For those dont think our Soldiers make sacrifices, check out these photos... It is awe inspiring. :yessir:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/11/afghanistans_korengal_valley.html

Yes it is awe inspiring.

I have never served in the military but I have the utmost respect for those who have. We have a military facility where I live. Honestly I am not exactly sure what it is. It is not a base, it is more like an office building. But we have a fair number of soldiers in uniform or fatigues around town. Whenever I see them I make it a point to walk up to them, shake their hand and say thank you.

To all those brave men and women I say thank you and may you come home safely

:yessir:

First I have to say Thank-you to the all the men and women who served or are serving right now.

Those pictures where awesome Ron and thanks for sharing. I wouldn't mind pulling that trigger on that cannon a few times..I got a few ground hoggs in the back 40 that need taking out :lol:

Wow :yessir:

Now this is an awesome post..... :yessir:

Thanks for posting this. Incredible pics. :yessir:

Those are some incredible pictures and I wished I knew how to capture images with such feeling to them! Had my life not taken the direction it did I was going in the military. I have a deep respect for our troops that have fought in all the wars! A lot of our family has been military and some have had some historic rolls in some of the wars! My father was military from Valley Forge Military Academy on up to regular military to National Guard! The sacrifices these people make for us should never be questioned and never be frowned upon by ANYBODY!

i've always enjoyed these post and pictures of our brave men and women in other countries fighting for not only us and our freedom but for there life as also. i always wanted to join the military or be drafted but with health issues i was never qualified to do so. i think for those who do serve and fight for our country and for all of our veterans of past wars that have been fought our goverment should get off of there asses and praise these young and older men and women more than what they do. something these people go through and see cant ever be forgotten and it takes a toll on them mentally and yet what do they get in return? i tell you what they get, a fkin card board sign and a street corner either in poverty or a wheelchair asking for work or food. some of us see this see regularly that we think well he will just spend the dollar or so on a beer or some wine but that isnt always the case, some are actually wanting food or a cold pop being out there all day and yes perhaps some would like a cold beer or a bottle of wine. the problem is while most of these people being veterans a few arent and use that title to get a few bucks which is sad and only hurts our true veterans but the point is alot of us, including me have one time or another just drove by thinking because he can stand at that corner with a sign asking for food or something he can work. well maybe he can maybe he cant who knows that his mentality level is or what hes been through. i guess what i am getting at is this, we praise our men and women that are over there fighting now but we close our eyes sometimes to the ones that have been through this before in alot tougher wars, and we the people and our goverment should stop one day and picture this person asking for food or even a dollar as our own mother,father,brother,sister etc... because one day it could be. although i am for the war on terror and wanting to fight the fight on there soil and not ours, i think our goverment should open some eyes and see our country is falling apart and start rebuilding it before sending billions of dollars a month to build other countries. take some of that money and give to our troops and there families, give some to the homeless to get them back on there feet and give back to us tax payers that they have been taxing for fkin years and still stuck us where we are today.GIVE OUR TROOPS AND AMERICANS A REASON TO WANT TO GO TO WAR AND DEFEND OUR COUNTRY AT ALL COST INSTEAD OF FKIN THESE GUYS EVERY WAY THEY CAN. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND ALL OF THERE FAMILIES.

I know this is going to go off in a direction I didn't want it to but....

give some to the homeless to get them back on there feet

Not to sound like an ass but how many homeless people have you spoken to, or interacted with?

99% of the ones that I have interacted with be it at work (on a weekly if not daily bases) or though soup kitchens in my younger days of having more time on my hands and a heart don't want to be rescued by anyone. They may not be exactly happy or sane but they made their choices. Most have mental issues, yes but I can't think of anyone besides us who thinks it's okay to have 100 snakes in our houses and rats, mice and roaches in the laundry room. Sort of like being a functioning alcoholic and a drunk.....

i think our goverment should open some eyes and see our country is falling apart

The country is not falling apart, America is fine it is the people who look to the government to be fixed that are the ones falling apart that need someone else to fix their problems IMO. Media coverage of every idiot who thinks his cause or problem is bigger than anyone else's is the issue in my eyes.

Great group of pics. What gets me the most were the ages of some of those guys. They were really just kids.....what I was doing at 21 and what some of them are doing blows me away.

I know this is going to go off in a direction I didn't want it to but....



Not to sound like an ass but how many homeless people have you spoken to, or interacted with?

99% of the ones that I have interacted with be it at work (on a weekly if not daily bases) or though soup kitchens in my younger days of having more time on my hands and a heart don't want to be rescued by anyone. They may not be exactly happy or sane but they made their choices. Most have mental issues, yes but I can't think of anyone besides us who thinks it's okay to have 100 snakes in our houses and rats, mice and roaches in the laundry room. Sort of like being a functioning alcoholic and a drunk.....



The country is not falling apart, America is fine it is the people who look to the government to be fixed that are the ones falling apart that need someone else to fix their problems IMO. Media coverage of every idiot who thinks his cause or problem is bigger than anyone else's is the issue in my eyes.


not all made that choice but if the goverment can spend billions on rebuild a country do you not agree it should spend billions here to restore ours? since it was goverments useless spending that actually helped get us here?

also you say the U.S is fine? lmao we owe trillions of dollars to the chinese goverment and are so far in debt with china alone we may never come out of it, we are basically owned by china now. its not the people asking the goverment for help it is the goverments spending and bad decision making thats put the majority of this on the country. look around you at all of the jobless,homeless, foreclosures and companys closing around the world not only the U.S, rather or not you see it or want to believe it or just your opinion thats its not falling apart you are entitled to it, but i do see it and read about it everyday. there has been evidence provided to our goverment for years that this was coming and going to happen but they over looked it. but in one instance you are right, it is the american peoples fault because will elected these people in office to do it lol. it all started with the democrats and hasnt stopped since then. the free trade agreement and the tax breaks hurt america.

not all made that choice but if the goverment can spend billions on rebuild a country do you not agree it should spend billions here to restore ours? since it was goverments useless spending that actually helped get us here?


