SOLDIERS

I'm out the door to start my 3 day weekend but wanted to pause for a minute to give thanks for our soldiers, both here and gone:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

GOD BLESS AMERICA
have a safe holiday everyone!

May god bless our men and women in service to our country; Keep
them with you and keep them close.

Please God hold them in the grasp of his protective of his hands;

and bless and keep the families who await their return.

We pray that this conflict is quickly ended and all who serve return home safe.

Thank you Venus and gmcnulty.....we forget when we have a day off for a holiday that this weekend is actually about the people who have given everything so that we can sit here on our comps and discuss things as this. Thank you both for reminding me and especially all of us what this weekend means. I need to call my brother and thank him also (veteran of the first Gulf war) and I'm going to the opening of the WWII memorial this weekend. I'm taking pictures for my grandfather's birthday (he and his brother where in WWI). Although his brother was killed. I think me taking pictures for him there will mean more to him than anyone of us could ever imagine. Thank you all soldiers of ANY war....you ARE the real Heroes.

"I think me taking pictures for him there will mean more to him than anyone of us could ever imagine. Thank you all soldiers of ANY war....you ARE the real Heroes."

You are so right, and well done. It's affirmation that YOU know what he did for you.

Grand dad will be pleased.

PS I see your a trouble maker too.

Haved a great weekend

Trouble maker? I try not to be. Devil's advicate maybe, but I'd rather not cause trouble. Thanks for your comments. Yes, my grandfather is failing very fast in his health and I think having pictures of the opening of the memorial will be a nice birthday present for him. I was not the best grandson and I just feel this is the right thing to do.

Don't beat yourself Mac. The fact that you thought this, says that you consider your GD. He knows. The grandparents are like that, hellava lot smarter than we are. Good job.

Dulce Et Decorum Est

by Wilfred Owen (1893 - 1918)

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. It is sweet and right to die for your country. The old lie. Owen knew what was going on during the First World War - a war where the generals played war games with squaddie's lives. The same as Bush and Blair and doing right now.

To those who are fighting I wish to you protection and a rapid return to your families.

Also I pray too for your safe return and to let you guys know that I appreciate your dedication and willingness to join the army in the first place because you already had a sense of protection for the country.

Freedom is something every human being wants and even though some people believe America shouldn't have gone to Iraq, the liberation process of the Iraqi people is truly empowering and I know they will feel alot happier and "free" when the job is done. So thank you for being a part of that process, be proud as I am proud of you guys.

East germany was a very emotional time but when the wall came down the tears started flowing because they got such a sense of freedom, no more oppression, not more communism/dictatorship, no more mediocrity, no more threats of killing if they wanted to jump the wall to get to freedom, all that FEAR AND OPPRESSION was wiped away...
God bless Ronald Reagan and co.
A true patriot of freedom...


God bless you and keep you safe, warm, and secure.


[Edited on 29-5-2004 by TrueLies]

I hope they are all alright and there will be no more deaths. Hope they come back home in June as Bush said, but yet there will be other soldiers there...