wars really fighting for America or for Supreme Neocon Chicken Hawk in Chief Dick Cheney and Halliburton?
So many lies from the Gulf of Tonkin to WMD in Iraq.
Yep. With freedom comes the responsibility to defend that freedom.
The poem at the end of your post was written by a Canadian doctor, John McRae who served in the trenches, and is read aloud at every Remembrance Day service.
In the 90s, I was in London on November 11. I liked the little fabric and wire poppies you could put in the lapel of a jacket. In the UK, there's a greater recognition of the losses of WWI. Back in the 60s, there were still WWI vets hanging around my town's VFW, which was in a big, old, Tudor-style manor on the grounds of our town's then-new public swimming facility. The WWI vets ran a snack bar and sold hot dogs to the kids.
22 years in, and lost 5 squadron mates over those years. I still remember the date of each one. Served as escort officer for 2 - painful, humbling, yet somehow inspirational. They all deserve for their memories to be cherished, celebrated with friends and a glass of cheer, and for their deeds (and mis-deeds) to be re-told with just a slight bit of "altitude" - "oh man, you had to see it to believe it" - to the unknowing. Rest in God's Hands, Brothers. Until that day.
My father was a British Army vet and Remembrance Day always was somberly noted as well as our Veteran's Day.
I write this at 11:00 according to my ship's clock 6 bells.
https://x.com/COLRICHARDKEMP/status/1856000903393784097
Concur. Not UK, but in the 1980s CDR Mongo and I were stationed in Italy, and happened to be touring in the vicinity of the Isonzo on 11/11. We were just entering a memorial cemetery when all the church bells rang and everything stopped--cars buses, pedestrians, everything. After a pause, traffic resumed, and we wandered over to a six story building on the grounds of the cemetery. When we got there we realized it was full of skulls. Six stories of skulls. Sobering and thought provoking.
The General
By Siegfried Sassoon
“Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,
And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
Have you ever seen the movie about him Regeneration (1997)? It was released as Behind the Lines in the US in 1998.
It was pretty good; rather poignant of course but also had some humor along the way, at least IIRC.
WWI just pisses me off. It’s not just the poets, but the engineers we lost. The scientists and doctors. The best men of an entire generation; murdered.
if not straight up murdered, which can be debated, certainly wasted, to no good purpose, by at minimum gross incompetency of national leaders and strategists.
A shout out to all of youse veterans with a tip of the hat to the spouses who faithfully supported our service.
But, a note to our gracious host. Please pick a different pic next time. The very first thought was, His Majesty needs a haircut.
He's the king. Everyone else had better let their hair grow a little longer. LOL
You just made laugh out loud in a bar.
I'm glad we took the time to pitch out a King's authority...
Also a good day to pitch this book again...
https://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Wife-Dora-Bell/dp/1425926037
The Heroes' Wife is the story of Dora Smith Griffin Bell, who has been married to two heroes of the Vietnam War. Her first husband, a navy pilot, was shot down over Hanoi on Ho Chi Minh's birthday, 1967 and captured. In this book Dora shares letters Jim Griffin wrote home from the war and her own experiences during years of hopeful waiting, only to learn at the end of the conflict that her husband had died just days after capture. After the war Dora married Jim Bell, another POW who had survived seven an a half years in Hanoi, and she tells about his experiences and his nightmares.
Time to defund Columbia University...
It is a public menace.
https://x.com/Eliana_Goldin/status/1856029217219031487