Thank you for your service!
I have been reading too many posts today (not on this site, thankfully) that are using the moral equivalency line of thinking with countries/wars/humanitarian efforts/etc and going as far as to say there are no "good" or "bad" people in war or military conflict.
I BEG TO DIFFER
If you have fought and defended the individual freedom of another - YOU HAVE DONE WELL!
If you have liberated peoples that have suffered genocide and the attempted racial annihilation from another - YOU HAVE DONE WELL!
If you have answered the call to serve your country by defending its right to exist - YOU HAVE DONE WELL!
If you have taken up arms to keep your country from an aggressive, outside force - YOU HAVE DONE WELL!

I called my father this morning and told him, "Dad, I am glad you were never a draft dodger - you served during Vietnam." During one of his tours in the early 70's I was born in Heidelberg, Germany. And as for my perceptions of the remnants of war (and peace for that matter) my parents lived in off-base housing with a German landlady (who spoke no English - yes my parents are both very fluent in German) whose HUSBAND WAS AN OFFICER IN THE GERMAN ARMY during WWII. I had the privilege of meeting her (when I was a teenager) before she died. She certainly believed there was a right and wrong in war and its cause. During that trip I also visited the remains of the concentration camp in Dachau. That visit changed my life forever. "Some things are worth fighting for..."

I still have a living relative, Otis Jessup, who served under Macarthur in the Pacific. He has a purple heart and a limp as a remnant of his service for freedom. According to him, if he had it to do all over again he would. The only thing he would change would be "Dodgin' that ---- machine gun nest!"

Thank you guys - I know most of you on here served your country in one way or another and you represent generations of people that believed in individual freedom and soul liberty. God bless you.




Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

I guess I'm done with this forum.   Goodbye.  

WTF Chuck?

  Vic Correnti

Sorry to hear that, Liked your columns.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Thanks for the post, Dan.

  Dennis in Lititz PA

Chuck I don't understand your point of view. The Berlin Wall came down almost 2 1/2 years after I left Germany. No one ever shot at me in anger and thankfully I was never ask to do my job (special weapons in an artillery unit), but I believe it was at least in part due to people like me; people willing to do our job(s) that helped bring the Wall down. Seeing it fall made all the B.S. of being in the Army seem worth while.

Guys... I certainly didn't post anything to start "trolling" as they say, or looking for a fight. I am thankful for all of our vets here in the States, and I know there are others around the world who have served or sacrificed for freedom. War is hell, no doubt. The men (and women by the way) that I have heard testimony from have given witness to that. Not only have I been to Germany but I have also been to Japan (14 years ago) and spoken to people (away from the tourist traps and deep into the interior) about some of these issues. The irony in all this is that there are many citizens in a former "enemy" country that were able to converse with me, hold friendships (one of my best friends in college was a native Japanese - Masato Funakoshi), and have peace, but there is a growing number of people in the states that would use "moral equivalence" to say that in a cause for war, there is no good or bad, there is no right or wrong. I know our own government has had its share of problems, stupidity, and has downright lied to us at times, but I still fly the flag, I'm still proud of what the people stand for, I still believe in our Constitution, and I will continue to thank our military!

Oh, and I'm staying on the forum.   

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Daniel, well put. Thank you. Dave.

Dan,
         I don't believe it was you. Or if it was, too bad. You said absolutely nothing that should have elicited that response. More than likely he resented being corrected. Not everybody agrees with everything he says, so he takes his columns and goes home.
        Interesting columns but his way or the highway approach doesn't work here. 

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Well, I am an avid Ford owner, and Y-block owner('55 T-bird), and also a USAF retired, Vietnam veteran with 70% service connected disability who loves this country with all its issues.  My entire family has answered the call to duty when it came, my father was a purple heart receipient from WW2, my F-I-L also, my wife-USAF ret.(Desert Storm), my son USAF ret,(Desert Storm, Iraq, Afganistan, Kuwait) my D-I-L USAF ret,(Desert Storm, Kuwait, Iraq) and now my grandaughter is married to a airman.  Freedom came at a high price for me, and I would do it again for my country, and for my family.  Anyone who gets miffed about wishing a veteran well on Veteran's Day, has a problem.  Joe-JDC 

JDC