To Marines and all Veterans

I heard a statistic the other day that kind of surprised me. It said that 1.3 million veterans had served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. At first I thought that this was a large number until I read further and they said that this only came out to less then one half of one percent of the entire population of the country. Count veterans, no longer serving, and I think you actually get close to that one half of a percent. To put this in another way 99.5% of our nations population have never served.

I find this statistic quite significant when you consider how much criticism is thrown at those who serve from various groups out there. I grew up during the Vietnam war and I saw how our returning vets were treated then, and had kind of hoped that we had learned, alas we have not. I can't begin to tell you how many articles I have read, concerning various veterans issues, where the commentaries were filled with people doing little more then being critical of all of us who have served. We have been called everything from baby killers to idiots, puppets of the New World Order or extreme right wing and even little more then cannon fodder. Amazing how such a large group of people can be so critical of the extremely small group of people who's very job is to see to it that the large group can actually have the right to insult us!

But that's OK, let them say what they will about us, just shows who the real idiots are.

The truth of the matter is that I have served with the best and the brightest in the world. Some of them may have thought that I felt otherwise at the time ,especially if I was screaming at them for something, but the fact of the matter I knew then , just as I know now, that these were and are the best this nation has to offer. Duty, Honor, and Commitment are more then just mere words to all of you that I have served with and have known. Most of you will get to the end of your lives knowing that in some small way that you made a difference and that your life actually meant something. You may not see it now but you will. To all of you "thank you" doesn't do it justice, especially in this time of war, but that is all I can offer you and ,sadly, is more then your likely to hear from the other 99.5% this week.

To my Marine Corp friends I want to take just a moment to wish you a happy birthday. We are a very unique family amongst warriors with strong traditions and history and to you I wish to send a hearty Semper Fi and to call you out to be recognized for your time and service.

WO George Thomas and Keisha, GySgt O'Hara ,GYSgt. Steve and Denette Bolton , all of whom are still serving, Happy Birthday.
Retired- Scott and April Thurston, Bijan Aleagha, USMC Happy Birthday
Honorably discharged: Scott Bodkin, Jay and Kim Horner,Les Marcue, Joshua Hogshead, David Conrad, Joie Cascella, Dylan Allander, Willam and Loretta Carr. Happy Birthday!

My other friends and family desrve to be recognized as well because they sacrificed them selves for our nation as well.
Airforce: Wayne Mckenny, Tiffany Bonnette
Coast Guard: Dan Enright
Army: David Lacy, Dani Parrish,Steve Wilson
Navy: Tim and Julie LaBonte

To all of you I wish to say thank you for your service. We may ,in time, be forgotten by others but hopefully we will never forget and continue to keep the faith with each other.
Semper Fi.