From an old post, but the sentiment is the same today as two years ago.
Happy Veterans Day
May all my friends now in the Fertile Crescent come home to celebrate many, many Veterans Days with their kids, grandkids and any other close or distant relations who might want to hang with them.
May the Neocons all read Dante, and take it to heart.
Thank you for the wonderful salute. I guess the preznit and his 1600 Krew have Flanders Fields dreams about the Fertile Crescent; perhaps the Faluja Field is sounding like a great legacy for this "administration".
posted by: Nina on 11.11.05 at 08:33 AM [permalink]
A salute to you also. And thank you for this blog.
posted by: spinkbottle on 11.11.05 at 09:06 AM [permalink]
Thank you to all my brothers and sisters who have served and made sacrifices for our nation.
I am proud of my service for our nation, and for my fellow soldiers.
My thoughts are with those in the current war, and I hope you will all be home safe---soon.
If our "leaders" had ever experienced war, they would not have been so quick to commit others to combat. They are cowards who choose "other options" when they had the chance to step-up and serve.
posted by: Nick on 11.11.05 at 09:18 AM [permalink]
Happy Veterans Day, Jo! Keep up the Good Work! Thanks for the sacrifices of ALL of our veterans, living and passed on. Wishing a safe and speedy return for our Armed Forces around the world who put their lives on the line for their country no matter how how flawed and aberrant the mission!
Semper Fi!
posted by: Bill Arnold on 11.11.05 at 11:00 AM [permalink]
To everybody on active duty, especially those overseas -- we're thinking about you, stay safe, come home as fast as you can and thanks for what you're doing.
For active duty personnel and the vets who've gone and come home, the two sweetest words in the world: Welcome Home.
posted by: fbg46 on 11.11.05 at 11:21 AM [permalink]
Thank you for your service.
I thought you might be interested in another Vet. A republican vet over at republicanvet.blogspot.com needs some education from a democratic vet.
Oh, but good luck getting any posts to stay up or be left unmagled by him. Especially when you prove him wrong in any way.
I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging; foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour,behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the Charioteers.
They cry into the night their battle name:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.
They come shaking in triumph their long grey hair:
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.
My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?
James Joyce
During the years of the great war, Ezra Pound never tired of heralding the hard reality and lack of polemics in the prose of the young writer who he knew only from his manucscripts and their corespondence between London and Trieste/Zurich. Yet, it was the above poem, shown to him by Yeats, that marked Pound's first acquaintance with Joyce and initiated the relationship of the two great moderns. Though it descriibes a dream, it too is free of commentary and rife with chiseled imagery, enough for champions and foes of war alike to grab onto.
I hear an army charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging; foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour,behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with fluttering whips, the Charioteers.
They cry into the night their battle name:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging, clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.
They come shaking in triumph their long grey hair:
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.
My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
My love, my love, my love, why have you left me alone?
James Joyce
During the years of the great war, Ezra Pound never tired of heralding the hard reality and lack of polemics in the prose of the young writer who he knew only from his manucscripts and their corespondence between London and Trieste/Zurich. Yet, it was the above poem, shown to him by Yeats, that marked Pound's first acquaintance with Joyce and initiated the relationship of the two great moderns. Though it descriibes a dream, it too is free of commentary and rife with chiseled imagery, enough for champions and foes of war alike to grab onto.
Just now I caught enough of our current leader's speech ostensibly offered in tribute to this day. What I heard were repeated harangues against his opponents, who are now challenging his (and their own) decision to commit our nation to war. No doubt similar opportunity is being taken by those opponents to return serve. What I'd hoped to hear were unvarnished and jibeless offerings on the terrible honor and glory of soldiering in this confused age. This age in which all are too hellbent on communicating a message to pause and grapple with the insolubly hard realities always associated with war.
"Through me the way into the lost city,
Through me the way into eternal woe,
Through me the way among the lost people.
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."
which are supposed to be on the gates of Hell, real soon.
I typed 'em from memory, so excuuuse me if they ain't exactly right. You get the idea.
Part of Bush's speech was an attack on those who question his version of how he got into this mess. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Sorry, Bud, but you had the responsibility to insure that the facts were correct. To claim that the intel was faulty and you were misled just makes you sound stupid. You could have waited until the UN inspectors finished their search. You had the power and chose the date and time... no one else did. As for revisionist history, try turning service in the Guard during the Vietnam War as a way to avoid serving in Vietnam into noble service (Quayle, GWB). What better way than to activate the Guard and send them into battle in both Gulf Wars. That way, you plant the idea with the public that the Guard was doing the same thing during Vietnam. I don't begrudge the guys who hated the war by trying to avoid going (as long as they don't now try to revise their own history), but I DO have contempt for those who tend to wave the flag over their politics and never seem to find the way down to the recruiting stations. As for myself, I graduated high school in 1971 and entered the military as a tank driver (11E) within days of turning 18. Dad (retired Navy, WW II vet) and by brother Gary (1st Cav artillery Vietnam 1967) tried like hell to talk me out of it. I was at Fort Knox attending Sheridan School (11E2R8) when DOD stopped sending tankers to Vietnam and sent us to Germany instead. My next tour was as a grunt (11B, 11H). Retired from the AF in 1998. For the young supporters of Bush, head down to the recruiting stations and sign up for combat in the INFANTRY (rifleman) or ARMOR (tanks). Don't try for a rear echelon position when you're that gung ho for the war. Your country desperately needs you, and the troops now in service are caring an unfair burden.
