Tag Archives: Veterans Day

Veteran’s Day, Kristallnacht, and being Chosen

Today, November 11th was Veteran’s Day. The day brave men and women who have served our country in the military are honored. I’m personally not sure enough can ever be done to honor them. I have only the highest respect for those that chose to put their personal lives on hold to protect us, and our country. They chose to go to other countries to fight evil, and to fight for those that could not fight for themselves.

November 9th and 10th is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass. We have some articles on the event if you might care to read them. There are more than just these two.

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht

And it was brave men and women, sometimes really boys and girls that went and fought the Germans, Austrians, Poles, and any others that decided this was an opportune time to rid their fair cities of the Jewish presence.

I think the fact that the two days fall so close together, for me at least, doubles the sense of wonder and gratitude.

I was thinking about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier the other day. Probably something I had read, maybe the weather, I don’t know. But I was thinking about the guard’s dedication to duty. The requirements to be a guard are quite stringent.

For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5′ 10″ and 6′ 2″ tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30″.

Other requirements of the Guard:

They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. They cannot swear in public FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in any way.

After TWO YEARS, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt. There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.

The first SIX MONTHS of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame. Every guard spends FIVE HOURS A DAY getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year the guards suit up, show up and do their duty. They have studied for this, trained for this and committed to this. And that’s how they were chosen for this post. Most that apply do not make the selection. These soldiers were willing to make the commitment, and do the work, even in a hurricane.

Part of the conditions that allowed Anti-Semitism to rise to such a level as to produce a holocaust was the complaint that the Jews were “chosen”. Chosen for what? Chosen to receive the Torah, to spread the knowledge of G-d in this world. Of his love, of his instructions of how to live a life pleasing to the creator of this world. To share knowledge of the mitzvot, commandments. Holy little bread crumbs if you will, a way of helping people find their way back to G-d, or to find G-d.

But according to the Midrash, Israel was not the 1st nation that G-d offered the Torah. They were however, the one that accepted it. Now, if you would like a rather humorous story about how this went down, I can help you out. And it is worth reading, it’s funny. I’ll give you the first paragraph of The Bargain and the Jew

The story you are about to read is true. Some names have been changed to protect the guilty. Some names have been omitted to protect us from the grumpy. The story first started thousands of years ago, when the world was young…

These days it seems the Holocaust is so far behind us, and that such an event could never happen again. But that could be wrong. I listened to a talk show today, and the host Howie Silbiger pointed out that the late Rabbi Meir Kahane predicted almost 30 years ago that there would be another holocaust. In North America. Rabbi Kahane was assassinated 5 November 1990, in the first Al-Qaeda attack on American soil. The bucket of chum assassin got off killing Rabbi Kahane on a technicality. The FBI harvested buckets of information from his apartment. Which apparently they ignored and that allowed the bucket of chum to roam freely about and participate in the first bombing of the World Trade Center. The second Al-Qaeda attack on American soil. Many things I agree with Rabbi Kahane, he is the one who founded the Jewish Defense League, and wanted to change the image of the Jews from weak to strong fearless fighters.

The JDL also focused on the plight of Soviet Jewry, and coined the phrases “Never again,” and “every Jew a .22” to emphasize that Jews would no longer passively ignore the plight of their foreign brethren.

Howie pointed out in this episode that crimes against Jews in NY have risen dramatically. Violent crimes, Jews are punched, pinned against cars and physically assaulted. For which the perpetrators are charged with, “harassment”. Seriously. The culture has changed enough as well. When Netflix has a show called “The Roast of Ann Frank” in which hitler roasts the teenage Jewish girl that was one of the victims of the holocaust is disgusting and despicable. I think that Howie, and Rabbi Kahane could be right. Far too many Jews push for disarmament, too many cities are easy pickings with their progressive policies of only allowing criminals to have guns. And people keep voting for these politicians. Sigh.

