If you are a veteran, thank you for your dedication and sacrifice to the service of our country.

If you know a veteran, please shake his or her hand and thank them for their duty.

 

A heartfealt thank you to all the Veterans

Military.com Veterans Day Tribute

 

To all of you that have served our country in the military,

Thank you

 

As a Vietnam era Veteran I feel compelled to post my humble opinion about the changing attitudes towards our military and veterans.

First off let me start with the old addage: If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading this in English, (not German or Japanese) thank a veteran.

With that out of the way, this Veteran who has had the experience of being spat on, an called a baby killer, for being in uniform at the Port of Authority Terminal in New York City in the summer of 1970 is very happy to see that attitudes towards the military have changed. This change was first shown at home after Gulf War One. Many Vietnam era Veterans were both happy and sad about this outpouring of appreciation, that many saw as an over compensation to make up for how poorly veterans of the Vietnam conflict were treated but at the same time elated to see that others were now being treated differently by the general population.

My concern is this: That in this age of "instant gratification" created largely by the mass media, and our fast paced life styles, including the business world with it's lack of long term thinking in it's quest for short term profits, that Americans will once again loose their will for a protracted conflict. As we have seen, Iraq has caused somewhat of a polarizing effect in the American psyche. That will allow the media to cause a shift in the attitudes towards the military and the men and women that serve this country.

As I believe Thomas Jefferson once stated "beware the enemy from within". I certainly hope that future generations of Americans will not be tainted by the media reports that seem to be so bias in how they filter the "news" in so many ways.

With that stated: How many of you learned what actor Denzel Washington did to help support our troops. I received an e-mail tonight that was an E-rumor via e-mail but I always try to verify things before I pass them along.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors...zel-brooke.htm

In closing, I just hope that the media does not taint the image of all of those in uniform that are currently sacrificing so much for relatively so few (Iraq's) in the name of freedom. If not us, whom? I found it refreshing that President Nicolas Sarkozy of France thanked the United States military for their contribution to France in liberating the French people in WWII during his address to Congress last week. And his comments that when an America war fighter dies, a part of him dies with them. Hopefully, history in the twenty-third century will still be taught in American schools in English, not Arabic.

Thank you for taking a minute to remember that Veteran's Day is NOT about sales.

 

Well said, Matt, and nearly 70% of Americans share your admiration sentiments about those who serve. I'll take that any day. I did give my father a hug today.

 

Well said Matt.

 

My family buried another veteran today. My Uncle Paul was a Navy veteran who served during the Korean Confilict.

My thanks and gratitude to you all.

 

Read this and be amazed

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/opinion/...r=1&oref=slogin

 

Nice read. I wish him well. They are never forgotten, as long as we respect what they fought for.
As a side note, the Daughters of the Confederacy have never forgotten the near 200 Confederate POWs who died in captivity during the Civil War and are buried in a spotlessly maintained cemetary on an island a couple of miles from here. Just as it should be.

 

I think the line that really caught my attention was

We are watching history disappear right in front of our eyes. Hopefully, we and our children and our children's children will always remember, but we are losing the living links to the past.