Veterans Day

@KiwiBird 😢
🌷🌷🌷 <== flowers for those who gave their lives so I can live mine in dignity and freedom

@helenS Thankyou for BC Sweetheart.

@goliathtree 🌷 <== for your Great Uncle ==> 💋

@goliathtree everyone needs to learn the history from 1920 through 1945. The rise of the Nazis from 1930-1940 is of particular interest, learning it will, hopefully prevent a recurrence.

@DogMan Well, I became a Nurse after GW 1 so I could join USAF and become a ParaRecue Jumper, which I was for about 25 years. Thank you 😊

@spjennifer Oh man! ParaRescue, the bad asses of the Air Force. We used to see them
training at Lackland, I think it was Lackland, 1977. I wish I would have known about them
before I went in.
I had a great job as a fighter crew chief, but your job would have been even more exciting.

@DogMan Yes, that would have been BMT and the PJ Indoctrination course at Lackland, then about a year at Kirtland in NM for EMT and PJ Apprentice, then off to Moore for Airborne, Florida for Diving, Bragg for HALO and several others too. I avoided a lot of that as I was an SSG when I left the Army and was given same rank in USAF, It's a 2 year course in all with an 80% attrition rate. Dunno about "bad asses" but we did have some excitement at times, I loved doing it and still would be but it's job for younger men. I retired in 2015 as a CRO...

@helenS yes, both became US citizens.

@Neoerectus my father in law said he could never kill another man, fired into the ground.

@Neoerectus When my dad talked about those he was forced to kill, his attitude was,
" they were trying to kill me and my buddies" good or bad, he did not feel remorse.

But I can sure understand why someone would. My dad suffered nightmares off
and on his whole life, remembering in his dreams, the things he had to do and see.

But he never woke up feeling guilty about anything. Guilt can do horrible things
to people.

@SW-User she did say Americans. That includes all living in America, including Canada

@SandWitch In a general sense i meant. ty

@SandWitch Exactly! That is why he was so adamant about me going into the Air Force.

If I had picked the Army, he would not have signed for me. I would have had to wait till I was 18.

You are right, he was lucky. He came out with some physical scars, but no mental scars,
except for the nightmares that he could not control. I might have told you, I received
two scrap books with all the letters he wrote to his mom, after he passed away. Mom promised
him not to give them to me before, because he knew I would ask too many question. I did
write a story about his service after reading all the letters twice and researching his unit.
And included stories I coerced from him after I went into the military, he finally opened up
a little. I wish I could figure out the AI stuff, that would probably turn my story into a good
book.

I sent some of the letters to the WWII museum in Florence, through a friend
that wrote the book Mt. Battaglia 1944, Dad was involved in that week long battle.

I'm going to send the rest to a Museum in California. I would be glad to spread
them around if you know anyone that collects that stuff.

@SandWitch Hi Sandy, Sorry, I just got back to Las Vegas,
I spent the weekend offline in southern Utah, with a few of my dogs.

I hope your Vietnam friend does not take let it effect his waking hours.
Dad lived a perfectly normal life, he would have a drink now and then, but he never got
drunk, at least not around me. I have found that most of the people that have tough
lives after being in war, are carrying too much guilt. Mistakes happen during war, that
cannot be controlled. Sometimes they are obvious, other times it is just second
guessing decisions. "If I had done this or that different" you know what I mean?

Other times, something just snaps. My dads best friend through boot camp, and
the entire war, was never the same, and he experienced the same things dad did.

Dad went to see him after the war, and he was a different person. It really bothered
my dad, he didn't know what to do to help. I have looked for his family, as I have
many pictures of him, and wanted to find out how he did.

I can only imagine what these guys went through. And I'm glad my dad was ok,
and that he carried no guilt for the horrible things he had to do. On Mt, Battaglia
they were forced to use bayonets, I can only imagine that was probably the worst
nightmares. I never asked him what he saw in his dreams. Attached is a picture
that was in Dads scrap book, of some of the Italians that helped the Americans.
Because of the rain and mud, only the mules could get equipment through the
mountains.

