Thank you for your service

It is the custom around here that any time someone is identified as a veteran of the armed forces, people say “thank you for your service” to them. There was a time when veterans were sometimes treated with disrespect—after the Vietnam war, for example. On a day like today set aside as a national holiday for veterans, going out of one’s way to thank them seems appropriate. On other days it seems a little odd to put “thank you for your service” in the same socially required position as “how are you?” and equally meaningless.

Serving in the armed forces is a difficult and demanding job, sometimes requiring great sacrifice, sacrifice that can extend long after leaving the service. I also keep in mind the families of veterans for their sacrifice too, and firefighters, police, social workers, nurses, pastors, school teachers, paramedics and a host of others who work hard for the good of others, often at great personal sacrifice.

So to our veterans and all these others, “thank you for your service.”

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
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23 Responses to Thank you for your service

  1. roxy7655 says:

    Yeah. ^^^ That.

  2. jdkinpa says:

    Same ^^^. Our local steak house in Carlisle PA give a free lunch to veterans. Also the local convenience stores gave vets a free sub. I enjoyed both. It’s always nice to be remembered and appreciated.

  3. Rickey says:

    I was in the Navy from January 1967 to November 1970. I was in the Philippines for 19 months, followed by 21 months on an aircraft carrier. I was lucky because I came out of the war unscathed, both physically and mentally. Others had it much rougher than me. The hardest part was that between July 1967 and November 1970 I was in the United States for only seven months.

    I was never shown any disrespect over my military service, but nobody made a big deal about it, either. I get more “atta boys” about it now than I did at the time.

    Even so, I would do it again. I hated a lot of it, but I also had some great and valuable experiences and I made several life-long friends with whom I still keep in touch.

  4. Slartibartfast says:

    I think it is long past time when we honored our troops by spending their lives wisely (and rarely) and thanked them by taking care of them when they came back.

    http://flowersforsocrates.com/2014/11/11/we-honor-our-troops-and-thank-them-for-their-service/

  5. Keith says:

    For the Fallen

    (Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21st September 1914.)

    With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
    [The Nation] mourns for her dead across the sea.
    Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
    Fallen in the cause of the free.

    Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
    Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
    There is music in the midst of desolation
    And a glory that shines upon our tears.

    They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
    Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
    They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
    They fell with their faces to the foe.

    They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
    Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
    At the going down of the sun and in the morning
    We will remember them.

    They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
    They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
    They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
    They sleep beyond [The Nation’s] foam.

    But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
    Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
    To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
    As the stars are known to the Night;

    As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
    Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
    As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
    To the end, to the end, they remain.

    (added by speaker): Lest We Forget.

    (response by audience): We shall remember them.

    (I have internationalized this by changing the word ‘England’ to ‘The Nation’.

    The verses shown in bold are known as “The Ode of Remembrance”. The phrase “Lest We Forget” is often added as a final line at the end of the ode and repeated in response by those listening, especially in Australia. In the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the final line of the ode, “We will remember them”, is repeated in response. In Canada, the verse beginning “They shall not grow old” has become known as the Act of Remembrance, and the final line is also repeated.

  6. roadburner says:

    this sort of comes at a very apt moment.

    i’ve been using a bike site in the states since 2002, and got to know a lot of folks there.

    one of the women there regually posted about her sons, and her eldest i’d watched grow up since he was 10 years old. kinda odd watching from a distance, but you tend to get dragged into the lives of people you get in contact with.

    he joined the marines, as did his younger brother later, and served in afghanistan

    his times back home were tough, and PTSD took it’s toll. insomnia, nightmares, mood swings, and his mother was always there to be at his side when needed.

    it eventually got too much, and a couple of weeks back he killed himself.

    he came from a family of patriots, willingly served, and gave his life as certainly as a bullet on the battlefield would have done.

    his funeral was monday with full honours, escort from the patriot guard, with freinds and family. unfortunately being on the other side of the atlantic i couldn’t attend.

    nonetheless i’d like to say

    thank you for your service bradley

    excuse the typing, got something in my eye

  7. jdkinpa says:

    I wanted to share something that happened today. This evening I received a phone call from a man saying he was calling on behalf of the Disabled Veterans Services Foundation. I had never heard of them before so my scam alarm went off immediately. He said that they had various levels that I could choose for may donation. That they would mail me a packet of information on what I pledge. The spread was from several hundred down to a minimum of twenty dollars. I said that I would be happy to look at the twenty dollar level before sending a donation. He went on to say that since the need was so great for our disabled heroes that it would be most helpful if I could give a fifteen dollar donation immediately. That’s when I said that I don’t make phone donations and send me the info. I told him I’m a veteran and I know that there are a lot of scams who use veterans as a cover to get money. Guess what, the guy lost interest in me and sending me the pledge packet. Since I have caller ID it showed a 717 (PA) number. When I checked out the number it showed up as coming from Hershey PA. I did a google search on the Disabled Veterans Foundation. http://www.disabledveteransservices.org/home.aspx

    After looking it over I went to my go to for information about charities. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=13915#.VGPQosk1eLs

    As you can see this outfit has a less than stellar reputation. I also found this news story. http://backhome.news21.com/article/questionable-charities/

    So please check out the ‘Disabled’ story line before giving your hard earned money to “help a vet”.

