A day of rememberence and tribute...

[exarmyranger]

I visit The National Cementary at Arlington,every Memorial day,with a few other vet's.The sight of all the cross's marking the grave's of thousand's of those who gave all for this country...Never fails to touch my heart at it's deepest...ex

[juggernaut]

Yeah pretty emotional place. In the past year I was there twice. First time was last June, for an old friend who was a hard charger in Nam. RET CSM from the SF 5th, he was 1 of the guys who entered the 5th from the 10th once Kennedy recognized the SF officially, you know the group, the one where all the legends and myths came from. 3 silver stars this fucker had. I once asked a master SGT what you had to do to get a SS. He told me "Something stupid, like save a life while being shot at." Man! Makes me think about this guy. He was one cool dude and it broke my heart when he went as he gave me a ton of advice that really helped me with the military career. I never forgot meeting him for the first time. He always wore a black baseball cap with his SF crest on it. When I met him I was just a little E1, no weight on the collar at all. I saw the crest and asked him. "Are you SF?" He said "Always will be." and our friendship started from there. We used to sit outside and smoke and from what I was told by a few people to include his family was he never really spoke about his SF life to anyone other then his SF buddies. Well he spoke to me when we were smoking and I felt honored because the things he told me, you could just tell from the look on his face were not bullshit. Nothing crazy or anything but still things a simple man would freak out over. Like sleeping in the jungle only to wake up with a big ass spider on your face. LOL. What made things even worse about him going was his own kids had to take his wife to court as she refused to follow his will, as it stated he wanted to be buried there in his uniform. I don't know what her issue was but it was just sad and strange as the kids sat on one side of the grave and the mother on the other. She refused the flag so his son took it. He once told me during his 5 tours in nam that he never once spoke to his wife and did not want to the whole time he was there. Not sure how true that is, but it was the only thing I could remember and thought maybe those were her reasons for not wanting him buried there. 2nd time was 3 weeks ago as my friends’ grandfather passed on. He was a WWII vet and got full honors during the burial. Sad stuff to hear taps, I never got used to it. My friend asked if I would perform military rights with him and I agreed but he found out once there, it's not permitted. I knew this as I used to be on a funeral detail but could not bring myself to tell him. I just let the LT in charge explain that the honors are practiced by teams and allowing anyone, soldier or not to perform this is too much of a risk. He was cool with it. But still very very emotional place and I try not to spend anymore time there then I have to.

[exarmyranger]

Yeah pretty emotional place. In the past year I was there twice. First time was last June, for an old friend who was a hard charger in Nam. RET CSM from the SF 5th, he was 1 of the guys who entered the 5th from the 10th once Kennedy recognized the SF officially, you know the group, the one where all the legends and myths came from. 3 silver stars this fucker had. I once asked a master SGT what you had to do to get a SS. He told me "Something stupid, like save a life while being shot at." Man! Makes me think about this guy. He was one cool dude and it broke my heart when he went as he gave me a ton of advice that really helped me with the military career. I never forgot meeting him for the first time. He always wore a black baseball cap with his SF crest on it. When I met him I was just a little E1, no weight on the collar at all. I saw the crest and asked him. "Are you SF?" He said "Always will be." and our friendship started from there. We used to sit outside and smoke and from what I was told by a few people to include his family was he never really spoke about his SF life to anyone other then his SF buddies. Well he spoke to me when we were smoking and I felt honored because the things he told me, you could just tell from the look on his face were not bullshit. Nothing crazy or anything but still things a simple man would freak out over. Like sleeping in the jungle only to wake up with a big ass spider on your face. LOL. What made things even worse about him going was his own kids had to take his wife to court as she refused to follow his will, as it stated he wanted to be buried there in his uniform. I don't know what her issue was but it was just sad and strange as the kids sat on one side of the grave and the mother on the other. She refused the flag so his son took it. He once told me during his 5 tours in nam that he never once spoke to his wife and did not want to the whole time he was there. Not sure how true that is, but it was the only thing I could remember and thought maybe those were her reasons for not wanting him buried there. 2nd time was 3 weeks ago as my friends’ grandfather passed on. He was a WWII vet and got full honors during the burial. Sad stuff to hear taps, I never got used to it. My friend asked if I would perform military rights with him and I agreed but he found out once there, it's not permitted. I knew this as I used to be on a funeral detail but could not bring myself to tell him. I just let the LT in charge explain that the honors are practiced by teams and allowing anyone, soldier or not to perform this is too much of a risk. He was cool with it. But still very very emotional place and I try not to spend anymore time there then I have to.
:cool: I'm not ready to become a resident,no hurry,thats for sure...:lmao2: ex