@SandWitch Not viewing the perfect belly button, bikini or not!

@SandWitch I want! 😉

@Adec757 Hat's off to the Italian mules that brought ammo and supplies to the soldiers
fighting in those muddy mountains. This picture is from a scrap book that my dad had.
He said that the mules helped them enormously.

@DogMan very easy to forget their role isn’t it! A great photograph!

@Adec757 Yes, the Italians were good photographers too. They made money off the soldiers by taking pictures.

I have about 25 pics from Italy, they were all sent home, and his mom put them in a scrap
book.

@anythingoes477 Actually I hold a bachelor's degree in European History (thank you) and know full well that the origins of the word antifa stem from the 1920's.

However, the modern movement known as Antifa had it's very early origins in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall (mid-1990's) and more significantly in the early 21st century in the USA.

There is no straight line you can draw between the modern movement and the veterans of WWI or WWII.

@samueltyler2 Through the legal amendment process setup by the Constitution itself. A process, by the way, that is intentionally difficult in order to hold off the tyrany of the majority. The process intentionally requires super-majorities in order to slow change.

@sarabee1995 yes, but it was intended to be interpreted not just amended! It shouldn't require an endment. The problem to day, though, is we have some crazies who believe in the strict interpretation of the constitution as it was originally written. Without going down that rabbit hole, many SCOTUS decisions over the years are being reversed.

@sarabee1995 [i]There is no straight line you can draw between the modern movement and the veterans of WWI or WWII.[/i

There is not only no straight line...there is no line at all. Antifa is a slang word that was coined in 2016 during the trump administration.........slang for the "enemy"..... (ie never trumpers) ......who don't want trump and his ideas of fascism and dictatorship as his legacy to America. A large majority of trumpers have no idea whatsoever that "antifa" is an abbreviation for ANTI-fascist.........a movement against trump and the authoritarian/dictatorship type government he stands for.....with him as the head. They simply see the word as standing for anyone that don't like trump and are ignorant of any historical semblance for the term. In fact 99% of trumpers don't even relate trump's promises to tear up the Constitution (meaning the end of ALL elections from then on)....and ideals as fascism....because they do not even understand what that is....or what it means for them if they get it.

Trump cult members have used the term to refer to blacks that riot....those that blame them for J6....to those that oppose trump...to those that prosecute him. It's a generalized catch-all term that means to them....if you don't love our cult leader,.....then you are obviously antifa. The term is a morphed word...an abbreviation...slang.....that was not used at all in the 1920's.....or the 1940's.

I am degreed as well......smh.

@OldMan70 How did he go from D-Day to Poland to France and then into Germany?

@OldMan70 My dad opened up to me too, after I went into the USAF. I had to coerce much of it
out of him. Most of the stories I got out of him were the good stories, some not good.
I would change the subject when I could tell he was getting upset. One such story
was when he spent two days in a foxhole getting pounded by German artillery, with two
dead men, and one dying. He started to breakdown. I changed the subject real fast

He got to North Africa after Rommel had been beat down, from there he went
to Naples where they then broke the stalemate near Anzio. He spent the rest of the war
at the front, all the way to northern Italy. He was in the 88th Infantry.

@DogMan on Amazon 2.99 rental

https://www.amazon.com/Search-Montgomery-Clift/dp/B076XCSJ3H

@DogMan It's available in German with Spanish subtitles:
[media=https://youtu.be/1yLvNRuWjRo]

@therighttothink50 Thank you!! 🌷🌷🌷

@Adec757 Thank you – it can't be said often enough.

@Bumbles US Army blasts Nuremberg swastika - 1945: 👍🏼
[media=https://youtu.be/Yb_Il7mN87U]

@SandWitch No, I was very determined. I had no one to fall back on so I knew
I had to work my ass off. No VA benefits for me.

@SandWitch That is a long story. I will PM you.