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Memorial Day - 2010

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Decker

Administrator
Staff member
From my new posting on the Dark Matters Radio site. Dark Matters Radio - Cause it matters in the Dark ! !

by admin on May.30, 2010

Old Glory

Here we are .. already Memorial Day-2010. Once upon a time called “Decoration Day” it was a celebration and remembrance of American Soldiers who perished during the American Civil War. Later it was expanded to include American Military who perished in all of America’s conflicts. Being a Viet Nam vet myself I got to tell you, I am somewhat amused by how quickly these days the troops receive “lip service” from the public. You know, “Hey! I really support the troops!” Having come from the Viet Nam generation I still vividly recall how we troops were reviled when we came home from that war. That attitude really did not change until the the Viet Nam War Memorial went up in the early 80’s. Suddenly it was okay or “even cool” that you served in Nam. Suddenly we were confronted with a new phenomena Stolen Valor … by assholes pretending they were Nam Vet’s wearing decorations they never earned nor deserved. Now we even are confronted by assholes like Conn. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who lied through his teeth about being a Nam Vet. Maybe if you weren’t there you won’t get it but it bothers the hell out of me.
So, you may now be asking what is the purpose of this riff? Well if anyone SHOULD appreciate the sacrifice that American Men and Women give willingly in defense of our nation, American Corporations should be at the forfront. Well, here is a sad but humorous momentary detour about some Troops in Harms Way who use a Hewlett Packard printer … that stopped working. Well, technology being what it is today, the trooper CALLED HP up. They told him (and remember they were out in the nasty bush .. oops, that was Nam-my war, they were out in the nasty desert) that the printer stopped working and could HP help. The HP rep said sure we can but you gotta PAY good ol’ US Bucks for the service! (Yup, assholes just EVERWHERE THESE DAYS! Thanks HP, and I will remember this.) Well our intrepid Trooper had an answer for that HP rep. Here it is.
When you are out in the backyard Bar-B-queing those burgers and hotdogs take a sec. and remember what today is really all about! Ooo-Rah!
 
Regarding Stolen Valor:

When I was active duty Marine Corps, we had a marine who went AWOL or UA, as it's called now. When his locker was opened by the command Sgt. Major, inside we found a set of dress blues complete with Vietnam service ribbons and a bunch of other campaign ribbons. Well see, that wasn't something that made my Sgt. Major very happy, as this was the year 1988 and the deserter in question had been wearing the uniform for less than 2 years. Many of the ribbons were ones that my Sgt. Major earned and displayed proudly. Needless to say, those ribbons were separated from those dress blues before you could say "Semper Fi."

I never did find out what happened to that deserter. I don't really care to know.

Decker, thank you for your service under our country's flag. I have the utmost respect for anyone that has worn the uniform and voluntarily gone into harm's way.

 
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