Gentlemen, I Salute You on this, Armed Forces Day

[Bengel]

“When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in the happy hour when the establishment of American Liberty, upon the most firm and solid foundations shall enable us to return to our Private Stations in the bosom of a free, peacefully and happy Country.” —George Washington (1775)

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I second and third that emotion. Thanks to all those presently serving and the Veterans for their service.

 

[mso489]

Interesting quote from General George Washington, and kind of revealing. He was innately gifted for soldiering, not excluding the fact that he was astonishingly lucky and should have been cut down in battle in his twenties in various less than successful military skirmishes. He was a big, tall target, and often in the middle of it. And he was a totally hard-nosed commander, hangings and floggings and all. But he always claimed he wanted to be back on his magnificent plantation overlooking the Potomac, and when he retired he was, so it was a remarkable self-realized contradiction. But he couldn't have abandoned his military career in his youth. It was his nature.

 

[mso489]

One quick sea story. One Armed Forces Day, I think it was 1970, my ship USS Gallant was assigned to sail up from Long Beach to San Francisco as a ship to be toured by the public for the holiday. I'd been on the ship about a year, in the South China Sea and through a typhoon, and never had a trace of seasickness. But the coastal journey with the irregular back-wash, happening on an empty stomach gave me the dry heaves. I entered the event in the radio log, and my head radioman was none too pleased but let it go. I salute my fellow vets, living and gone on.