One of the dirtiest jobs, but for some, it is one of the most rewarding jobs out there!!

I thought that since this is our last blog for the class (and it is Veteran's Day) that I would finish my blos postings by thanking all of those men and women who did one of the most dirtiest jobs but one of the most rewarding jobs out there. First I want to recap or refresh as to what a "veteran" is- I found a statement given by Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC, to me that sums it all up.

"Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs. He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. "

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

When I read this posting on the web site of www.forcerecon.com/veteran.htm, I realized that there are so many people who have served our country in various ways and provided "we" the people with the ability to have freedom and to feel safe. It has not been the government, it has not been our President. It has been your mother, brother, father, friend, daughter or son that has made the choice to fight for freedom, to protect the land that they love, in hopes that their service will allow us to be proud as Americans. Many of us do not even realized how close we are to one of those people listed above as to the "job" that they contributed to that allowed each and everyone one of us to continue on with our lives.

Each job that a veteran, solider, cop, firefighter, nurses, POW, Marines, Civilians, and various other members did was a "dirty" job in some form. But these jobs affected other people as to doing their jobs, as like a chain of commands. Just think, when Delphi or GM closed their doors, the trickling down effect that they had on millions of other people and businesses that played a part in providing the goods that they did to millions of people around the world.

The men and women who served as a veteran did not think twice as to the job that they were doing, they just did it for they each had their own personal reasons. So, we all should take the time to just simply say thank you, and to those millions of men and women who died or are permanently disabled for their contribution, God bless you!!

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the
freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

To find out more about the VA, check out the web site of www4.va.gov, this web page provides information as to job opportunities and much much more.