Now is the time in which Americans must rally behind their troops. We must show them our support in what they have been sent to do, despite whether we agree with the Bush administration's rationale for the confrontation with Saddam Hussein's regime. Before the war erupted on March 20, I was a staunch advocate against the war with Iraq, and still am.
I also feel this war is not only about finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction and freeing the Iraqi people, as the Bush administration has told us repeatedly, but is also very much about oil and power. However, I understand that troops, stationed in Iraq, have a job to do and and are doing it well. They have signed up voluntarily to support our nation in both peace and war time, and we, as American citizens and those they are protecting must support them. I am not against protest, but let's not bring them down with protests about what they have been sent to do. It is their duty, and their job, no matter what each one of us feel is right or wrong.
Those soldiers stationed in the Middle East at this very moment might not agree with the reasons they are there, but understand that it is their job to protect our freedoms, including the freedom of speech which right now allows me to write this. For this reason, I personally feel that my duty is to be 100% behind our Armed Forces, and probably because the Air Force was part of my life for 25 years. Having say that, this section is divided in four mini sections, the military and veterans, the VietNam war veterans, the nurses who served in vietnam and our P.O.W. and M.I.A.
I wish to thank every person who wrote ALL the poems in this section. Their words touched my soul so deeply that I wanted to share them with you
Serving in the Armed Forces is a proud line of service, as strong as our belief in freedom and as enduring as our history as a free people. Thanks to our veterans, it is also an unbroken line. Our nation endures because they endured. We remain free, because they gave up their freedom when duty called. We call it service to our country. That service goes well beyond the limitations of employment in the sense of a job to be done, to be paid for and to use as a career choice. America's finest have been called to serve us in not only protecting the ideals and freedoms we enjoy, but to honor and perpetuate the cause of freedom and the interests of America worldwide. Too often we relegate the notion of veterans to those aged soldiers, sailors and airmen who march in parades and wear caps of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and other veterans’ organizations. The citizens who have and continue to wear the uniforms of our military services are our husbands, brothers, fathers, family, friends and the common men and women.
The link below will take you to each of the tribute dedicated to our military and veterans
An Old Soldier's Boots
Where Does The Buck Stop?
Without Ceremony
Just a Simple Soldier
I am a Soldier
Missing Man Table
Throwaway Soldiers
The Veteran
On March 15, 1965, large shipments of troops arrived in South Vietnam. These troops occupied the country until 1973. During this time, many men fought and died for the United States of America. The numerous nurses that operated on thousands of soldiers are often forgotten. The soldiers that the nurses operated on were usually blown apart and crippled for life. The nurses worked diligently to save these men. The United States did not acknowledge the nurses that served in the Vietnam War until 1993. The nurses that served in the Vietnam War, although commonly unrecognized, served as bravely as their soldier counterparts, and some suffered much of the same mental and physical distress. The women who served went unnoticed until November of 1993. Diane Evans fought for many years to obtain a Memorial for women who served in Viet-Nam . One response to a letter that she wrote was “the wall contains the names of eight service women who were killed in the conflict, so no additional monument was needed” . Finally, after a hard fought battle, a monument was created for the nursed that were in Vietnam. Although the nurses were given little credit for saving many lives they still served bravely in any crisis. The bravery of the nurses is unquestioned.. The women who went to Vietnam grew up fast and their lives were changed forever. As I say before the nurses were given little credit for their participation during the Vietnam war, but at last they will live forever in the Women’s Vietnam War Memorial.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in which Americans ever fought. Over 58,000 American soldiers died as a result of the Vietnam War and hundreds of their remains and their return to the United States remains an unsettled issue to this day. So many Americans who went to fight in Vietnam were just out of high school or college-aged. Some went because they were proud to serve their country in the military; some went because they were drafted; some went because they didn't know what else to do; others went because they were running away from some personal pain. Most had no military, to say nothing of battle, experience. Becoming soldiers meant a lot of returning soldiers not only lost their innocence or their youth—they lost themselves. One of the worst consequences of the Vietnam War, that may truly have been a lesson learned, was how returning American soldiers were treated at homecoming. Almost every returning soldier had known at least one year filled with inhumane violence, death and gore, in a strange land and country. Returning soldiers met with horrific treatment from strangers, family, friends, neighbors...the people and country they had served. And for many of the more than two million American veterans of the war, the wounds of Vietnam will never heal No one wants ever to see America so divided again.
UNDER CONSTRUTION
Vietnam remains a bitter example of our government's failure to honor its commitment to those who served our country. There has never even been a full accounting of those missing. Some gave it all, some others made momentous sacrifices; they were imprisoned by the enemy. Their imprisonment included beatings and torture, starvation, and all forms of emotional and psychological abuse. It also entailed the terrible loneliness of living through lost years, of seeing the days tick away without friends, without loved ones, without family and community. Three things that helped them survive captivity and return with honor: faith in God, faith in their fellow prisoners, and faith in their country. They would not be abandoned, that their government would move mountains to return them to us after the war. Places like Camp 5 and the Hanoi Hilton are gone now, but the silence left in their place surely echoes with the quiet, unheard valor of those who suffered there and clung to the belief that their government wouldn’t abandon them. They never give up….. Our government did…..
UNDERCONSTRUTION
The form below will take you to each category main page,from there you will be able to pick your next destination.
Will you please take a minute to sign the Guestbook.