    PS, there are a several legit ways to “help a vet”, just not this sorry POS.

  8. 3Fiddy6 says:

    I was a US Marine serving during Desert Storm. We were among the last to use the M-60 battle tank in combat. I saw firsthand how bad the Iraq forces were. Poorly trained troops. Antiquated equipment. We reported our findings to government types that ultimately fed information to the then Secretary of Defense- Dick Cheney.

    Some years later, in the run up to the Iraq war, I came to the conclusion that we invaded Iraq, not because they were a threat, but because they were weak. And Cheney needed to show how easy it could be to democratize the Middle East through force. Didn’t quite turn out that way…

  9. Arthur says:

    3Fiddy6: I came to the conclusion that we invaded Iraq, not because they were a threat, but because they were weak.

    I tend to agree with you, and it helps explain why Iran wants nuclear weapons.

  10. I don’t make donations to anyone that uses telemarketing, and I don’t do business with any company who does either. It is a firm rule that I never break.

    While I haven’t used it yet, South Carolina has a law that makes it very easy to sue an in-state telemarketer in small claims court.

    jdkinpa: That’s when I said that I don’t make phone donations and send me the info.

  11. jdkinpa says:

    Dr. C

    I don’t believe PA has a similar law. I’ll be filling out and sending in a complaint to the PA Attorney General Charities Complaints section. Hopefully that will do some good.

  12. The Magic M (not logged in) says:

    We have a slightly different attitude towards veterans in Germany, likely because the last real war they fought was for Hitler’s cause.
    (And technically we wouldn’t consider a soldier a veteran until he has retired, so those who went to Afghanistan as part of the international force aren’t “veterans” to us.)
    My father used to wear uniform for semi-official events (like family weddings) but I always considered that awkward, given it’s not commonplace over here.

  13. 3fiddy5 says:

    Wow! They,re really turning on each other at BR!! It’s almost sad. almost….

  14. Kupuna says:

    Whether or not it may be trite, I also want to add another “thank you for your service.” In Hawaii we drive by the Arizona Memorial a lot but don’t think about what happened there until a house guest makes us go visit the place again as I did last week. I was so impressed, so moved, about how they have expanded & improved the memorials. It used to be more of a military museum but now it ties in the stories of many individuals who lived through that day here on our peaceful little island, including a little girl who was 10 years old that day & had won a jitterbug contest the night before the attack. There is also a display about a Japanese girl who survived Hiroshima, only to die of leukemia in the 1950s as a teen.

    We follow the Birthers & other idiots who call themselves Patriots. They just don’t even have a clue about what that really means.

  15. Keith says:

    Dr. Conspiracy: I don’t make donations to anyone that uses telemarketing, and I don’t do business with any company who does either. It is a firm rule that I never break.

    Me too. 100% agree.

    Lately I’ve been getting 2 or 3 robocalls a day. Obviously, a machine is dialling phone numbers in sequence and when someone answers they switch it through to someone in the Phillipines or India or somewhere. It takes anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds for some human to pick up the call.

    If I pick up the phone and say hello, I expect the caller to say hello or something similar back. If it takes them 5 seconds to do so I just hang up – I’m not interested in anything they may have to say.

    If it happens to be a real person with a real reason for calling, then they are being rude and deserve to be hung up on; even someone with a stutter can make themselves known. I have hung up on my wife a couple of times when she got distracted while calling me (we don’t have caller ID on our landline). The ubiquitous mobile phone has contributed to people completely losing much of their telephone courtesy.

  16. Slartibartfast says:

    You know, I can’t recall any real patriot that felt the need to incessantly tell everyone how patriotic they were…

    Kupuna: We follow the Birthers & other idiots who call themselves Patriots. They just don’t even have a clue about what that really means.

  17. Kupuna says:

    Yeah Slarti, vets day made me think about my dad and his service in WW2. Now HE was a patriot. And even though I don’t agree with his politics I also honor president bush the first. Junior is aa different story though. One more favorite son.

  18. Kupuna says:

    Doc, you should have included us nurses in your list of heroes. 😉

  19. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    Slartibartfast:
    You know, I can’t recall any real patriot that felt the need to incessantly tell everyone how patriotic they were…

    I can’t recall where I first read it, but I saw a quote that went something like “Being a patriot, is like being famous. If you have to go around and tell people that you are, then you probably aren’t.”

  20. Daniel says:

    Slartibartfast: You know, I can’t recall any real patriot that felt the need to incessantly tell everyone how patriotic they were…

    Every terrorist in history firmly believed himself a patriot.

  21. Absolutely. Article being updated.

    Kupuna:
    Doc, you should have included us nurses in your list of heroes. ;-)

  22. Slartibartfast says:

    I will grant you that often the difference between patriots and terrorists is just winning or losing and that all terrorists certainly believe themselves to be patriots, but they still don’t call themselves patriots—they generally let their actions speak for themselves.

    Daniel: Every terrorist in history firmly believed himself a patriot.

  23. Andrew Vrba, PmG says:

    This one man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot thing reminds me of two pictures someone posted on Facebook. Each is of a woman standing in front of her respective country’s flag, holding her religion’s holy book in one hand, and a service rifle in another.

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