On June 6, 1918, Marines of the First Marine Brigade, launched an assault on a strategic German strongpoint called Belleau Wood. The name has since been changed to the Wood of the Marine Brigade. Over ten thousand Marines would be wounded or killed in the next three weeks, but as always, the Marines would take the ground.
On November 11, 1918, only five months after the Allied Forces turned the Devil Dogs loose on the German's, the Kaiser had had enough, and The War to End All Wars came to an end. Unfortunately, the memory of some peoples is short, so the Marine Corps, and the US Army, Navy and later Air Force, have had to re-iterate the lesson of Belleau Wood again and again since 1918. And they have always done the job.
Have you thanked a veteran today?
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I had the time of my life in the Army and, would do it all again the exact same way.
ReplyDeleteI went places I never dreamed of seeing, did things I thought I couldn't do and, learned things I'd never have known had I not volunteered.
I owe the Army more thanks than I deserve for just serving in it.
Thanks and God Bless all who serve and have served in the past.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sepp but will go one step further. The Marine Corps taught me that I could always reach down, "grab ahold" and find the guts to keep going.
ReplyDeleteGunny,
ReplyDeleteI just hoisted a brew with E-Tool, and part of my toast to him on this Veterans Day was thank you for killing commies with a shovel. And here's hoping you don't have to kill any more of them.
I fervently hope we can defeat the defeatists at the ballot box; I have no doubt we will defeat them on a battle field, should they choose to engage us.
Semper Fi, Marine.
Happy Veterans Day everyone. God Bless you all.
ReplyDeleteGentlemen,
ReplyDeleteA fitting tribute to all that served.
We are now engaged with the left on the battlefield of ideals, and then we move onto the battlefield with the ballot box as our weapon. When the left loses, and they will, we must be prepared to engage with the cartridge box and or shovels as the situation demands.
We have spent three generations fighting the communists and now they are within our perimeter. Let us hope and pray that the left peacefully accepts the defeat that is sure to come next year.
If not I will see you all at the parapets.
It's kind of strange you mentioning that battle. My grandfather was an army ambulance driver in France during W.W.One. I wonder if he was at that battle. I've noticed that whoever puts the flags on veterans' graves stopped putting one on my grandfather's grave several years ago.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound selfish, but I've always thought France should be nicer to the United States after all we've done for them. My all time favorite quote was by an American General in response to France's General De Gaulle when he ordered all American soldiers out of France. The American General responded "Does that include the ones buried here, too?"
Sepp,
ReplyDeleteTwo things I will never do again:
Marine Corps Boot Camp
Helo Dunker
I believe success at either one means you can do damn near anything, and I passed both. Other than those two, I would do it all over again.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteAlmost as good as a Navy Corpsman is the Army Medic.
France should be nicer to us, and I like your quote. They seem to forget that we paid them back for Lafeyette tenfold.
Hardnox,
ReplyDeleteKruschev said the Soviets would defeat us without firing a shot. But he forgot we would all be shooting. The sorry ass communists will NOT win as long as I draw breath.
Tenth,
ReplyDeleteWe now have 25 million veterans alive. Throw in the hunters and the rednecks and we have the largest standing army in the world that actually knows how to shoot.
I would just like to say one more time, thank you. Thanks for everything you've done on my behalf. Behalf of my life, behalf of my freedom. It will never be forgotten...................
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteHave you thanked a veteran today?
I would have thanked Tenth, but he revoked his protection of me a few months ago, so there is no need to extend my gratitude his way.
By the way, did you note that Sen. Jim DeMint R-SC cast a NO vote against a veterans plan that was ratified by all of the other senators? I guess he hates Veterans.
Mud,
ReplyDeleteYou fucking turd. Have you thanked any veteran? You are a piece of shit. You are the kind of crap that makes good men decide not to work for their country.
Really? I wonder why you 'revoked' your protection of me? Of course, you cannot answer that, can you?
