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#Post#: 13338--------------------------------------------------
Thank You for Your Service
By: Corbantis Date: November 7, 2014, 9:57 am
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Hi All,
For all you vets out there - thanks. Due to physical issues I
was unable to serve. Got turned away from the recruiters. Still
ticks me off. Both my parents served, and I wanted to as well.
Ruggers suggested this thread as a way our vets can share their
experiences, as he too was unable to serve due to physical
issues. If you like to share, please list the branch you served,
service dates and perhaps a funny service anecdote?
Again - thanks for your service. No matter what countries' armed
forces you served. You did what many will never comprehend nor
truly appreciate the sacrifices you made.
[img width=573
height=1080]
HTML http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/British_Army_Soldier_Saluting_MOD_45154893.jpg[/img]
#Post#: 13342--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: FhYikGwAlOU Date: November 7, 2014, 11:05 am
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Thank you Corbantis....as previously mentioned the only thing I
wanted to do when I was young was join the military, the Army in
particular, and I failed my physical due to breaking my back at
14 (while garnering the 4th best athlete in Europe during my
senior year in high school - go figure...)
My father was in the Air Force for 22 years and he was in
Vietnam on 2 tours. When I was young he would have friends over
to the house all the time and I would be allowed to listen to
their stories - as long as I fulfilled my beer fetching duties
:bigsmile: It was not till I was older that I was fully able to
appreciate what they did during a very rough time for the US
military. Regardless, their conversations were the bedrock of my
desire to serve, as they used words like duty, honor,
comradeship and commitment without embarrassment.
Being a military brat allowed me to see first hand what their
service and sacrifices meant. So, with all of that in mind, I
want to thank all of our veterans in the OFF clan for keeping
the United States and the United Kingdom (sorry - I am not sure
if we have veterans from other countries) safe and strong.
:salute:
#Post#: 13378--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: Daswagdaddy101 Date: November 8, 2014, 12:49 am
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:salute:
#Post#: 13381--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: bluebanditjim Date: November 8, 2014, 5:26 am
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Thank you for this thread. Four years, U.S. Army. Served in
Germany for two and Fort Knox for two. Trained as an M60A3
driver then was assigned to an AVLB (Armor Vehicle Launched
Bridge) with Engineer companies. Once in Germany OJT'd as PLL
clerk, which made me very popular. LOL. Achieved rank of E5.
Never saw actual battle, but I take some comfort in having stood
on the wall.
#Post#: 13382--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: sir adb Date: November 8, 2014, 8:14 am
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While not having served myself, I'd like to honour my family
members who seem to be making military service the family
business. It started with my cousin who joined to fly
helicopters. Now I have 2 brothers (both having served overseas
in Afghanistan), a cousin's child and a nephew in the military.
So my hat's off to all the veterans, and considering my whole
family comes from Dutch immigrants to Canada, thanks to all the
WWII vets as well!!
#Post#: 13414--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: MickeysGrenade Date: November 9, 2014, 2:13 am
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Physically unable to serve. Very proud of, and grateful to, all
those that did before and still do. :salute:
#Post#: 13415--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: Daswagdaddy101 Date: November 9, 2014, 2:25 am
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10 years US Army, three combat deployments. Iraq x2 Afghan x1
Wouldn't trade it for anything including my health. It was my
privilege to have served with my Brothers and sisters in arms.
#Post#: 13428--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: StatesR Date: November 9, 2014, 12:43 pm
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Several years of truly uneventful Naval service for myself
being between Desert Storm and the current conflicts. Being it
is a Veterans Day discussion I would like to salute the service
of all our veterans. I was born on Veterans Day and it has
always held a special place for me and made it hard to celebrate
a birthday.
Military service has been an almost expected path for all
men in my family. Starting with my great grandfather in the
Revolutionary War. His son in the War of 1812. My great
grandfathers and uncles went on to avenge the Alamo in the
Mexican American War and fought their own countrymen in the War
Between the States. They served throughout WWI then in WWII all
my grandfathers and great uncles not only served in WWII but
were all volunteers not draftees. My mothers father fought at
Attu and Kiska, and Okinawa, and prepared for the invasion of
Japan (I am so glad for the bomb or I may have not been born).
