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Jarrett
Jarrett
13 years ago

Got this one out early. Happy Veterans Day Jack!!

Curt
Curt
13 years ago

Happy Veterans’ Day to all of our vets. Enjoy the day!

Gregg Yows
13 years ago

Happy Veterans Day Jack! Thank you for your service, sir.

Michael LeFors
Michael LeFors
13 years ago

Veterans Day. To all our military folk who served and are serving, this former Marine salutes you. Semper Fi.

KAM
KAM
13 years ago

God Bless All Veterans, past, present and future.

Thank you all for what you’ve done to provide me the Nation that allows me to have all that I have.

Thanks Jack.

Jessie
Jessie
13 years ago

Thank you Vets! and God Bless

Martin Hickey
13 years ago

Thank you
As a Veteran myself I always have a problem with people thanking me. This podcast brought back the memories of those who did not make it. I think I’ll take the thanks for them and not for myself.

Jon
Jon
13 years ago

From the Daily Paul:

I am an officer in the US Army and it always makes me uncomfortable when a citizen comes up to me and says, “Thank you for your service.” I always felt it was a cop out, a way to make them feel justified for not taking civic action against the government. I finally found the perfect reply to that statement:

“You can thank me by voting Dr. Ron Paul for president 2012”

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/pages/mbpledge_veteransday.html?pid=1103

Jon
Jon
13 years ago
Reply to  Jon

Sorry, delete it if you would like. I should have just posted this instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP8q7fc7TR4&feature=player_embedded#!

Gregg Yows
13 years ago

@Jon I am a Ron Paul supporter, but I’m confused as to how serving in the military equates to taking civic action against the government? In fact, it’s just the opposite. If you are in the military, you are working for the government, right? I think it takes a special person and a shit-load of guts knowing you may be deployed and have to put your life on the line for your country. That is why will continue to thank our vets. I’m sorry whoever wrote that on the Daily Paul is offended. He / She sounds bitter and I don’t think this reflects the sentiment for most vets. And I am also taking civic action against the things my government is doing. All Americans who are “awake” should be doing the same-civilians especially (IMOHO).

Jon
Jon
13 years ago
Reply to  Gregg Yows

The video is a better representation and more tasteful. Please watch it and ignore the first quote that I wrote..

Roundabouts
Roundabouts
13 years ago

I can understand what you are saying about being young and not understanding the magnitude of service at the time. When my husband enlisted he wasn’t even shaving yet. He had never really been away from his parents home over night. He just knew he wanted to go so he could take care of his family and country. I still have the letters he sent me (31 years ago) from basic training and tech school. He was so scared he wouldn’t make it. He missed home so much but he said he was tough and knowing that we would be married when he got back is what gave him the strength to go on. He talked about all the new family he made and how happy he was that he had made this choice. In the last letter he sent me he told me to wait at the airport because he would work hard to pass the final test and he would be on that plane. When I saw him get off that plane was the happiest day of my life. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if he had been coming back from a war.

There were several times that he was shipped out in the middle of his shift. He went where his plane went. He was not allowed to phone home. I would know that he was out on a mission when he didn’t show up for dinner. Very seldom did I ever know where or when he would be back.

People always thought wow you get to live on base and have free medical you must be doing good. No you don’t do this for the money there is none. You get to live on base after you get higher up in rank. We qualified for food stamps and WIC. I cleaned houses baby sat and did yard work to help make ends meet.

We got orders to Germany. So we sold most of our things and our car started learning to speak German all in preparation for the move. 24 hours before we were to leave the orders were canceled. We had only the stuff in our suite cases because the other things were shipped out already. Our house was already given to the next family. So we had to scramble to find new housing and wait to get what stuff we had back.

But you know all was well because you are part of a family and all our friends pitched in to let us barrow stuff until we could get our own back. You always had people you could count on.

If the alarm went off in the middle of the night Hubby was up and out the door. I was grabbing sleeping bags to get ready for the neighborhood kids to come over. So their parent/ parents could report for duty.

If you were at the commissary grocery shopping ( which I had to get my husbands written approval to go to) it was not uncommon to make a friend and end up having a BBQ that night with someone you just met.

After two terms it was time to decide to become a lifer or get out. He opted to get out. Going on terminal leave for the next 30 days. During that time Desert Storm started up big time. Hubby found out is plane was going to be deployed. It was very hard for him not to go back and re-up. If I hadn’t said please no he would have went in a heart beat. I am much more selfish than he.

Military life is hard and very different than civilian life. We were lucky that hubby is here with us in one piece. Some of our friends weren’t so lucky.

My brother who is in the Army has gone over seas so many times he volunteers for it. I asked him once why do you go back when you don’t have to. Do you have a death wish? His response was well I don’t have kids like some of the guys do. Maybe then one of them won’t have to go. Besides I like to take candy to the kids over there they have nothing. I am a sucker for those little smiles. Makes it all worth it.

