The Average Age Of Military Man Is 19 Years Old

[hummingbluejay]

Well said!!! Thanks for sharing this with us Sunny Sky!! I am definitely passing this one along!!

Originally Posted by sunny sky

BUMP!


America the beautiful, or so you used to be.

Land of the Pilgrim's pride - I'm so glad they'll never see

Babies piled in dumpsters, abortion on demand.

Sweet land of liberty, your house is on the sand.



People wander aimlessly, poisoned by cocaine

Choosing to indulge, when God said to abstain.

From sea to shining sea, our country turns away

From the teaching of God's word, and the need to pray



Phony TV preachers tell lies about our Rock

Saying God has spoke to them, while they fleece the flock

We've voted in a government that's rotten to the core

Appointing Godless judges, who throw reason out the door



Too soft to place the killer, in his well deserved tomb

But brave enough to kill the child, before he leaves the womb.

You think God's not angry and sad that our land's a moral slum?

How much evil will He watch, before His Kingdom comes?



How are we to face our God, from whom we cannot hide?

What is left for us to do to stem this evil tide?

We who are called need always to humbly turn and pray

Teach others to seek His holy face, and leave their evil way.



Then God would hear from Heaven, and forgive us of our sin.

He'd heal our sickly land, and those who live within

But America The Beautiful, if you don't, then you shall see

A sad and holy Father withdraw His hand from thee.






~ Written by Judge Roy Moore

[hummingbluejay]

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad.
For those who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops.

THE MARINE


We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.


In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.


Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.


I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.


But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.


I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.



Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.



Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.



But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.



By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps
USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003

Hey Dad,

Do me a favor and label this "The Marine" and send it to
everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I want this rolling all over the lace w:st="on">USlace>; I want every home reading it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you please send this for me? I would but my email time isn't that long and I don't have much time anyway. You know what Dad?I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country,
I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it."
Well, now I know. And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much. I wish I could be there when Sandi has our baby, but tell her that I love her, and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too.
Aaron

If this touched you as much as it touched me, please forward it on.

Let's help Aaron's dad spread the word ...
FREEDOM isn't FREE
... someone pays for you and me.

[jungleboy]

Great thoughts, GOD bless us all,

[handymanmike92683]

This pretty well sums it up!
This letter should be read by every
American.

A United States Marine
By Brantley Smith
Posted On August 17, 2005
Ms. Sheehan,

By your actions over the past two weeks it is clear that you missed an
important aspect of Civics 101: With rights come responsibilities. You
certainly have the right to voice your opinion against the war in Iraq and
the President's policies. You even have the right to camp outside the
President's home in Crawford and demand he meet with you.
Your status as a
mother who has lost a child in the war also gives your words and
actions a
credibility and a larger audience than otherwise would be the case. Now
that your supporters have given you a broad forum from which to be
heard,
making you a national figure, its time you considered your
responsibilities to all of us.

I have a daughter set to deploy to Fallujah in two weeks and I have a
serious concern with how your irresponsible and short sighted actions
might
impact on her. She is, after all, a volunteer,
like your son, and she is
going in harm's way because she believes it is her responsibility to
protect your rights and freedoms.

Well meaning people like you always seem to forget the law of
unintended
consequences and in your vanity and arrogant self-righteousness never
bother
to think through what it is you are trying to do versus what you may
actually accomplish. I am here to inform you, Ma'am, that you will not
change the policy of our government by sitting outside Crawford making
a
spectacle of yourself in the name of your rights to free speech; what
you
will do is provide more propaganda for our enemies and cost the lives
of
even more brave and selfless American warriors.

How long do you think it will be before you become a star on Al
Jazeera?
For all I know, it may have already happened.
One thing is certain, though, and
that is that your actions and words
will further embolden a ruthless and
evil enemy and more American blood will be shed
and some of it will be on
your hands. I pray that my daughter will not be one of them.
If she is, then
I will hold you and those like you partly responsible.
Yes, my daughter's
fate will depend mostly on her own courageous decision to serve,
but only
the most naive among us can deny the impact our own words
and actions here
in America have in a world grown smaller by the revolution in
communications technology.

I am sure you believe that you are serving some great cause
by putting our
servicemen and women in more danger and that you can,
by your irresponsible
exercise of free speech,
help end a policy you disagree with. Your emotion
may be compelling but the reality is that you will not set in motion
any process that will change or undo what has been done.
The war will go on
because to end it now would dishonor the sacrifice
of all of our fellow
countrymen who have died in the cause of fighting terrorism.
Rational Americans will not allow that.
Too much is at stake. Unfortunately,
shallow
and irrational ones, such as yourself,
will continue to put the lives of our
sons and daughters in danger by aiding
and abetting an enemy who sees
propagandizing in the mass media as its main weapon
in a war it could
otherwise not win standing on its own wretched and
evil justification of radical Islam, or by force of arms.

