November 11, 2012, - 2:35 pm
Every Day is Veterans Day – Without Them, We Wouldn’t Be Here
While today we honor our American veterans for the service they gave to this country, it’s something we should do every single day. Without them, we wouldn’t be here. And we certainly wouldn’t be free. Every day, I try to remember, recognize, and honor those who served. And I always thank soldiers and those with VFW hats or other insignia indicating they served. I’ve posted the pictures, below, several times before on this site. But they bear re-posting because they show the sacrifice, the agony, the emotion of those who serve so we can remain free. Without them and the grace of G-d, we might all be stuck as colonists, slaves to Great Britain. Or we would be saluting Hitler’s grandson, and I and my people wouldn’t exist. Without our veterans and their service, today we might be forcibly wearing burqas and keffiyehs, right now. Despite all of their efforts, our dhimmi politicians, media, college professors, and Hollywood wackos would have us be in that position right now. Still, we certainly wouldn’t be free to say and do as we please, today, without our military. Without our brave men in uniform, there would be no First or Second Amendment and without those, no America. No freedom to speak of. Without our brave men serving overseas and on our own shores, America would be a scary place . . . if it even existed at all. Never forget that. Ever.
Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke, Jr., Iraq War Vet, Hugs Pearl Harbor Survivor/WWII Vet Houston James (Graunke Lost a Leg, Hand, and Eye Defusing a Bomb in Iraq)
Wounded American Marine Salutes President Reagan’s Casket
This year, since Veteran’s Day falls on a Sunday, it’s easy to forget that this day is different from other Sundays, that without our veterans, Sunday might be a day of forced labor like any other under tyranny. It wouldn’t be the casual, lazy day that it is for most Americans. And it’s easy for forget that it’s veterans day. But we all need to take some time out–even if it is just a moment of silence or reflection–of why we are all free to continue our business, our lives, our families, our ambitions, our freedom of speech, religion, and everything else every day of the week. And that’s because every single day, at risk of losing life or limb, our servicemen stand guard, so that we can continue our lives as we wish, without interruption or, worse, tyranny.
Today as with all Veterans Days, I recognize and remember all of those who served, living and dead. As always on this day, I remember my own father, H.L. Schlussel, M.D., a U.S. Army veteran who served during Vietnam, and my great-uncle, Maurice J. Schlussel, M.D., a career Army man who served during World War II and became the top U.S. Army medical officer for the South Pacific after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I salute my cousin, Damian, a career U.S. Air Force soldier who served in Iraq, an “undisclosed location in Asia,” and found himself in many other similar “paradises” I’d never wanna visit nor would you.
My Dad’s Army Uniform From During Vietnam
And I salute all of my brave and courageous readers who took the time to serve our country, not knowing what they would face and sacrifice along the way, but joining the U.S. Armed Forces to keep America safe and secure.
I hope that on the next Veterans Day our soldiers are home from Afghanistan where they were sent not to do what they do best: fight wars and get out. Instead, they are still there, dying in the name of handing out candy to and building roads for those who hate us and want to destroy us. Every day, more American soldiers are murdered there because we didn’t have the guts to fight a real war, just like in Vietnam and Iraq. We should have dropped bombs, destroyed things and killed people, installed our own preferred pro-American Shah-like dictator, and then got the heck out. It’s the only thing they understand there.
Ditto for the War in Iraq. I’m troubled that thousands of American men died and thousands more were maimed and lost limbs in the “service” of handing over Iraq from tyrant Saddam Hussein to even worse tyrants, Ahmadinejad and his puppetmasters, the Ayatollahs of Iran. These soldiers served and did as they were told, but their assignment in Iraq was misguided, and it’s a shame. We gained nothing by being in Iraq. We only lost–a lot!–there. And we completed the Shi’ite crescent, giving an edge to the Shi’ite revival and revolution. We should have done the same thing in Iraq that we should have done in Afghanistan: dropped bombs, destroyed things and killed people, installed our own pro-American Shah-like dictator, and then got out.
Had we done that, we would have thousands more Americans and their families celebrating Veterans Day today, instead of being remembered and cried over on Memorial Day.
That is part of what Veterans Day is also about: respecting those who served, regardless of the assignment, the questionable assignment in the case of Iraq. And Afghanistan, where our soldiers are sentenced to do mindless “hearts and minds” bullcrap masterminded by disgraced former General and CIA Director David Petraeus, instead of fighting–and winning–a war, something they could have long ago achieved, were it not for generals and Presidents who see our military as a “nation-building” force, rather than a fighting one.
Yes, freedom is costly. Sometimes too costly, because we are fighting for it for the wrong people, those who hate us. Nonetheless, our soldiers bravely dedicate the time in their lives that they serve to preserving everything that all of us have today. Today, thank all of those who expended time, energy, limb, and even life to bear that cost for us . . .
G-d Bless You All. And Thank You For Your Service.
Jewish-American Soldiers Pray at Goebbels’ House in Germany (See My Other Cool, Inspiring Photos of Jewish Soldiers Praying at Normandy, Etc.) . . .
Pfc. Abraham Mirmelstein (left) of Newport News, VA holds the Torah scroll as Capt Manual M. Poliakoff (center) and Corp. Martin Willien, cantor, both of Baltimore conduct Jewish prayer services at Schloss Rheydt, the castle home of Dr. Josef Paul Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister, in Munchen Gladbach, Germany. The services, held in memory of soldiers of the Jewish faith who died in the drive to the Rhine, were the first held east of the Roer River in Germany. The photo was taken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1945 or ’46.
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As usual on this day, I also send a message to those of you who dodged the draft so others could serve and die instead of you, shame on you. That includes “conservative” “hero” and draft-dodger Ted Nugent, who should be behind bars for fraudulently obtaining a student deferment, though he was never a student, so he could go on tour, while other Americans his age died in Vietnam. After that scam no longer worked, he purposely wore the same clothes for a month and went to the bathroom in them, so he could be ruled unfit to serve. While his fans and others his age were maimed and/or murdered by the Viet Cong, he partied around America. And, yet, he somehow remains a hero of hack “conservatives” like Sean Vannity and the FOX News gang.
When will those who pretend to be patriots stand up and stop their worshipping of this fraud who is no patriot, except to his ego and his band account?
To all of our REAL heroes–our veterans, Happy Veterans Day. We will never forget what you did for us so we could live our lives and be free.
Tags: Houston James, Marine Staff Sft. Mark Graunke Jr., Mark Graunke, Veteran's Day, veterans, Veterans Day 2012
A minute to thank all those I served with who are not with us any longer. My brothers, I loved you and respected you when we were together, and those emotions are still alive today. For those who I still see and correspond with, chin up! We will always be brothers. G-d bless you all!
Kent on November 11, 2012 at 3:13 pm