HARTS Angels, Grief at Home, RRT STUDIOS Flag Angel

What is a Vet?? 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 a leg, or perhaps another sort of inner steel the souls ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades however the men, and women that have kept America safe don't wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet? He's the cop on the beat that spent 6 months in Saudi Arabia sweating 2 gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He's the barroom loudmouth dumber than 5 wooden planks who's overgrown fratboy behavior is out weighed a hundred times by 4 hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She's the nurse who fought against futility, and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in DA Nang. He's the POW who went away one person, and came back another, or didn't came back at all. He's the drill instructor who's never seen combat but has saved countless lives anyway by turning no account rednecks, and gang members into soldiers, and teaching them to watch each others backs. He's the parade riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He's the career legislation who stands in the crowd watching the ribbons and medals pass him by. He's the 3 anonymous Hero's in the tomb of the unknowns who's presence in Arlington national cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous Hero's who's valor dies with them unrecognized on the battle fields, or in the ocean deep. He's the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, palsied now and aggravatingly slow. Who Helped liberate a Nazi death camp, and wishes all day long his wife was 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 that others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He's a soldier, sailor, airman, or a marine, and a savior, and a sword against the darkness, and He's 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 just lean over and 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. Two little words Thank you, and remember that November eleventh is Veterans Day.

It is the sailor 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, the sailor, the airman, the marine who salute the flag, who serve under the flag, and who's coffin is draped by the flag, that
allows protesters to burn the flag.

GEEZERS
Geezers" are easy to spot; this is slang for an old man. But, at sporting events, during the playing of the National Anthem, they hold their caps over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them. They remember World War I, the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam. If you bump into a "Geezer" on the sidewalk, he'll apologize, pass a Geezer on the street, he'll nod, or tip his cap to a lady. "Geezers" trust strangers and are courtly to women. They hold the door for the next person and always when walking, make sure the lady is on the inside for protection. "Geezers" get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like violence and filth on TV and in movies. Geezers have moral courage. Geezers seldom brag unless it's about the grandchildren in Little League or music recitals. This country needs "Geezers" with their decent values and common sense. We need them now more than ever. It's the "Geezers" who know our great country is protected, not by politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country in foreign lands, just as they did, without a thought except to do a good job, the best you can and to get home to loved ones. Thank God for "OLD GEEZERS." MY GRANDFATHER WAS ONE!!
submitted by Keith Sctwarior@aol.com