It would piss me off so bad when the protesters at the gate would shout and spit at us when we would drive into the base. Me I wanted to smack them or shoot them. Hubby just looked at them and said you are welcome. Because I serve and protect because people have given their limbs or lost their lives you have the freedom to spit on my shoes and protest. I am grateful that you are using your freedom to harass and put down the men and women who gave you that freedom in the first place. Because of us is the reason you are not being arrested or shot right now. So you are welcome. Three of those people put down their signs and walked away. Hubby is a better person than me. I still wanted to at least smack them.

So in war time or peace time the military is a group of people who make sacrifices endure hardships and live a different life compared to the civilian world. They are considered government property and do not have the very freedoms they will fight and die for. For that the very least we can do is say THANK YOU. I do like to let those in uniform go before me in the check out lane too. It’s the least I can do.

eternal_newb
eternal_newb
13 years ago
Reply to  Roundabouts

this is a great post. thank you for writing this.

Ryan Lewellin
Ryan Lewellin
13 years ago

Happy Veterans Day to all the Vets and happy belated birthday to the Marines out there – Semper Fi.

patty t., alabama
patty t., alabama
13 years ago

A good Veterans Day wish to everyone.

Diver20
Diver20
13 years ago

Well said. Excellent podcast. Thanks.

phils70
phils70
13 years ago

Thanks for the great podcast. Shared it with my 11 year old son. I like how you expressed the pride, camaraderie, and humility that comes with service. “This We’ll Defend”

Mike
Mike
13 years ago

I served in the USN, and now am a truck driver, every time I see military on the highways I sound my big air horns and give them a thumbs up. Also veterans day or not I have never let a person in military uniform pay for their own meal in any restaurant I am eating in, unless its a table full, then I will pay for a round of drinks. These opportunities don’t come along often, but when you get the chance it feels wonderful. Sometimes I thank them, and sometimes I just do it anonymously.

trackback

[…] touched my heart.  It is a show by Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast and he was talking about veterans day.  I understand that this is a pet podcast but every once in a while we need to take a step back […]

Grog
Grog
13 years ago

Jack,
Thanks for your service and the survival podcast.

I started my Military career as a “food preparation specialist” aka spoon or cook audience depnding on who you spoke to, for a reserve unit of Drill Sergeants, Later I went into Artillery Radar then Infantry, later National Guard first as Tanker loader, then back to infantry and in about 2005 Retired. The skills you mentioned about not just being “Combat Arms” was wonderful. Bless You. You are so well delivering a SOLID Message. Keep it up.,

Grog
Grog
13 years ago

Jack,
Thanks for your service and the survival podcast.

I started my Military career as a “food preparation specialist” aka spoon or cook audience depnding on who you spoke to, for a reserve unit of Drill Sergeants, Later I went into Artillery Radar then Infantry, later National Guard first as Tanker loader, then back to infantry and in about 2005 Retired. The skills you mentioned about not just being “Combat Arms” was wonderful. Bless You. You are so well delivering a SOLID Message. Keep it up., BTW I served in Somalia and Kuwait in OEF2

Brian
Brian
13 years ago

Thanks for the kick in the ass to go thank a vet. I did it to a guy I just met, a Vietnam vet, my first day on a new job. You pretty much “called” the response Jack.
When I was 18, I didn’t serve in Carter’s armed forces, I stayed home and helped make the best fighters & later, bombers, I could for the sky warriors. But to all those that dd, my very deepest thanks & respect.

Lucas
Lucas
13 years ago

I too do not enjoy the “thank you for your service” stuff I get in Wal-Mart or at the mall. I started serving in 1998 on Freedom’s Frontier in south Korea. Nobody thanked me for that. I served for years in Germany… nobody thanked me for that. I deployed to Iraq and returned… and to most people I met, the first year of the war in Iraq amounted to little more than reality TV. It really wasn’t until the body count started growing and selected media got on board did the “thanks” start rolling out. Take from that what you will.

Jon
Jon
13 years ago

Jack, an honest question. In order for the military to go to war congress must declare war. We know war wasn’t declared for any war past WWII. So, if a soldier is to keep his oath and protect the constitution wouldn’t he have to refuse to go to war, i.e., refuse to be deployed? We claim that the individual must be responsible for his actions for all other things but for this aspect we claim that it is the political oligarchy that is responsible for our own actions? Why do we forgo our responsibility in this one aspect? If one forgoes his responsibility in protecting and adhering to the constitution how can we expect safety if the government tells the military to attack a “radical” group in the US that really isn’t radical?

I’ve thought about this quite a bit and haven’t come up with a good answer.