To: FReepers; everyone; All
Posted on 11/14/2011 11:17:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Popstar Justin Timberlake was largely the reason actress Mila Kunis accepted an invitation to attend an upcoming Marine Corps Ball — but Cpl. Kelsey DeSantis was the reason Timberlake found himself moved almost to tears at a similar event Saturday night, a night the celebrity writes “changed [his] life.”
After Timberlake publicly urged his Friends with Benefits costar Kunis to say “yes” to the request she received from a serviceman, DeSantis invited Timberlake — via YouTube — to the Nov. 12 Instructor Battalion Marine Corps Ball in Richmond, Va.
“You want to call out my girl Mila?” De Santis asked in a video. “Well, I’m going to call you out and ask you to come to the Marine Corps ball with me on Nov. 12.”
Timberlake accepted and, Saturday night, he kept his promise.
“I knew I would have an evening that I wouldn’t forget… Something I could tell my friends about,” Timberlake wrote the next day. “What I didn’t know was how moved I would be by the whole experience.”
The GQ favorite has always been a vocal supporter of the armed forces — but his glimpse into the camaraderie and closeness of the Marine Corps taught him he’ll never fully understand just what men and women in uniform endure for us — and also that he can never appreciate them enough.
A video tribute to the Marines particularly took Timberlake by surprise:
While this tribute was playing, you could hear a pin drop. It was a surreal moment to be in that room with so many of our great Marines who have such a different type of connection to those stories. One that we who don’t serve will NEVER understand. It was familial. It was like they were listening to their own blood brothers. I glanced around the room at young men and women, spouses and soldiers… At kids way beyond their years, really… All so deeply entwined. Not just by battle, even though we who have never endured anything remotely close to those experiences and have NO position to comment on… But, by having such life changing experiences through them and to not ever waver in their love and respect for our homeland. That’s what I saw. A faith in us that has been tested time and time again. And, through it all, NEVER a drop of doubt. …
The night inspired Timberlake to call on his family, friends and fans to separate their views of war from support for the troops and to intentionally thank those who serve the cause of freedom worldwide.
We all have our own individual views on war… But, doesn’t that speak to just another thing that makes this country so special?? The fact that we can all wake up every morning and BE individual with a pure sense of freedom..? But, one thing that can’t be argued is that it’s because of the people who VOLUNTEER their lives to make sure that it’s protected at all times. And, like I said before, doing so while asking for nothing in return…
To people like me who get to benefit from this type of person… One with character and courage. With strength and bravery. With humility and honor… I say: Send your thanks. Do it however you can. Write a letter, type an email… Hell, buy ‘em a beer next time you run into someone from our Armed Forces in a bar. When they say thank you for that drink that cost you 3 bucks, they’ll mean it. They won’t take it for granted and, they won’t forget it.
This phenomenon of inviting celebrities to personally experience some element of American life they wouldn’t otherwise encounter — whether a Marine Corps Ball or a Tea Party rally — seems a healthy development to me, a way of bridging the disconnect. Reading Timberlake’s reaction to this weekend’s event really makes me hope it continues.
A man expressed admiration for and gratitude to the United States military in general and the United States Marine Corps (of which you claim to be a member) in particular ... and you deride him as an "ungrateful turd".
Your behaviour is disgraceful. Your disgraceful behaviour reflects badly upon the Marine Corps.
Frankly, sir, you disgust me.
Good day.
chillax - better late than ever- let’s not cultivate bad feelings by overdoing our response.
Tell him a simple thank you is all that is evern needed and wanted... from the people who protect his freedom
Bwahaaaahhaaaahaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
His thoughts didn’t seem ungrateful to me at all. To the contrary, he seemed awed by the Marines.
What’d ya do, ‘off more VC than Carlos Hathcock, right?
It lets us know who the idiots are, without us expending any real effort.
Piss on one who just expressed gratitude for you. That’s good.
Agree!
What was it that Major Payne (in the movie) used to say . . . something about his Agent Orange acting up?
He would be one lucky dude if he attempted to move this relationship further and the corporal accepted. She’s hot and she’s a Marine! This is better than he could ever do in Hollywood.
