[MR2] Veteran's Day

[William Brandt]

Well, Kevin - Felix - I was in the 2nd to last group to be drafted in the 
US - Sept 1972 - and through some strange bureaucratic quirks (long story) 
ended up in Germany in a NATO radar bunker. I was a Pfc at the old age of 23 
and unlike 99% of the GIs there - who just sat in their barracks and 
complained about their "bad luck" - I traveled all over Germany and Europe.

The Army had taken over a lot of the Bavarian hotels the German govt had in 
WW2 - I stayed in what was the Platterhof, on Hitler's old complex in 
Berchtesgaden - even took a tour of their air raid tunnels -

They would charge based on rank and I paid $3 night

I know that a lot of veterans have not had it so easy at their assignments - 
and a lot didn't make it. My great uncle was killed by a sniper a week 
before armistice in WW1. He wrote letters telling of all the mud death and 
rats.

To me Veteran's Day is for them - it was to be on the "11th minute of the 
11th hour of the 11th day in November - to mark the end of the "war to end 
all wars".

Yesterday I stop at a Jr College seeing about polishing my skills in the 
computer industry - they decided to "honor" Veterans Day yesterday to give 
themselves a 3 day weekend - scumbags...

Bill


On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 09:25:46AM -0600, Kevin Parker wrote:

> I know that there are several veterans on the list. I speak for my ENTIRE
> family (that's roughly 30 folks from Texas to NC) when I say that I
> genuinely appreciate the sacrifices made by each and every one and 
> sincerely
> attribute my freedoms to the dedicated and honorable service of those who
> have served before and along side of me.
>
> THANK YOU!!

Heh.  I was a supply clerk on a carrier, never got tired of watching
flight ops, learned some Japanese, went places and saw things I'd
never get a chance to as a civilian, had a great time, and all on the
taxpayer's dime.  I never understood why the Navy dropped that
recruiting slogan "It's not just a job, it's an adventure".  So let me
turn this around:

THANK YOU for paying my way on the greatest adventure a guy can have.