What Is A Veteran?
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was
asked by
the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an
example
of empire building’ by George Bush. He answered by saying, ‘Over
the years, the
United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into
great
peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount
of land we have ever
asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.
You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then there was a conference in France where a number of
international
engineers were taking part, including French and American.
During a
break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying
’Have
you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an
aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he
intended
to do, bomb them?’ A Boeing engineer stood up and replied
quietly: ‘Our
carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several
hundred
people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency
electrical
power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the
capacity
to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several
thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and
they carry
half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and
injured to
and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many
does
France have? ‘
You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that
included
Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and
French
Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with
a large group of Officers
that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone
was
chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French
admiral suddenly complained that, ‘whereas Europeans learn many
languages, Americans learn only English.’ He then asked, ‘Why is
it
that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather
than
speaking French?’
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied ‘Maybe it’s
because
the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you
wouldn’t
have to speak German.’
You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France
on a
tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in
Paris by
plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his
passport
in his carry on. ‘You have been to France before, monsieur?’ the
customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that
he had
been to France previously. ‘Then you should know enough to have
your
passport ready.’ The American said, ‘The last time I was here, I
didn’t
have to show it.’ ‘Impossible. Americans always have to show
your
passports on arrival in France !’ The American senior gave the
Frenchman
a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. ‘Well, when I came
ashore
at Omaha Beach on D-Day in ’44 to help liberate this country, I
couldn’t find any Frenchmen to show it to.’
You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Is A Veteran?
A ‘Veteran’ — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or
reserve –
is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check
made
payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up
to,
and including his life.’
That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country
today,
who no longer understand that fact.
Let’s take a minute or two and thank God for our blessed
country, and for all who sacrificed their lives that we might continue to
live in freedom.
Thanks to each one of you who served in the military.
Comments (3)
That was amazing, incredible and awesome. Thank you for sharing. ~ L
AWESOME isn’t a big enough word to describe it.
Hmmm…. Don’t mention it.
Seriously though, those were real men. That was a real war. The rest of us just try to live up to their legacy.