ReplyDeleteAnd, by the way, it is irrelevant and hyper-hypothetical besides, but if it keeps you humming, then I suppose it is 'meaningful' to you.
How about GOP Senator DeMint? Is he a 'fucking turd' too?? A piece of shit?
Or is he immune because he's a Republican Tea Partier???
LOL!! You are so funny....
Mud_PILE,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Tenth. You are despicable.
Senator Demint may have voted against the measure for a number of reasons. While we veterans do expect the Nation to make good on it's promises, we generally don't angle for special privileges that our civilian counterparts don't have.
This was just another effort by Obama to spend money we don't have and chalk up points later by helping a group that virtually all Americans (except you Mud_PILE) generally revere.
What have you ever done in your life to deserve the free air you breathe? Pray tell - what have you ever done for your country?
"What have you ever done in your life to deserve the free air you breathe? Pray tell - what have you ever done for your country?"
ReplyDeleteHe answered that question months ago...He did,
"Big things and really important things that we can never know".
Muddy's bretheren thank the military and vets by constantly demanding that spending be slashed in favor of using that money to fund more welfare programs for those who won't even consider working to feed themselves let alone volunteering to risk harm to themselves on the country's behalf.
Muddy is the same guy who bashed Bush for sending the under-equipped military Clinton created into combat but, constantly bitches that buying equipment should be damned near eliminated.
Don't expect any thanks from leftists who resent you.
They know that vets are usually proud of their service, are patriotic and, understand something about what our what OUR constitution offers to everyone that is worth risking your life for in order to pass along to our kids to enjoy.
The left hates those ideals and see you as doing nothing more than standing in their way while they're trying to erase patriotism and the constitutional protections for our later generations in order to implement their failed leftist ideology of force as opposed to freedom.
The last thing a leftist is going to do is thank you for stopping him.
Maybe his grandchildren will thank you for stopping him when their personal decisions aren't government mandates later on.
I was talking with some friends recently about military service and an interesting point came up.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Viet Nam War, they started the draft because most of the enlisted men (women were not allowed) were from the lower social-economic classes.
Now we don't have the draft and once again men and women from the lower social-economic classes seem to be carrying the load.
Do you guys thinking the draft should be reinstated? A pro is that everybody would have an equal opportunity of serve and maybe take war more seriously.
Should an all volunteer military continue, but with an increase in pay and education opportunities? A pro is that men and women from the lower social-economic classes would have one more way to make a better life.
And as an interesting sidelight, if you respond, it might be interesting to see if veterans v.s. nonveterans have different views.
And to the person posting as Sepp, on another blog lacithedog already exposed you as a fraud. Your reply was that you were posing as a vet just to irritate the other posters.
ReplyDeleteReal vets don't take lightly to impostors.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThe draft was not "started" for the Vietnam War. We had a draft in this country since the start of WWII. I built a house for a man who was drafted in 1947, served three years in the Marine Corps, then got out before the Korean War started. He was ineligible to be re-drafted for Korea, so he thought he was smarter than all his buddies who didn't join the service right out of high school who then got drafted for Korea.
My personal opinion of the draft is that it helped nudge some people to work for other departments in our government to hopefully avoid dangerous service. Many draft dodgers (like Dick Cheney, for example) went to work for the State Department. You can argue the good or bad of Cheney, but many Democratic liberals used the same "honorable" out to keep themselves out of harm's way.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI will personally testify to Sepp's service. If he made the comment you cite, he was being sarcastic. I find it hilarious that a bunch of draft dodging liberals would be so up in arms over the service or non-service of anyone. Why don't you bitch about the dishonorable service of John Kerry, or even the draft dodging of Bill Clinton? How about bitching about JFK, whose own actions caused the incident that made him a hero? Then there's LBJ, who was the only person I've ever heard of who was able to get out of the service during WWII?
Pick a better target.
NW Ohio,
ReplyDeleteThere has been a draft for our entire History. Some of the original Colonies used a form of conscription in the Revolutionary War though the first use of a Federal draft was in the War Between the States.