I see where you’re coming from. But to his credit at less he came around. I blame the liberal education in this country for why most people don’t have this view, they should have this understanding by the time they are 16 years old.
I say they should show:
World at War series 10th grade
Band of Brothers and The Pacific 11th grade
Civil War and Revolutionary war stuff every month for 12th grade
>Good for him. And Mila’s hot.<
Right after the marine Corps ball, this idiot said that she will STILL vote for Odumbo.
Liberals have no brain cells
Timberlake grew up in Tenn. So there is about a 70% chance his family is conservative. And I can’t recall him being overtly political either (which is usually the sign of a closet conservative).
So you would prefer that this entertainer hate the military? Can only imagine how big of a dump you take on people who have finally found Jesus.
“I’m willing to give him and most other young people a break. Let’s face it - they’ve gone through at least 12 years of schooling in a system that is largely an anti-American, liberal infested, God-hating mess.”
I was in a far worse situation. Educated in canada where every subject is to denigrate and embarrass American contributions. Seriously..it’s a canadian trait to hate their neighbor and canadian freepers will never tell you that.
You owe him an apology.
Me? Owe an apology? LOL .........
Get a life you feckin’ loser.
I do hope you have your flame suit close at hand.
Thank you for your service in the U.S Marine Corps. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a time and in a household where I was taught about the sacrifice and service of our armed forces. Years later, I was honored to take a Troop of 36 Boy Scouts to the Marine Barracks at "8th and I" to watch the Friday evening parade. None of those young men will ever forget it. Three of them enlisted in the Marines.
Earlier this year, I read with some interest of efforts to recover the remains of the 'First Navy Seals,' who were really U.S. Marines who had fallen in combat on the shores of Tripoli.
We live in a era in which not everyone understands nor appreciates the sacrifices that were made at U.S. armed forces at Utah and Omaha Beaches, must less Marines at Tripoli, Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, and Somalia.
I know no specifics of Justin Timberlakes' upbringing. His parents were divorced when he was young I don't know if his father taught him about the role of America's armed forces in our freedom and the freedom's enjoyed by millions of others throughout the world. I do know that Timberlake, on his own or with assistance from his mother, was directed into the musical entertainment industry at a young age, which historical is not a place filled with role models of military patriotism. He was a member of the Mickey Mouse Club and likely attended school on set; I doubt that an entertainment teacher was politically disposed to teach him much about military history, nor that he spent time witnessing school pageants or plays on patriotism.
By the time he was fourteen, Timberlake was touring the world as a member of a hugely successful musical group as part of the music industry. In those formative years, I doubt he had many mentors who were conservative or who taught him about the role of the military.
Since then - or rather, since he was on the Mickey Mouse Club, he's been singing and acting and surrounded by the entertainment industry and those who speak against U.S. military involvement and the U.S. military.
Timberlake probably had an embarrassingly liberal view on both topics, but he had the class to accept an invitation to the Marine Corps Ball when asked through a video by Cpl. Kelsey De Santis.
You may choose to believe what you choose to believe and to write what you write. That is one of our Freedoms and Lord knows Marines have fought and died to preserve that right for me.
I like to think that a naive and brainwashed young man had an epiphany in the presence of Marines and That Which Is Right.
And I welcome epiphanies on the Road to Damascus or at the Marine Corps Ball.
And if I find myself in a bar with Justin Timberlake and a proud member of the Corps, I'll spend $6 and buy them both a beer.
That’s “freedoms”, not “freedom’s,” and “historically” not “historical”. And probably other typos. I need to start proofing myself before I post.
Well, maturely, and graciously said.
Thank you for being positive!
The gentleman was an 0811; that's an artilleryman. Chances are he DID kill more VC than Carlos Hathcock... 'ol Carlos killed 'em one at a time but the 0811s out there (and their army equivalents) rained death and destruction out miles away and sometimes by the hundreds per day. 7.62mm little, 4.2 inch/105mm/155mm Large.
Just because someone says something you disagree with shouldn't bring you to insulting their service.
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