Vox

Remembering Those Who Gave All

Thank you to the brave men & women who knew the high price of freedom and paid it, thanks to their loved ones who suffered a loss too many families have had to face. Thanks to those whose futures were lost to ensure our futures were preserved.

Image from Cox & Forkum, 2003

This Day, December 7th

reposted from 2004

"It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace."

Read the whole speech.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin does a nice job of covering the day
UPDATE for 2006: Her coverage today.

Happy Holidays

The Holiday season is the perfect time to remind you to send a "Thank You" to the troops.

It's easy, it's free, it's quick.

What A Hero Looks Like

Happy Veterans Day

UPDATE: Atlas Shrugs' tribute, Head Bowed.

Found the vid at Sister Toldjah, and it seemed appropriate for the day. My brothers were Marines, so those uniforms have a special place in my heart.

What-A-Burger®

Actually, it was more of a Whopper® -

Have you heard the one about how O & Joe are winning the war in Iraq. It's a knee slapper....

Or not. What this actually was, was simply this: perhaps the most brazen engagement in revisionist history — if not the most brazen outright lie — ever to leave the lips of a man who is known for his embellishments.

Memorial Day

Image from Cox & Forkum's archives

Touch The Sky

A) I have always loved this airframe (T-38). Zippy, powerful & quaintly elegant
B) I still can't believe they closed that base down (Williams)- it was quite a showplace in its day.
C) The music is "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky

Video info

December 7th

Pearl Harbor today

Patton Speaks

I was tracking a musician I heard on Pandora and found this on his MySpace blog - had to do a double take ;-)

"The Condition of Acting Greatly"

When war was heroic

Memorial Day 2007

Anonymous Mike
Lori
Macker
Althouse

Blue Angels Crash

Blue Angel crash in S.C. kills 1

In Infamy

reposted from 2004

"It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace."

Read the whole speech.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin does a nice job of covering the day
UPDATE for 2006: Her coverage today.

Band of Bloggers

I missed this last week over at Some Soldier's Mom, but it looks like a great idea. I have enjoyed reading the blog entries from the troops, and from their families. To put them all together this way could be very interesting, indeed.

Band of Bloggers - I'll be watching

Smile For The Day

A bunch of sailors rockin'out - made me grin

(Hat Tip to BillyBudd)

Saying Thanks

I am currently loving this

Thank A Soldier

Memorial Day - 2006

On this day when we take the time to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in preserving our liberty, we realize how small one person's thanks are.

And then we see the number of people remembering, and the depth and breadth of that gratitude becomes staggering.

We also pause today to thank those currently in service to our nation, at risk of making that sacrifice - in all branches and capacities.

You who read these lines in peace, and we who write them in safety behind capacious desks in clean, well-lighted offices, can do so only because, in a thousand places at a thousand times, grimy, terrified, unsure young soldiers and sailors in the fullness of life were willing to give theirs. If asked what Memorial Day is about, I'd say that's what it's about.

~ Paul Greenberg

F-16 Down Near Luke AFB

An F-16 crashed in the northwest valley today

Pilot appears to be OK

Blue Skies, General

We lost one of the great ones today with the passing of Brig. Gen. Robert L. Scott. Fewer and fewer of that generation are left, and we need people of that caliber more and more these days. Highly decorated and highly revered, a real loss.

RIP

Veterans' Day Humor

The elderly American gentleman arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs he fumbled for his passport.

"You 'ave been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.

The old gent admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Zen, you should know enough to 'ave your passport ready for inspection."

The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. You Americans alwayz 'ave to show your passports on arrival in France!"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, "Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in'44, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."

Found it at American Dinosaur - there are several.

BDUs - part 2

A while back I posed the question - are military personnel 'allowed' to go to bars and restaurants in their BDU's. I sent an email asking my ex (Air Force) to add his two-cents. Being oh-so-punctual, he just got around to it. The comments on that entry are closed 'cause it is old, so I thought I would post his comments here.