My fathers father was in Europe and saw combat in the Battle of
the Bulge and my uncle Charlie raided the beaches of Tarawa and
Okinawa. My grandmothers 3 brothers saw combat across Europe,
two being in the Italian theater. My father being older than
most in my generation, froze his ass off fighting above the 38th
parallel in Korea (responsible for my anti-Marxist upbringing).
My uncle served as a corpsman in Vietnam (lucky for him they
sent him to Guam because his entire training class that went in
country gave the ultimate sacrifice). I had a couple of 2nd
cousins in Granada and Panama as well as Desert Storm. My
brother was in Somalia during the days of Black Hawk down as a
Ranger, left the military during the mid 90's and has come back
after a commission and has served 2 tours in Iraq. My nephews,
and his 2 sons are now currently serving in the US Army. But
fittingly for this clan, currently my greatest salute goes out
to my cousin John Salvatori whom is currently an Abrams tank
commander. He has served since the beginning of Iraqi Freedom
and has served 5 tours in Iraq. He almost knows war more than he
knows love. He has sacrificed with his brothers in arms
countless years of their families lives. My families story of
generational service is not unique. It is like many others
across this great country and if not for their existence our
Republic would surely be in jeopardy. It takes a great sacrifice
from the few, for the many, for Liberty to exist.
Which brings me to another thought. Knowing intimately and
being raised by "The Greatest Generation" and hearing their
stories ( many hours at the coffee shop as a boy with grandpa
and his vet friends). I would like to salute the current
generation of America's war fighters as being among our nations
historical greatest. Though they have had a technological
advantage much of that is for naught in a counterinsurgency
campaign. Unlike my grandfathers liberating people that pretty
much all wanted to be liberated (say France), Iraq and
Afghanistan were not completely like that. You never know who is
supporting your enemy.They have excelled in the face of the
toughest kind of fighting (urban) for wars that have lasted over
a decade. That is pretty amazing and I think it is sometimes not
recognized by the general public. So to those that have served
in our current conflicts you have the thanks of a grateful man
and his family.
To those of you who have not gotten to serve due to various
reasons. The greatest thing you can do is support our veterans
causes, shake their hands, and just do what you do everyday.
What's the point in fighting if their is not a free, productive
society to come back to when its over. It takes a country to
support an army. Weapons and logistics systems, do not make
themselves. Also, the advancements the medical and engineering
community has made in giving injured servicemen back their
mobility is an example of serving without serving. So in the
famous words of Joe Dirt, "keep on, keepin' on".
I have spoken of the sacrifice of Americans, but we rarely
ever fight by ourselves any more. My grandfathers always spoke
highly of their British, Canadian, and Australian counterparts.
These men still serve beside ours in today's current conflicts
and we should share a place in our hearts for them as well as
our own. We also sometimes forget even though they are our
enemies, there are many good men that feel they are justly
serving their country or cause, right or wrong. I think an
example that could be thought of in this community would be
Rommel.
I know this is a long and poorly written rant, but I have
lost many of the men I have spoken of over the last several
years, and to be honest I really miss them. They meant so much
to me and this time always brings up fond memories. I did not
need comic books or movies for heros when I was growing up. I
was being raised by them and their fellow vets in the community.
See you on the battleground.
#Post#: 13430--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: warsteiner89 Date: November 9, 2014, 12:56 pm
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Your welcome ! Nice to have people respect our service !
USAF 89-94 310th Top Hats.
#Post#: 13433--------------------------------------------------
Re: Thank You for Your Service
By: oxidative stres Date: November 9, 2014, 1:17 pm
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States, Great post!
Never was on active duty, but did 15 years in the Air Guard,
working with A10A Warthogs. Did some TDY's during Desert Storm,
though... Aviano, Italy and Sembach, Germany.
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