Galt's Gulch

Memorial Day 2015

Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 6 months ago to Pics
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“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”
—C.S. Lewis

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  • Posted by Mamaemma 9 years, 6 months ago
    Good pictures, and a good reminder. I hate to see all that they fought for being thrown away.
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    • Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 6 months ago
      It breaks my heart. There were some valiant battles fought and victories purchased in American, British and Canadian blood in the pursuit of giving people who have known almost no freedom in centuries, a chance to experience it. Freedom sounds SO easy, but it cannot be just given to someone. They need to have the fire in their hearts to keep, protect and fight for such a precious gift.
      Our POTUS seems happy to let it fail everywhere it is tried. Almost faster than an Iraqi soldier can drop his rifle.
      Cheers
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      • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 6 months ago
        Beautifully said, Bob. It's a sad state that we are in that reminders need to be given as to why we have this day as a national holiday. The word holiday also implies something festive, which I think does a huge disservice to those who have lost their lives in war. Honor those who gave up their lives, but the commercialization of it really is obnoxious, IMHO.
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    • Posted by NealS 9 years, 6 months ago
      I can attest to that, being a Vietnam veteran I feel our government threw away everything we gained in Vietnam. Perhaps it's just another thing that the government doesn't do very well. Perhaps we need a different government. When you hold a war and someone shows up, there should be but one goal, act on that goal, and then it should be over. We did this over and over in Vietnam, never lost a battle. Congress lost that war for the South Vietnamese people two years after we left. Now Obama gets his turn to lose the wars in the Middle East for the people that live there.
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      • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago
        Same question for the rest of my generation as I asked my father a WWII veteran. Why? If you were going to vote the same thing into office once you came back and in following years? Dying for nothing is one thing. Dying for less than nothing is something else entirely. Was is it really all about the paycheck?
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      • Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 6 months ago
        It seems that the only way to have a lasting peace is to have an unconditional surrrnder following a complete and unmistakable victory. The last time we have done this was WW II. Korea, Vietnam , and all the conflicts in the Middle East, have ended without a total surrender of one side. Israel has always had to stop short of this point too because of the UN and the collective world antisemitism. So has the United States. It is not" fair" to have winners and loses any more. Even if the loser is something like ISIS or other forms of radical islam or philosophical depravity. We are told that each morality has its virtures. Even the ones that crush the individual in slavery and servitude.

        Sorry for long delay. It was a long flight to Duesseldorf.
        Cheers
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        • Posted by NealS 9 years, 6 months ago
          Right on.... I'd prefer a foreign policy of, "Don't make us come over there!!!". And then if we do have to go, we finish it like WWII, unconditional surrender. If you don't want war in your country, then don't let the freaks take over.
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  • Posted by Rex_Little 9 years, 6 months ago
    The pity is that Christopher James Jacobs (the Marine whose gravestone is pictured) did not die defending our freedom, or anyone else's. His life, and thousands of others, were thrown away in a futile attempt to force democracy (NOT freedom) down the throats of people who have no use for it.
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  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 6 months ago
    "You have chosen to risk your lives for the defense of this country. I will not insult you by saying that you are dedicated to selfless service — it is not a virtue in my morality. In my morality, the defense of one's country means that a man is personally unwilling to live as the conquered slave of any enemy, foreign or domestic. This is an enormous virtue. Some of you may not be consciously aware of it. I want to help you to realize it.

    The army of a free country has a great responsibility: the right to use force, but not as an instrument of compulsion and brute conquest — as the armies of other countries have done in their histories — only as an instrument of a free nation's self-defense, which means: the defense of a man's individual rights. The principle of using force only in retaliation against those who initiate its use, is the principle of subordinating might to right. The highest integrity and sense of honor are required for such a task. No other army in the world has achieved it. You have."

    Ayn Rand, Address to graduating class of the United States Military Academy at West Point, March 1974
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 6 months ago
    This may be a good time to post a comment. The Oath of Office we take in the militarycontains the line 'obey the orders of the officers' appointed over me. I was pleasantly surprised watching a move - Jack Ryan Shadow Recruits - to hear the word 'uniformed' inserted when the movie hero joined the Marine Corps. Had to play it again to make sure. the first part of course is the support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign or domestic.

    Checking I found the miltary oath has not changed.

    In honor of those who didn't make it I wonder if it was a mistake, change of direction or a signal. I keep hoping it wasn't in vain.
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    • Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 6 months ago
      Hollywood gets a lot of things wrong. Two movies where it is done correctly are Act of Valor and American Sniper.
      cheers
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      • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 5 months ago
        I'm patiently awaiting delivery of the second one having read the book how was the first movie?

        Actually I didn't mind if it was a mistake it was the way we were taught to interpret it. chain of command photos in our unit didn't include service secretaries. Chief of staff for branch of service and Chairman of Joint Chiefs sufficed.
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        • Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 5 months ago
          I thought it was quite good. The movie used active duty SEALs to portray the SEALs in the movie. They were not " acting" . They were the real deal. The other characters in the movie were actors. Roselyn Sanchez plays a CIA operative, and her performance was breath-takingly real. The storyline is fictional, but all of the individual events in the movie have actually happened in isolation from one another. It gives an unclassified view of what the U S Navy SEALs are capable of, globally.
          Cheers
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  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 6 months ago
    Bob, viewing the pictures in your post, the first one I've seen lots of times before, the second one, first time I've seen it, made me cry.

    Yesterday at Sunset Hills Memorial Park we paid tribute to our fallen. I remembered 43 of my fallen comrades from Vietnam, and thought about so many newer friends that have passed in the recent years that fought in WWI and Korea. I am fortunate that I know of only two from Iraq and Afghanistan. Memorial Day makes a basket case out of me, this one was no exception.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 6 months ago
    It really is National BBQ Day. But in the midst of the picnic, the beer, the guests and family, take a few minutes to remember the brave souls who do a job that cannot be done by most of us.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 6 months ago
    Great quote. Thanks.

    And my personal thanks to all those who serve in the Armed Forces - especially to those who have lost loved ones in sacrifice to this nation.
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