As a government program, you can expect that it would be inexpertly and unfairly applied and it was. During the War Between the States the Federal Law allowed a draftee to purchase a replacement. The Amish and Quakers were allowed to declare themselves conscientious objectors and avoid service. Even today, there would be some deferments that would postpone or eliminate a draftee's requirement to serve.
The first modern Democrat (Progressive, Socialist, Liberal, whatever) Woodrow Wilson re-instituted the draft to fill out the ranks for World War I. It might have been because we really didn't need to go into World War I but that is another discussion. Nearly 3 million Americans were drafted. Both of my Grandfathers served in France during World War I (one was already in the Navy when we entered the war).
Since we have demobilized after our Wars so the draft was used to expand the military rapidly and relatively cheaply for World War II, Korea, and Viet Nam. Keeping a relatively large, professional, standing military is a way to avoid that.
The charges that the draft falls inequitably on the poor or on one race or another have always been proven false. While a few folks benefited from government exemptions, the number has been small enough to not make much of an impact. Clinton attempted to use the ROTC program to evade the draft, Cheney used student deferments. LBJ did serve in the Navy during WW II, but his time in a combat zone was not without controversy (just to set the record straight Tenth).
The Selective Service is still in place and 18 year old men must register. Liberals generally perceive that a draft falls unfairly on the lower economic groups because of the student deferment. Up until modern times only a very small number of people actually went to college. There was a thought that those bright enough to get into college might benefit the nation more after college than as a private in the army and there is some reason to believe that. Though now so many go to college for such ridiculous degrees that we should eliminate that deferment. A degree that ends in "Studies" probably shouldn't qualify for a deferment.
My father was in his first year in college when Pearl Harbor was bombed and he promptly dropped out and enlisted in the Navy.
The draft is a very complicated subject that doesn't lend itself to bumper sticker answers or charges. During Viet Nam a relatively small percentage of the service consisted of draftees (2.2 million of a total of 27 million who served) but the draft is credited with funneling a large number of people into various programs and services. For example George Bush was roundly criticized for joining the Air National Guard rather than allowing himself to be drafted. Conversely, some joined the Marine Corps as a more elite form of service than the army. Still others joined the Navy to sleep between sheets every night and get three square meals everyday. It's complicated.
Your continued unfounded and absurd charges that people are lying are ridiculous and self demeaning. It makes you look foolish. When you work at it, you can be fairly reasonable. Accusations such as yours are typically a form of psychological projection (you call someone else a liar because you yourself are lying). If this persists, you really should seek professional psychiatric help.
NON- You gave me a great idea for a great post about lower income kids in the military. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteNWO jeffio,
ReplyDeleteI've been over my vet status with your sorry ass more than enough times.
From 1990 until 2002 13B, 13E, 63D
SAM31, PLDC and, German language identifier.
Too easy but, not enough for your moonbat stalker friend who thought I'd be goaded into posting my DD214...which ain't going to happen.
Now, you tell us about YOUR time in service...no wait, in one post you did serve...and in another post you didn't serve and then in another post your wife served in desert storm...so which is it?
Since you claim to live so close, maybe we should meet up...I'll bring my DD214 and fold it up and stick it in my shirt pocket. If you can get it out, you can read it.
You might learn a lot about when to call people a liar and which bipolar moonbat's bullshit you should buy into and be repeating.
If I was blowing smoke up your ass, I certainly would never have invited muddy to stop by my boat where I live in the summer for dinner, drinks and friendly-adversary conversation...because when I hide behind the internet and spout bullshit to people...I always invite them to where I live...don't you Jeff / Gio / NWO or whoever you are posing as today?
-Sepp,
ReplyDeleteIf you ever do entertain Mud_PILE or NW Ohio at your boat or anywhere else, I want to buy a ticket. I'll promise to just watch and not intervene. The show would be priceless.
Hey NW Ohio - why do you seem so reasonable in the post about the Super Committee? How many of you are there?