Special for me in that I spent my first day in the Army officially on the 11th November 1965. The holiday began after the close of WW I and has been in effect on the 11th of November since that time. " Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples."
Before meeting my wife, I never celebrated Veterans Day and never asked for the day off from work. But, after meeting my wife, we now celebrate the day every year. Display our American flag and get a couple free meals, Golden Corral Buffet being the biggest/best one. In the complex we live in, there appears to be no Veterans at all and, from driving around the complex, we are the only apartment that displays the flag. Then again, we display our flag on Memorial Day also. I'm the only military Veteran in the family. When we lived in So California, Knott's Berry Farm (amusement park) in Buena Park, let all Veterans in for free during the week leading up to Veterans Day. The Veterans family would get 1/2 off admission, when accompanied by the Veteran. I took my wife's family and they loved it. BTW, I made my first WestPac Cruise, with a Destroyer Escort Group, in December 1968, out of San Diego. I enlisted in the Navy right before I graduated from high school in 1968.
Are any Veterans on SOF going to get a free breakfast or dinner this coming Friday? I will be on both Friday (dinner) and the following Monday (dinner).
Out here in the country no such thing, you won't even know it's Veterans Day. One thing will be a real shift in our weather as a front moves down and it will remind me of my enlisting living in Oklahoma at Midwest City. I remember driving to the recruiters office in OKC and on my way home it was sleeting and really cold, I stopped at a drive in and had coffee and a hamburger. I think it was Spencer Highway then but today it is not visible and probably renamed due to the time frame of yesterday and today.. I see 29th street as the main highway that intersects the road I lived on. I was on a red dirt road off the main highway and the other side of the highway was Tinker AFB. There has been so much building since 1965 I cannot recognize anything on google earth. City Hall was on the frontage facing Tinker AFB in a little corner building. Fire station 1 was on the corner of my old road I lived. I worked as a dispatcher in the newest station which was then designated as station 1 replacing the old historical No 1 station. Nothing but rolling hills a couple miles down that road I lived on and today it is completely changed with row after row of subdivisions. It is only the rolling hills left now. I remember the Mayor telling me when he hired me that the city would eventually expand and that was why they had built the station I would be working. Boy was he right !
The way I see it, most, if not all, that celebrate Veteran's Day, are Veterans or friends/family of a Veteran/Veterans. There are those that simply don't care about Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, except they get Memorial Day Monday off from work. There are also those that, when any of the Services are mentioned, they will "scowl" because any of the Services reminds them of those that have to "kill or be killed".
Just a bit of trivia. The spelling of the event on Nov. 11 does not come with an apostrophe. Unlike “Mother’s Day” the day doesn’t belong to military vets but rather is a day when the nation honors all veterans hence the proper spelling is Veterans Day. I guess it’s a matter of semantics because everyone living has a Mother ergo everyone in the nation honors mothers on a day set aside for mothers. Just to be a tad belligerent, I’m a vet thus it is my day so if I wish to treat it in a possessive manner I’ll do as I derned wish. Word Salad? Speaking of “word salad”, Kamala Harris will be presiding over the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington this year. I think that I’ll not be tuning in for it at 1030 hrs this morning. If she doesn’t say anything for the rest of the free world to laugh at then so be it but if she does then I won’t have to risk getting a butt cramp from the extreme body cringe I get every time she gives a speech.
To ALL of my fellow military Veterans on SOF................have a nice Veteran's Day! And, a big THANK YOU to those that remember us!!
While veterans day is for all military vets, I have a special appreciation for war veterans. Those that experienced the horrors of war get my highest appreciation. I will never say "happy vets day" because there is no happiness in war. I will say however that my heart pours out gratitude for your service and may you find healing today and a brighter light shine inside you.
I agree with you on the war thing, @Faye Fox. It is my belief that ALL folks who have been in actual combat suffer PTSD; some deal with it and some don't.
I know several war vets and they all suffer from PTSD. I am happy to say they all continue therapy when needed.
The PTSD is one reason I'm glad I enlisted in the Navy during Nam. If the Draft would've got me, I would've been right there in the jungles of Vietnam. As it was, I was onboard a Destroyer, on the "gun line", as we were firing both of our gun mounts at NVA and Viet Cong strongholds in the mountains, in support of both the Marines and Army there.
One of the problems of being a combat veteran is that even though we’re home, we’re not. Some of us are able to disconnect that part that is left behind to keep fighting, and some of us have a much harder time with it. I do know for certain though, that drugs and alcohol only compound the problem and I do mean ANY kind of drugs whether from the street or from the prescription pad of some civilian who has never even had a shakeup on a school yard much less fought on the field of life taking combat.
Exactly what good long-time combat vet friends have told me. Some have found clinical hypnosis, group therapy, and prayer to be beneficial. Medication isn't the answer.
Sort of funny, but I remember, while living in So. California and seeing the Mobile Vietnam Living Wall at Knott's Berry Farm on Veterans Day, I cried. Looking at the Wall, I literally cried and said "why?" to myself. I saw other Veterans and families of Veterans killed in action, tearing up as well. Visiting/seeing that Wall was one of the highlights of my life, even though it was so, so emotional for me.
I have heard that the Brits developed a program for their vets with unresolved PTSD called Project Nightingale. As I recall, it involved working in groups with other vets with the same problem on low-stress projects, such as archeological digs and such. I don't know how it worked as I haven't seen any reports, but I thought it was a good idea to try something different.