But as the constant attacks on Israel continue, against Jews living in Judea and Shomron, and Jews living in New York rise, I fear that the next brave soldiers to fight in the North American holocaust may be you and I. The excuses given for such attacks vary of course, but one of the things that was a complaint and excuse in Germany was this status of being “chosen”. I would maintain that their “chosen status” is much like that of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was a mission offered and accepted, even though aspects were unknown. Its sad that rather than admire and respect those that strive to follow the path, those that disagree with it will chose to tear it down, belittle and obliterate it. There are other choices of course, but they choose to ignore that.

I do not relish the thought of a Kristallnacht in North America, but with the #FakeNews, and the state of academia where BSD-BS with it’s anti-Jew and anti-Israel bias thrive, the mass importation of people raised to hate Jews, I could see how it could be. If it comes to pass, we will be more grateful than ever for those that have experience, and can mentor. Our Veterans.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.~~ Edmund Burke

Our Veterans were not those people.

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Veteran’s Day, 2018

It’s Veteran’s Day, and I recently saw this video and it just nailed me. It broke my heart. That this can be happening in America is a shame, and I mean that literally and an outrage. The fact that there are around 7,000 foreign invaders headed for our southern border and that we should even entertain the thought of allowing any of them in, and giving them any kind of social services or benefits is a disgrace. And to the “do-good” helping hand out private social groups that would help the invaders but are not helping our Veterans first? You are a sham, you are a sham and a fraud.

Someone made the comment to me recently about people not wanting the caravan in the country because they look different than we do. What utter B___ S___. חרה to put it plainly.

I’m not a man, yet I would imagine the vast majority of the veterans in need of help are men. I’m not a black, or a Mexican, and only a little Native American, nor am I Asian. But we have homeless veterans that are, and I can promise you, I care far more about them than I do any illegal invader. No matter how pathetic CNN (#FakeNews) makes them look. We owe our veterans. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their service, and we owe them far more help than they are getting.

With the Demoncratic win in the house, I do not expect to see things improve for them at all.

At the end of the video there is quite a list of agencies should you choose to check them out. I reached out to a friend for some solid leads, and that’s what these are.

War Horses for Veterans https://warhorsesforveterans.com/

Special Operations Warrior Foundation https://specialops.org/

Fisher House Foundation https://www.fisherhouse.org/

Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program https://www.yellowribbon.mil/yrrp/

Lead the way fund https://www.leadthewayfund.org/

And now, the video.

These are the statistics given in the video. Just in case you get caught up in the story and don’t absorb them, here they are to read over.

300,000 Veterans sleeping homeless on the streets, and rising.

Over 1.4 million are at risk of becoming homeless.

More than 67% of homeless Veterans served our country for at least 3 years.

Divorce rate among military couples has increased 42%.

An estimated 460,000 veterans suffer from PTSD.

Homeless veterans spend an average of 6 years on the streets.

The veterans administration has resources to serve only a fraction of our veterans.

Nearly 5000 veterans die by their own hands every year.

This is a large part of the list given at the end of the video, if I linked it, the link is active at the time of writing. Some in the video aren’t, and this is not the full list, but it’s a bunch of them.

Boot Campaign https://www.bootcampaign.org/

American Ex-Prisoners of War http://www.axpow.org/

American Forces Network http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/

American Gulf War Veterans Association http://gulfwarvets.com/

American Legion https://www.legion.org/

Blinded Veterans Association http://www.bva.org/BVA

Call of Duty Endowment https://www.callofdutyendowment.org/

Code of Support https://www.codeofsupport.org/

Disabled American Veterans https://www.dav.org/

Heartstrings for Heroes https://heartstringsforheroes.com/

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) http://iava.org/

Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors https://www.homesforwoundedwarriors.com/

Lone Survivor Foundation https://lonesurvivorfoundation.org/

Marine for Life http://www.usmc-mccs.org/services/career/marine-for-life-network/

Operation Second Chance https://operationsecondchance.org/

Paralyzed Veterans of America https://www.pva.org/

Ride To Recovery http://projecthero.org/

Semper Fi Fund https://semperfifund.org/

The Battle Buddy Foundation https://www.tbbf.org/

The Enlisted Association https://trea.org//

The Raider Project https://www.raiderproject.org/

Veterans of Foreign Wars https://www.vfw.org/

For those of you who have served in the military, you are heroes. You are my hero, I don’t care if you peeled potatoes or washed sheets. Your families are heroes, because they served in their way right along side of you. You put aside your own life to serve our country, no matter your circumstance in life now, I ask G-d to bless you and your family, and bless ya’ll richly.

