When Did Americans Start Thanking Their Military, and Is It Strange?

I’m the one whining?
You started insulting me on your first reply.
If you think my Marine Corps brother in law should be thanked the same as you your nuts.
He got a job with the VA. They showed him how to commit fraud.He now gets a bogus disability check for 1600$ A month plus works full time. He figured out how to rig his computer to make it look like he is working so he doesn’t even work.
You want me to thank him the way I would thank you?
How about my other brother in law. Air force sergeant who cheated on my sister when she was pregnant. Should I thank him also?
These are just vets in my family. I have good vets in my family also.
Again. People should be thanked for the job they do. Not who they work for.
I’m sorry what happened to you 60 years ago . I understand your sacrifice. I’m not going to lump you together with people who don’t deserve the thanks.
Feel free to critique my grammar. Im not a English teacher and can use it.
As far as my job goes, look up timber harvesting and crane removal. I was the guy hanging off the crane at 80 feet with a chainsaw strapped to him. Every day. It was more a sport then a job.
I saw people electrocuted, crushed, cut with saws.
I was electrocuted and crushed and cut with a saw.
The worst was seeing someone get their leg caught in a dozer track. It was the bosses son and he bled out before help showed up.
Veterans aren’t the only ones to see some shit.
Still think I’m a draft dodging coward?
I was born with club feet and rejected.
Yet I was not drafted to do this job. I chose it. I expect no thanks.

OK, I apologize: that was one hell of a job you did and it was intensely risky. I am also sorry that you have been surrounded by cheating, undeserving vets.

But most of us were pretty damn good - all of the guys who made it back with me pursued great careers, raised families, always solid citizens (completely unlike the movie and TV show versions of returning combat vets who were depicted as time-fused bombs, waiting to go off). Many of my friends died of cancer - which I also had - because of the garbage the Air Force sprayed all over, including our water supplies. During those early days, when we were first back, we had each other and that support carried us through to where we are now.

I am amazed at the work you had and I admire you for it - and I suspect that you too raised a family and did well.

God bless you and keep you safe.

Chainmail

I also apologize. I know your story because I have been going out of my way to read your posts for the last twelve years.
I am extremely grateful for the sacrifice you and your fellow vets have made. I didn’t like arguing with you.
I just had to make the point that a lot of people are not sincere when they thank a vet. If I see a vet and have the time, I will start a conversation, see if they want to talk,hear their, they’re,or there story, and then thank them. I think that is the right way to do it.
I don’t like to brag about having a tough job because it was something I liked doing. That’s why I was reluctant to tell you about it. I just wanted to point out that some workers have it tough and don’t get much thanks. My job was only critical during natural disasters such as ice storms and hurricanes. Your job,emergency services, miners, rough necks, all more important then my job. And very dangerous.
Thanks for your service.

It’s a really good thing when you can find a job that suits you, makes you happy to go to work that day. I spent way too much time in the Marines, which is funny when you consider that I always hated running, standing in formation for hours and petty, dimwitted senior leadership. Nonetheless, I stayed in, and the real benefit was working with the solid Marines that make up the majority of them.

That, and I had some really cool assignments - including fighting a big tree fire for a month with 800 of my best friends for a month in Wenatchee Washington. When we got there and we were given a cow pasture in the middle of a completely burned-out area to set up our camp, one of my troops came to me a said “aren’t we a little late?”. I said “yeah, we’re late for this spot but we have a lot more areas around us that haven’t burned yet”.

Our careers give us memories, experiences, and we’re lucky, satisfaction.

Glad we’re friends again.

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