Things go full circle I guess. Things go full circle I guess. [inside joke] Seems all folks wore uniforms and such to bars in the ole' WWII movies. When you think about it though, they never wore the GIs fatigues or the flight suits unless they were in "the Club" on base. It was always the crisp looking, shirt and tie sort of uniforms off-base. This reflected that when not actually doing a "dirty" or messy job; people in the military dressed as the rest of society did, in short, more formally; ties, hats and all that. The flight suit of today's military is the standard office wear for flying personnel when not flying. Occasionally you'll see a flyer wearing "blues" as we'd put it. We are not supposed to be dallying around TOO much in them or the Battle Dress Uniform, (otherwise known as BDU's; they are the camo shirt/trouser combo.) The military is not fond of its personnel imbibing alcohol in public, so sitting in a bar setting is not okay. Going to a restaurant in BDUs or flight suit IS okay as long as the establishment might have others in similar work clothes. That's my two-cents worth.

I also asked my massage therapist who is a military brat, served in Desert Storm, and has a son just back from the Middle East. She agreed, the only time you are supposed to be wearing your UTes (utility uniform) is when you are working, outside of that it is street clothes or business uniform (i.e. the blues referenced above).

It isn't that I am trying to be a tight-a**, just wondering when/if the standards changed. And why.

BDUs and Bars

SG and I got in a discussion recently about service personnel in bars in their BDUs He said they do it all the time, I said no way.

Now, back in my day, no member of the Air Force would go into a restaurant or shop, let alone a bar, in their BDUs or flight suit. No way, no how. There were a couple of exceptions made for establishments right next to the base but, even then, it was a very rare sight.

I realize that things change and there may be new rules in place, or perhaps they've just slacked off the old ones. Any of you who are more current on proper military behavior care to settle this?

Feeling Crafty?

For those of you so inclined, there are some great military stickers and embellishments available for scrapbooks (or whatever) at Uniform Designs. You can find them in Arizona at these stores.

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

"It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace."

Read the whole speech.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin does a nice job of covering the day

Veterans Day

Thanks to all our Veterans for their willingness to step up to the plate and keep us all safe. Here are just a few of the Veterans in my family - don't have the (way) older generations or the ones who joined recently on there.

KOOL

Our local KOOL FM has started a "Thank You For Serving" drive. There are several events in November to show your support for those who serve. Let's make sure they know we care.

TAPS

A moment of silence for one of the good guys (and Arizona resident), LTC Iceal "Gene" Hambleton , who passed away Sunday.

That Day

Cox & Forkum
Go see the image at their site

I was asleep when the first plane hit. When I woke up I went to my computer and logged on - it's just what I do. No radio or TV turned on yet, so I am still completely in the dark.

Then I get an IM from Daniel who says "It is a sad sick world"
"What????"
"Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Center"
"NO - on purpose?"
"yeah, I think so"
"talk to you later"

So I turned on the TV and stared at it for what seems like days, flipping channels, willing the newscasters to tell me a different story. Seeing the second plane had hit, the news about the Pentagon, the crash in PA, the towers collapsing - it all was just a blur of shock and sorrow and rage. I sobbed for hours thinking of the people who might be trapped in the rubble, hurting for the families and friends who were waiting for news of their loved ones.

I talked to my ex for a couple of minutes. He is an Air Force pilot and I wanted to know he was OK, was going to be OK, didn't know any of those lost at the Pentagon - as if he would already know those things. Mostly I just needed to hear his voice. We were married just before Desert Storm and I sat many sleepless nights then. I knew the US was going back there, I knew he would be going back there. I knew he would be able to say something to make me feel better...but he was at a loss as well. And then, obviously, he had to go - there was work to be done.

And now it has been three years and the anger and the sorrow and the shock and the disbelief are just as strong. Now they are directed not only at the events of that day, but also at the reaction of so many in this country and around the world. The idea that we deserved it, that we should just try to appease the murdering bastards, that fighting to free Afghanistan and Iraq won't make the world a better, safer place. Humans have a short attention span - perhaps the anniversary will remind a few of them just what we lost that day - and what we are fighting for now.

