USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Dear Soldier: You don't know me, but... ~ October 6 2003

Canteen Co-Captain LindaSOG and A Grateful American

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

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Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

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Dear Soldier:

You don’t know me, but I know you.  You were the boy next door, the kid who delivered my paper, the skinny girl in my daughter’s gymnastics class.  You played ball with my son and worked summers at my favorite burger joint.  We have probably never met, but I know you.

	You are a brother, sister, favorite niece or nephew, and someone’s best friend.  You are the child of parents who love you more than they can explain, feel pride words can’t carry, and bear a weight of worry they never dreamed possible.

There are probably a thousand things you’d rather be doing than what is before you now or what may be asked of you soon.  Combat is always possible when one wears the uniform, yet you donned it with full knowledge of the risks.  Not everyone would do it; I, for instance, did not.  Perhaps I’d make a different choice today but this time the decision was yours.  You chose to serve.

The type of people we consider heroes is kind of odd when you think about it:  athletes chasing records, movie stars and musicians, some of whom likely adorn posters in your old room back home.  Yet these folks rarely sacrifice more than time and effort, pursuing ambitions that profit only themselves.    There’s nothing wrong with that in itself; it’s what most of us do in some form or another.  It’s just not the stuff of heroes.   You, on the other hand, hazard your life for a wage that has many military families on food stamps.  You wager it for an ideal and a way of life, not wealth or fame.  If the chips fall wrong, the price you pay is for others.

Who’s the hero?  We’ll probably never know your name; I suspect you don’t care.  My own children are just short of military age but I have raised them to do what is right because it is right, not for gain, glory, or even gratitude.  If these things come, so much the better.  If not, your success is no less because personal reward wasn’t the object in the first place.

	Despite a few noisy voices, history shows the price of freedom is nothing less than blood.  It is not bought so much as leased, a fact some have forgotten after years of relative peace and the increasingly unrestrained license that has come to pass for liberty.  I admit some of us thought your generation might be the first to lose sight of that altogether.  We were wrong, and I’m glad.

I’d have written sooner but I’ve been pretty busy. If that sounds shallow, I suppose it is.  At least it finally occurred to me I have the luxury of busyness with career and family because you and hundreds of thousands like you are willing suit up, ship out, and take your chances.  Seeing your young face on television, a face I have seen at the playground and on the high school volleyball team and in the grocery store, drives home how very much you have on the line.  The least I can do is drop a note to say thanks.

	I do know you, and I know your family.  I know how anxious they are and how much they want for your future.  I understand how tremendously proud they are.  The rest of us are too, even if we’re too wrapped up enjoying the freedoms you protect to remember to say it.

Please look after yourself and be as careful as you can.  I will be praying for you and your family.  We all want you home safe.    A Grateful American

 

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"Perhaps we should add this link to the military links posted every day?"

I agree!

Hondo1952 has provided the Canteen with this information.

Veterans Helping Hospitalized Veterans and Troops Overseas!

CLICK on Graphic to visit this site.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

what?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

what?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I FEEL THE LOVE!

[Radix]

Why don't you kiss my grits?

[LaDivaLoca]

A wonderful tribute to our heroes and warriors. Where is the kleenex alert?

[LaDivaLoca]

Wife to husband: "What's your excuse for coming home at this time of the night?"

Husband to wife: "Golfing with friends, my dear."
Wife to husband: "What? At 2 a.m.?!"
Husband to wife: "Yes, We used night clubs."

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Good Evening!

[Radix]

I am an Army veteran. All army veterans know grits, and all veterans have tasted grits.

That is just the way that it is.

Brat!