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War horses

I know Veteran’s Day was a week ago. And I apologize, for not having written a column for Veteran’s Day. Life has been a bit hectic and I had an event that I wanted to attended before I wrote my column.

The use of war horses goes back about 5,000 years, in human, not horse years. Originally I don’t believe they were ridden, instead being used more as pack animals and later pulling wagons and chariots. As equine technology improved, saddles and stirrups came along and the horseback rider made a difference in battles. Different breeds of horses were used for different tasks, owing to their difference in sizes and temperaments. While a Friesian makes a fine mount for a knight, it’s not going to work so well for the cavalry scout.

These horses have fought alongside and died alongside their people for thousands of years. One of the most well known is Sgt. Reckless. She was a member of the USMC, she EARNED the rank of Sargent, believe me. Take a minute and read about her. She was amazing, and came from very humble beginnings.

So why am I writing about horses for Veteran’s Day? Because there is a new organization called Warhorses for Veterans. Their goal is to help Veterans that have returned home and find being home not quite as familiar and comfortable as it should be. Not as easy to return as it should be. It’s not always easy to talk through stuff with people that have no understanding (no matter how much they try) of what you’ve been through.

Warhorses was founded by a young man after he came back from Iraq around 2004 he returned to his equine oriented life. He found that it gave a sense of peace and calming and began to wonder about the possibilities of it helping other veterans. With the help of a wonderful couple Warhorses for Veterans was founded.

My view, and my view alone here. No matter how people may feel about the wars America has been engaged in, the “limited actions”, “police actions” or whatever else they may be called, one thing remains the same. Our soldiers have suited up, showed up, given their best and sometimes their all. They have left behind their families, their homes and their jobs to do what was put in front of them. I guess all of us know when we get on the highway to go some place we may not come back. But that is not the same as waking up of a morning drinking a cup of coffee and getting in a tank to go out on the battlefield. That camaraderie that develops in battle is part of what helps in the Warhorses program.

More than once on American soil as well as other countries soldiers are what stood between civilians and a threat. I’m very aware and appreciative of the liberties I still enjoy because of their sacrifices.

This last Sunday Warhorses hosted a 5K run/walk. Their goal is to raise money to help the program, which if you didn’t read the link, is briefly, to give Veterans a rural place where they can talk with each other, network and experience the healing that horses bring. No singing Kum Ba Yah. There is no expense to the Veteran. This is not a government program, this is good people seeing a need and stepping up to help.

I signed on.

It was a cool/cold day and a bit more of a hilly course than most of my walks, but I didn’t care. I had told a co-worker of mine on Wednesday night about the program and that I was signed up. He is a Viet Nam veteran, and not given to warm fuzzys, but is kind. He listened and said “They are doing good work, and you are doing a good thing”. From him? That’s a lot. I held on to that as I dug in and powered up those hills. It was windy and “right nippy” as we say around these parts. I didn’t care. I did my best and completed the most challenging course in my best time ever.

I had a chance to meet one of the founders after the race and told him what my co-worker had said, and who he was. He seemed pleased, and glad to know it was being well received. I’m also glad I was wearing my very fetching berry colored TZP zippy hoodie.

I fully realize walking in a 5K is pitiful small thanks to our Veterans, both staff of TZP and our members, but it’s what I could do, and I wanted so much to find a way, to try in some way, to give back for what I have so generously been given by ya’ll.

Thank you Veterans and their families who have given so much. Ya’ll are my heroes and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and feet.

Veterans
Veterans

 

Warhorses, still on the job
War horses, still on the job

You’ll have to click on the picture about to understand why it’s there 😉

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