* See also the timeline Lori has posted for the events of that day.
* And Jeff Jarvis' post as he visits the site. He visits each 9/11 (and throughout the year), thankful to be alive, having been there that day three years ago. He is the very definition of politically centrist - but he got pushed a bit to the right on that day, on that issue.
* Janie, another Arizona blogger, has some powerful memories to share as well.

Our Heroes

I posted earlier about my mother's scrapbook page, so thought I would try to post an image of it here.

the file is kind big (if you have dial-up)
also, the page is multi-dimensional, so parts are not as clear as I would have liked....

Heroes

This was written a while ago by the remarkable Ben Stein, but just came to my attention via Snopes

Here is a taste of what Ben Stein thinks about stardom and hero worship:

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model?

Read the whole thing, you'll be glad you did.

High Flight

I received this story from my Arizona4Bush2004 group this morning, a story about how we should be treating our soldiers. [nospam12@hotmail.com/nospam]

Pretty...

Well, the Republican Meetup last night was small but interesting. I really enjoyed talking to the people who showed up. One of them was wearing really neat patriotic and "Support Our Troops" jewelry which her sister designed. Apparently, she is just getting started so doesn't have an online presence yet - but they are working on it.

If I get more info on purchasing, or even just pictures, I will let you guys know - they were great and they made me smile. I want, I want, I want!!!

But You Volunteered

Hardworking Americans has some thoughts on Camilo Mejia, the deserter currently serving a one year sentence for refusing to return to Iraq.

For instance:

Somehow being granted conscientious objector status in an all volunteer military just doesn't make sense to me. Shouldn't that have been dropped along with the draft? The job of the military is to protect and that may mean killing or maiming the other side. Isn't that known up front, before you sign on for a government paycheck?

And, as she says in closing, "To those who wake up today and report for duty and fight to keep us safe. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU and be safe."

Operation Shoe Fly

Sgt Hook has begun a program to get shoes for the children of Afghanistan, dubbed Operation Shoe Fly

It is a worthy cause and a real concrete way to make a difference. I went last weekend to my local Goodwill (every other Saturday is 50% off) and picked up a bunch. I recommend everyone do the same. If you Zoni bloggers want to combine donations, we can probably save a bit on the shipping costs - let me know.

A Moving Tribute

Michael gives us a picture of another real American and his reaction to Reagan's passing.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Reagan Procession

Amazing to watch, will post thoughts as they occur to me.

:: It must be an amazing honor to be one of the servicemen chosen to carry the casket. Does anyone know how they are selected? I know there are rigorous guidelines for the color guard at every base, must be very intense standards for men who will carry a Presidential casket.

:: Nancy looks amazingly composed - she is a very dignified lady, a treasure.

:: Someone just shouted out "God bless you, Nancy!" Not sure whether that is sweet or completely inappropriate. It is too somber of an occasion for random shouts from the peanut gallery...but isn't it what we are all feeling?

:: The riderless horse just makes me cry; seeing Reagan's boots in the stirrups, the sword on the saddle, knowing how much he had loved to ride....

:: There are so many people lining the streets, such an outpouring of love and respect. Such a great man.

:: The announcers are talking about the grandeur of the ceremony, all the pomp and circumstance, almost sounds disapproving. Noting that Ron & Nancy planned and signed off on all events. Mention that Nixon elected not to do the Presidential funeral. I can't imagine them trying to skip these important public events - the office is too substantial, he was too important to our country, too many people want the opportunity to pay their respects as demonstrated by the volume of people who passed through the library in Simi Valley and are currently lining the streets in D.C.

:: There will be a fly over soon - that should be very impressive

:: Announcer telling the story of a military pilot taking pains to express the love he and other soldiers feel for Ronald Reagan. Comments that Reagan was a friend of the military

:: Watching channel 3 - lousy coverage of the fly over, hope you guys got a better view

:: John McCain appears to be quite jovial - which seems quite inappropriate.