You, Ma'am,
have joined forces with an evil you neither understand nor
apparently have tried to comprehend.
You direct your anger toward our
country while the enemy plots to kill and maim the innocent.
You make a mockery of responsible free speech
while thousands of young men and women
fight desperately to preserve your safety.
Instead of honoring your son's
sacrifice you are inspired to comfort an evil enemy.
You clearly do not understand the challenge we face
as a nation and have not
tried to put it in historical perspective.
It is a sad fact that it is those
of your thinking that have led us to where we are today.
Decades of
appeasement to these haters of everything
we hold dear has cost thousands of
American lives from Beirut to New York
and in dozens of other forgotten
places. Remember Lockerbie? The Achille Lauro?
The USS Cole? We as a people
were dragged into this war, much like December 7th, 1941,
and we must fight
and win it wherever the enemy hides
and against whomever would support him.
Make no mistake about Iraq.
It is both a legitimate and crucial campaign in
this much larger, global war of radical Islam's making.
These people hate us
for who we are, not what we have done.
We did not bring this on ourselves,
as many would have us believe, by our policies
and actions abroad. We
brought this on ourselves in 1775 when the Founding Fathers
embarked on a course of freedom, tolerance,
and liberal democratic and social ideals.
These haters of all we hold dear strive to destroy
forever a government "of
the people, by the people, and for the people"
that Abraham Lincoln hoped
would never "Perish from the earth".
They would replace it with an
oppressive world theocracy unlike anything
modern history has ever seen for
its ruthless disregard for personal freedom and liberty.
If more appeasement
is your answer for an alternative policy,
spare us. We have suffered enough
from cowardice and inaction.
An historical analogy screams to be let out here.
It is one of two men, both
named Chamberlain. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
a school teacher turned
soldier in the American Civil War,
found himself in the crosshairs of
history on a warm July day in 1863 on a small hill
in Pennsylvania.
Commanding the 20th Maine Regiment
on the extreme Union left at Gettysburg
he was in a most perilous position.
Should he fail to hold against a strong
Confederate attack, the Union could be lost.
You see, he was serving in an
increasingly unpopular war at home against a resurgent enemy,
and for a President fighting for his political life.
Colonel Chamberlain, stoic but
determined, refused to yield.
His small regiment held against an onslaught
of Confederate attacks,
an action many historians believe turned the tide of
the war.
He was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The other half of this analogy focuses on Neville Chamberlain,
Prime Minister of Great
Britain in the years preceding World War II
His story is widely known.
Through his policy of appeasement and a lack of moral courage,
he handed
Adolf Hitler much of Europe.
Which side of history have you chosen,
Ma'am?
Your son died in the service of freedom
and my daughter will go in harm's
way to protect and preserve it. Honor their sacrifice,
Ma'am, by exercising it responsibly.
I will pray with you and I will grieve with you
but I will not stand by
silent while you needlessly and arrogantly
endanger the life of my daughter
and her comrades in arms.
Please bless us with your silence and go
home.

Brantley Smith Proud father of a United States Marine, Tullahoma, TN

[handymanmike92683]

[handymanmike92683]

TELL EM LIKE IT IS "

One of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside,
here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm
and welcoming people were to him, and his troops, everywhere he
goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for
being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but
so that others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he
stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said
that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed
in a burnoose. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly
remarked about the US flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The
cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly,"Yes,
I always wear it, and I probably always will." The woman in the
burnoose then asked the cashier when she was going to stop
bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his
arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said
in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman:

"Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young
man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY
country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It
is my belief that had YOU been this outspoken in YOUR own country,
we wouldn't need to be there today.But, hey, if you have now
learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a
ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out
the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country
to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered !

[handymanmike92683]

When I hear "Bring our troops home" I wonder.....Do these people want the Terrorist here in our country so that thousands of Americanswill die? That's what I think they mean !!! We"re fighting the Terrorist there so we don't have to fight them here.... Too bad, so many people would rather have the fighting done on our own soil. An apology from a Three Star Marine Corps General... This "Letter of Apology" was written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired: "For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day massacre. I humbly offer my opinion here: I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims ( Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.). I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11. I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs. I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships. I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth. I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government-controlled media. I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian "cause." I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians. I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for all their problems. I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our society like radical professors, CNN and the NY TIMES). I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered. I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death. I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will receive 72 virgins in "paradise." I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies, children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets. I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making. I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group. I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state. I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah. I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site" I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World TradeCenter that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites. I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc....etc! I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa. America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible because that is what we do. We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology. Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated? Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans. If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait! You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins. Chuck Pitman Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret)

[jms_mlr]

Two things Navy SEALS are always taught:
1) Keep your priorities in order
2) Know when to act without hesitation

A college professor, an avowed atheist, was teaching
his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated
that once and for all he was going to prove there was no God.

Addressing the ceiling he
shouted: "GOD, if you are real, then I want you to
knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes!"

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by. "I'm waiting God, if you're real,
knock me off this platform!"

After four more minutes, the professor taunted God
again saying, "Here I am, God! I'm still waiting!"

His count down got down to the last few seconds when a
former Navy SEAL, just released from the Navy after serving in
Afghanistan and Iraq and newly registered in the class, walked up to the Professor.

The SEAL hit him full force in the face, and sent the
Professor tumbling from his lofty platform. The Professor was out cold!!

The students were stunned and shocked. They began to
babble in confusion.

The SEAL nonchalantly took his seat in the front row
and sat silent.
The class looked at him and fell silent.....waiting.

Eventually, the professor came to and was noticeably
shaken. He looked at the SEAL in the front row. When the professor
regained his senses and could speak he asked: "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?

"God was really busy, protecting America's soldiers,
who are protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an ass, so
He sent me!!"

[jms_mlr]

Great thread mike!!!! GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!**==

[handymanmike92683]

Lord, we come to You on bended knee, heads bowed and our hearts filled to overflowing with so much grief for the many people who were injured and killed on September 11, 2001. Please give us the strength Lord, to get through each difficult and devastating day that faces each of us and our country. We ask that You allow us all to come together as a Nation, to stand tall and united, so that we might help each other in our hour of need.

Amen

Take a moment of silence today, for the fallen. The heroes, the victims and thier loved ones. MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!

THANX JMS
GLAD YA LIKE IT

Originally Posted by jms_mlr

Great thread mike!!!! GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!**==