Veteran's Day 2011

Today is the day that at least some of us remember our military veterans: the ones among us, the ones who died for their country, and those who preceded  us.  For some, like me, it's better than Christmas.  I can easily believe in the men and women who have fought and perhaps died for freedom while that all seeing God thing is beyond me.  I think I prefer the name this day has in other countries, Remembrance Day.  It's not just about veterans; it's about remembering the horrors of war and why we should avoid wars.  Don't get me wrong, veterans are great.  We signed an oath offering up ourselves to protect the freedoms this nation offers.  It's just that we need to remember that war isn't a good solution to any problem.  I certainly wish Mr. Bush had remembered that prior to sending our troops into Afghanistan and Iraq. 

I'm also pretty unhappy with the way we got entangled in Vietnam even though I never went there.  It started out with fear that communism would take over Southeast Asia.  Then the hundreds of 'advisors' turned into hundreds of thousands and we were involved in a totally f@5ked up situation.  It was basically a lesson in why you don't intrude in another country's affairs.  Obviously history is a much underrated class in our schools.

I was watching what passes for the news on our local Fox affiliate.  They have two news anchors; a man and a woman.  The woman very nicely thanked her husband for his military service.  The guy also thanked him; he had no one he could think of who had served.  Wow!  That really got to me.  My grandfather served in the Spanish-American War, my mother's brother served in WWI, my dad served in WWII, my father-in-law served during Korea, I served during the Vietnam conflict, my wife's brother served for 27 years up to 2000.  This current conflict, in Afghanistan and Iraq, is the first time we haven't had family involved in well over 100 years! 

It's a cloudy day here in Nevada; fairly unusual.  Had to look it up!  Las Vegas averages 73 cloudy days a year and this is a good and cloudy one.  Check this out.

 

Have a good one even it it is cloudy!