I dunno about others, but I have never felt anyone owed me anything for the
four years and one month I spent in the Navy of wooden ships and iron men.
Although at the time I may not have been the most respectful and squared
away sailor, in my dotage, I look back and see they were some of the best
times of my life. Personally, I am grateful for everything the Navy GAVE
ME: self-discipline, a sense of responsibility for myself and for others,
maturity, an appreciation of people from all walks of life, class, race and
their unique differences. I shared space with the most brilliant person I
have ever known, as well as the most stupid, and friends who remain the best
of friends **because** of the life and times we shared. Unfortunately,
those not in the service missed out on those benefits that together made
life in the military.
In the service, you meet friends who, like ships in the night, you get to
know for but a brief time. I recently took the time to read all of the
names that now appear on the Vietnam Wall. It was gut-wrenching to see so
many friends that never came back, and memories of better times came back
out of the mists of my time. In the beginning, America called it
"Armistice Day" to mark the end of World War I at the "11th Hour of the 11th
Day of the 11th Month", and it was to honor those who **died** in the "war
to end all wars". After World War II, it was changed to honor the **dead**
of that war. Those who gave their lives are the ones honor, and to whom we
should all be most grateful. Later, it was diluted to simply "honor" those
who survived--the veterans.
I have always been a contrarian who marched to the tune of a different
drummer. So it was that I believed that I was fulfilling an obligation that
every American has toward our country that has given me so much. I could
not bring myself to use my veterans' home loan, and only grudgingly
eventually used my GI Bill educational benefits. (I had a nasty argument
with a liberal professor who said I was a fool for not getting everything
free from the government that I could!) This is certainly NOT to say I
think I was any better than those who did. No, just more simple-minded.
RBE
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