Restore ours from what? Ourselves?


also you say the U.S is fine? lmao we owe trillions of dollars to the chinese goverment and are so far in debt with china alone we may never come out of it, we are basically owned by china now. its not the people asking the goverment for help it is the goverments spending and bad decision making thats put the majority of this on the country. look around you at all of the jobless,homeless, foreclosures and companys closing around the world not only the U.S, rather or not you see it or want to believe it or just your opinion thats its not falling apart you are entitled to it, but i do see it and read about it everyday. there has been evidence provided to our goverment for years that this was coming and going to happen but they over looked it. but in one instance you are right, it is the american peoples fault because will elected these people in office to do it lol. it all started with the democrats and hasnt stopped since then. the free trade agreement and the tax breaks hurt america.

All big government that created this, the same government that you want to give even more power to by 'rebuilding' here or giving handouts as I see it.

I read it, I see it more than I care to--I am that nice utility guy who will come and shut you off when you don't pay your bill....

I beg to differ with it started with the democrats this one time, it started with career criminals, I mean politicians who don't understand that the money just doesn't grow on trees.

Back to topic and GREAT pics and I am PROUD of the men & women who serve :yessir::yessir::yessir:

I enjoyed that string of pics. The couple of funny ones helped break it up a bit. Lets you know they're still human in spite of the inhuman things they may have to do at times. I was there once. A different time, a different war. God bless and keep them.

Quig

Great group of pics. What gets me the most were the ages of some of those guys. They were really just kids.....what I was doing at 21 and what some of them are doing blows me away.
Some of them are a lot younger than that. I lost a kid in my platoon who was 19.... Ripped my damn heart out....

Some of them are a lot younger than that. I lost a kid in my platoon who was 19.... Ripped my damn heart out....

I never made it to combat when I was active duty , came close a few times when I was with a rapid deployment unit. We had tons of 18 year olds coming in. It was always stressful when we hit an alert and these youngins were asking if we were shipping out to a hot zone. I can't imagine loosing one of them and having to write that letter to their parents.

pretty poingnant stuff there norsman.
thanx for posting that.
God bless our military boys and girls, and of course, all 'a you guys on here who've served.
ck

I can't imagine loosing one of them and having to write that letter to their parents.

Hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life..... I escorted his remains back to the states since I was up for R&R. His family was so grateful that I did that because this kid (unbeknownst to me) idolized me. His parents knew everything about me from letters he had written home to them. That made it even harder....

Alright enough of that... I am getting all misty eyed....

I had a guy come over last night and pick up a ball that just got back from Iraq. I tried talking to him about how it was there and he really did not want to say much. You could tell it was still hard on him.....

I still dont like talking about it. My wife has a hard time with my solitude sometimes because of it but I deal with it the best I can.
I am glad to see the Army is using Vietnam Vets to counsel these young soldiers now. It means more being able to talk about these issues with someone who has been through the same situations.

I still dont like talking about it. My wife has a hard time with my solitude sometimes because of it but I deal with it the best I can.
I am glad to see the Army is using Vietnam Vets to counsel these young soldiers now. It means more being able to talk about these issues with someone who has been through the same situations.

This may not be the proper place to bring this up but I was about to ask if any of you have been diagnosed with PTSD. If so are you getting counceling? Although there is no cure for this, counceling and a good shrink can be a life saver. You won't spend thirty or forty years, like many of us did, self medicating while trying to figure out how to deal with it in a fairly civil manner :D. I'll end this here, but if any of you want to talk about it I'm around. PM me.

Quig

Great post.... Thanks so much for sharing those pictures. Those really hit home for me since right now my cousin (getting his promotion to E-5 soon hooah!) is over there serving right now along with a LOT of people who I've known through my training and from working in S-1 down at Ft. Gordon.

It's still an extremely dangerous place and the taliban is getting better and better at fighting as the war in Afghanistan drags on and on. I personally know at least 3 soldiers who have gone over to Afghanistan and Iraq who were killed. My battle buddy from basic training went over there and wound up losing two of his fingers when he was shot in the hand by some dumb ass hajii.

Sorry, just kind of ranting here but I have the utmost respect for the guys over there and if I hadn't gotten hurt I would be proud to be over there serving right now :machinegun:

This may not be the proper place to bring this up but I was about to ask if any of you have been diagnosed with PTSD. If so are you getting counceling? Although there is no cure for this, counceling and a good shrink can be a life saver. You won't spend thirty or forty years, like many of us did, self medicating while trying to figure out how to deal with it in a fairly civil manner :D. I'll end this here, but if any of you want to talk about it I'm around. PM me.

Quig

Quig, thanks for offering that advice and a friendly ear. I know I have PTSD and have been diagnosed with it but havent sought counseling yet. I do have my days but for the most part, I am good to go. I only self medicate occassionally but not anymore than I did before! :cheers:
Anyway, thank you from the bottom of my sandy retired boots Quig. You are a great American!
:yessir: