Memorial Day 2015

Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 11 months ago to Pics
30 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

“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


All Comments

  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Fact. A decisive action, with clear victory. There can be no hesitation, or false "lines in the sand." Otherwise, all the lives lost were for absolutely nothing.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Beautifully said NMA. I have attended enough memorial services for fallen squadron mates in the Navy that I can no longer sing the Navy Hymn without tears in my eyes and loosing the ability to to even sing the notes. The words still have such clear meaning.
    Cheers
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is hard not to feel the emotions of lose and sorrow when I look at any of these type of pictures. Which brings me back to C S Lewis' quote with regard to HONOR. " We laugh at our and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
    Cheers
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago
    these photos are perfect, Bob;; Thank You. -- john
    .
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by NealS 9 years, 11 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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Hollywood gets a lot of things wrong. Two movies where it is done correctly are Act of Valor and American Sniper.
    cheers
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I use that speech by Ayn Rand to introduce people to her brilliance. Thanks for stating it here.
    Cheers
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 11 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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Would have been impossible. Women were not admitted for 2 more years as part of the graduating class of 1980. :)

    BTW, the entire address is available online. It's a great speech. And it is the title essay of the collection of essays called Philosophy: Who Needs It?
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 11 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.
    Reply | Permalink  
  • Comment hidden due to member score or comment score too low. View Comment
  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 11 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.
    Reply | Permalink  

  • Comment hidden. Undo