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]

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served in
The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom?
Support The United States Armed Forces Today!

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

 

[Radix]

I hate to have to be the one to have to enlighten you Goddess.

 

In the Army, there is a phenomenon known as SOS.

 

Some refer to that as the "same old stuff."

 

Still others say else.

 

Grits are a universal component of the military breakfast.

 

 

I have indulged in more than one military breakfast.

 

That is just so.

[Radix]

End of 6

 

Red Sox 4   A's 2

[Fawnn]

68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
!!! #150!!!

[LaDivaLoca]

After she woke up, a woman told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine's day. What do you think it means?"

"You'll know tonight." he said.

That evening, the man came home with a package and gave it to his wife. Delighted, she opened it--to find a book entitled, "The meaning of dreams."

--seen in this month's Readers Digest.

[fatima]

A 3-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He slides up to the bar and says:
"I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Hi!
Did your legs get skinner like LindaSOG's did because you fasted for Yom Kippur?

[Fawnn]

Thanks! "Coloring" is fun!

[fatima]

M1911A1 : Welcome Back to the States!.
Thank You for your service to our country.
May you have a long, well deserved leave
with your FReeper wife M0sby and your 2 sons.

,I am so happy you are home,fatima

[LaDivaLoca]

Been too long at your computer?

[Wild Thing]

LOL what no pearl necklace ?
LOL good one LaDiva

Wild Thing

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

WOO HOO!
Fellow FReeper and Klamath Falls "co-worker" and fellow Viet Nam Vet
redrock and his family just arrived in town on vacation along the Oregon coast.
He and I met at Klamath.
Off to have dinner with my Brother!
Back later!

[fatima]

Kathy in Alaska,Prayer bump.

[Wild Thing]

haha
Yes much skinner today.
Good one Tonkin.

Wild Thing

[Wild Thing]

wow look what you did how neat Fawnn!

Wild Thing

[LaDivaLoca]

Goodnight,Linda, sweet dreams. Thank you for all that you do for our Troops.

[LaDivaLoca]

Wonderful story, Tonk!

[Radix]

Hello!