:: Still think the Air Force dress uniform looks the nicest - might be biased there, as well

:: People in the office talking too loud so I can't hear the TV :-( They are right next to each other - and practically shouting.

:: Anyone hear who the officer is who is escorting Nancy? What an important job, that would be another one you'll remember for the rest of your life.

:: Kind of interfers with the gravity of the situation to see that photographer there chomping his gum :-|

:: Comment in the office re: Nancy "That a really classy lady"

:: T.S Elliot quote?

:: Props to Nancy in the speech for her strength and loyalty

:: "A man who appealed to our best hopes instead of our worst fears"

:: "he actually brought freedom to hundreds of thousands of people around the globe"

:: "an unparallelled leader and an exceptional man"

:: "it is our turn to thank Ronald Reagan for making us believe in that shining city"

:: "when others weakened, President Reagan stood tall"

:: "Knowing this moment would come has not made it any easier"

:: "his largeness of spirit"

:: I can't see a flag draped coffin without tears, because I know what it means.

:: The choir sings - wow! They are great.

:: The Reverend has an amazing voice

:: I can't begin to imagine how hard this is for Nancy to have to say good-bye to him over and over again, in public, all week. I hope she gathers some comfort in seeing how many people love him and want to show that love and respect.

:: Announcer debating the fact that Reagan ended the Cold War - idiot. Not only is he wrong, his timing is wrong as well.

:: Now discussing how much this funeral is costing the U.S. - bah!

:: All in all it was a ceremony befitting the man. I am glad he and Nancy decided to allow the full breadth of tribute.

D-Day

Ronald Reagan's comments on the 40th anniversary of the Normandy invasion:

Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet, you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love.

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge--and pray God we have not lost it--that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.

There is more..go read it. Appropriate today as it was then, appropriate that the words came from the late Great Communicator.

What He Said

I love it when someone else covers a topic that I have been wanting to write about.

Thanks to Gary for taking John 'Waffle House' Kerry's Backdoor Draft comment and telling him where to put it.

Well, not in those exact words....

Memories & Thanks

On this day when we take the time to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in preserving our liberty, we realize how small one person's thanks are. And then we see the number of people remembering, and the depth and breadth of that gratitude becomes staggering.

We also pause today to thank those currently in service to our nation, at risk of making that sacrifice - in all branches and capacities.

When Cpl. Jason Dunham was fighting for his life in Iraq, he did not do so alone. First the others in his patrol, many of them wounded also, getting him loaded into a humvee and away from the danger zone. The helicopter pilot who flew him to the make-shift hospital. Then the corpsmen and other personnel that make up a shock-trauma platoon. The Chaplain who conversed with him. And then another helicopter ride, to another hospital. The stateside offficer who had to make the phone call to his family. And on, and on.... We honor Cpl. Dunham this Memorial Day, and thank those who did their part in trying to prevent that sacrifice.

When we think of soldiers, many of us picture the young men and women in their camouflage, loaded down with equipment. We need to also remember the soldiers with stethoscopes, soldiers with clipboards, soldiers with computers, soldiers with wrenches and hammers, soldiers with law books, soldiers with spatulas.......

(image above from Cox & Forkum, click through for their memorial day post which features this image as well as their Memorial Day drawing from last year)

UPDATE: This quote is from Paul Greenberg

You who read these lines in peace, and we who write them in safety behind capacious desks in clean, well-lighted offices, can do so only because, in a thousand places at a thousand times, grimy, terrified, unsure young solders and sailors in the fullness of life were willing to give theirs. If asked what Memorial Day is about, I'd say that's what it's about.

Other Memorial Day posts:
Just A Girl
Downtown Chick Chat
Paul Greenberg
Cut On The Bias
Cut On The Bias II
A Little More To The Right
Hardworking Americans
Bitchalicious
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Cold Fury