Received an email from a friend. Too important not to pass on.
I did not know this either. God bless them!
It really breaks your heart to know that we didn't know this goes on every Friday, well at least I didn't know. Instead, I guess the media feels it's more important to report on Hollywood stars as heroes. I hope this article gives you a sense of p***e for what our men and women are doing for us, every day, as they serve in the armed forces here and abroad.
Mornings at the Pentagon
By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY
McClatchy Newspapers
Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals. This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, who recently completed a yearlong tour of duty and is now back at the Pentagon. Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Altermanat the Media Matters for America Website.
"It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here.
This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway. The G3 offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner. All Army. Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends who may not have seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other, cross the way and renew.
Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area.
The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares. "10:36 hours: The clapping starts at the E-Ring. That is the outermost of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to the building. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway.
A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class.
Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years ago when I described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for not having shared in the burden ... Yet.
Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the wheelchair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the applause, but I think deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.
"Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.
"11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. My hands hurt. Please! Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30.. Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but down this hall came 30 solid hearts.
"They pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some are catching handshakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade. More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.
"There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite understanding why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded mid-20s son, an appreciation for the emotion given on their son's behalf. No man in that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to better see. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past.
"These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years.
What you are missing is the previous administrations justice department ignoring i*********n l*ws. Remember when
Arizona tried to pass legislation mimicking federal i*********n l*ws and the justice department came down hard. The Obama DOJ just looked the other way on i*****l i*********n. It was said that the border agents were more or less baby sitters as their hands were tied.
[quote=Pennylynn]Had we had a president for the past 8 years who gave a hoot that too many things were made in China, our PRESIDENT would have had more choices from whom he had his hats made.
I would venture for the last 24 years, not just the past eight.
peter11937 wrote:
So gather the mohammadans up, load them on ships, return them to their nation of origin. If they resist, shoot them. Problem solved.
Have them walk the plank and save the bullets.
Too bad Bill Riddle doesn't do a take on this.
Karl Rove said after Obama was elected that it was the best thing to happen to the Republican party.
How true that is eight years later.
Received this email from a friend.
Dear Hollywood, New York, and other “celebrities”,
It’s time to wake up now. Get this! The only reason you exist is for my entertainment. Some of you are beautiful. Some of you can deliver a line with such conviction that you bring tears to my eyes. Some of you are so convincing that you scare the crap out of me. And others are so funny you can make me laugh uncontrollably. And others make music that makes my toe tap and my body sway.
But you all have one thing in common. You only exist and have a place in my world to entertain me. That’s it. Nothing else!
You make your living pretending to be someone else. You play dress-up like a 5-year-old. Your world is a make believe world. It is not real. It doesn’t exist. You live for the camera and microphone, while the rest of us live in the real world. Your entire existence depends on my patronage. I crank the organ grinder, and you dance.
Therefore, I don’t care where you stand on issues. Honestly, your opinion means nothing to me. Just because you had a lead role in a movie about prostitution doesn’t mean you know what it’s like to be a prostitute. Because you show a breast at a halftime football show while singing off key, doesn't make you a world spokesperson. Your view matters far less to me than that of a someone living in Timbuktu .
Believe me or not, the hard t***h is that you aren’t real. I turn off my TV or shut down my computer or turn off my radio, and you cease to exist. Once I am done with you, I go back to the real world until I want you to entertain me again.
I don’t care that you think BP executives deserve the death penalty. I don’t care what you think about the environment. I don’t care if you believe fracking is bad. I don’t care if you call for more gun control. I don’t care if you believe in catastrophic human-induced g****l w*****g. And I could care less that you supported Hillary for President. Get back into your bubble. I’ll let you know when I’m in the mood for something pretty or scary or funny.
And one other thing. What was with all this “I’ll leave the country if Donald Trump wins”? Don’t you know how stupid that made you sound? What did you think my reaction was going to be? I better not v**e for Trump or we’ll lose Whoopi Goldberg? Al Sharpton? Amy Schumer? Bruce Springsteen? or Barbara Striestand?And several more. Leave. I don’t care! And don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Oh by the way, is Clinton returning any of the money you so generously donated to her e******n?
Make me laugh. Make me cry. Make me sing. Even scare me. But realize this, the only words of yours that matter are scripted — just like your pathetic little lives. I may agree with some of you from time to time, but in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter. In my world, you exist solely for my entertainment.