11-11-11 Thank you for your service

MoonHowler

 

 

The 11th hour on the 11th day of of the 11th month in the 11th year….This is a special Veterans Day just because of the date.   Today there is a contest.  Each year since 1978 the Department of Veterans Affairs  has created a special poster for the year.  Please chose your favorite poster  from the list, by year.  We will have an honorary poster winner  at the end of the day.  I already know my favorite. 

For our contributor vets, thank you for your service. 

 

 

Please don’t forget to chose a favorite Veterans Day Poster. 

There are many Veterans Day posts today because Veterans are special.

The Horse Soldiers of 9/11

MoonHowler

The Daily Caller:

It was the news the world breathlessly waited for immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks: a report of the first American troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

All at once the world’s attention focused on an iconic photo of those Special Operations Forces doing something no American military had done in nearly a century: They rode horses into combat.

Their secret mission: secure northern Afghanistan by advising the warring tribal factions that formed the Northern Alliance. During the 2011 Veterans Day Parade on November 11, a new monument to these men — and to all Americans in uniform — will make its way down New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue on the way to its final home, a stone’s throw from Ground Zero.

Military men and women, along with New York City firefighters, policemen, emergency responders and other marchers, 50,000 in all, will escort the monument on its televised journey. The spectacle will feature members of the three original Special Operations teams — some on horseback, others walking alongside surviving spouses of fallen heroes.

Retired Army general and current CIA director David Petraeus will be among the parade marshals. Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is producing a future movie about America’s “Horse Soldiers.”

Read more: httpdailycaller.com/2011/10/14/secret://-mission-the-horse-soldiers-of-911/#ixzz1bYl8J2Qi

Sgt. Reckless-Korean War Horse Hero

MoonHowler

Not all our vets have been human.  Reckless makes Traveler, Little Sorrel, Comanche and countless other horses look like ‘also rans.’ 

Reckless was definitely like the little engine who could. 

She was retired at the Marine Corps Base in Camp Pendleton where a General issued the following order…she was never to carry any more weight on her back except her own blankets. She died in 1968 at the age of 20.

h/t, Reckless

Veterans Day Reflections

MoonHowler

Lyrics | Dire Straits lyrics – Brothers In Arms lyrics

At what point do we get tired of burying our dead and having to prop up our mangled and wounded?

When do we stop all the chest thumping  and mission accomplished bravado while hiding our tears?

How many thousands have come home with life altering injuries, never to be whole again?

Half of those men and women would have died even 40 years ago.  Modern medicine has kept them alive and has  chased off the grim reaper. 

If we can land a man on the moon, we can find other ways to resolve conflict rather than blowing each other to kingdom come as we have done since the beginning of time. 

To all our veterans, we are glad you are here.  Thank you for your service–

I am a  proud daughter and niece of veterans.  My father and uncle  came home in one piece.  Not everyone did. I was one of the lucky ones. 

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Alternate version of  Brothers in Arms  featuring Mark Knopfler, one of my favorite artists.  Knopfler, from Dire Straits, is one of the gods of guitar, like Clapton. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb_Jzgnrpv8&feature=related