“Here’s To The Heroes”
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on October 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM in Current Affairs, Soldiers/Veterans
Veterans Day is coming up November 11th. In anticipation of that day, the singing group, O.A.R. has teamed up with IAVA, Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America, to sign a pledge of support for this new generation of veterans. Here are two members of O.A.R. to discuss the pledge:
O.A.R. Open Up Your Arms launch video from IAVA on Vimeo.
Here is more about IAVA, the work they do, and the people they represent:
What an impressive organization, and the work they do is invaluable. As they said, whether one supports the wars we are now fighting, or opposes them, support of those who serve this country in uniform is a moral obligation.
Faithful reader, SFIndie, found this excellent video, the perfect follow-up to the Pledge Request. It is an excellent tribute to those who have served, or are currently serving:
(Song performed by the Ten Tenors)
Great quote from Thomas Paine. Please consider signing the Pledge of Support for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans before Veterans Day. Thank you.
And while I am on the subject of our military, you may recall I had a couple of posts recently about Captain Kari Fleming, an Air Force Officer who was noticed for her Good Samaritan act. Recently, our newspaper, the Post and Courier, had a follow-up interview with her.
Captain Fleming is an outstanding ambassador for the US Air Force, but also for the kind of person to which others might aspire. Her humility, her courage, her sense of duty, and continued desire to accomplish goals (she said she still hasn’t accomplished her goals as a pilot, despite having logged over 1,200 hours in the air), are all worthy attributes. She is quite the role model, and heaven knows, we could use some of those (though I doubt she would think of herself that way – the whole humility thing and all).
So, here’s to the Heroes. Thank you for your service tot his country.
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DONE!!
signed it and put it up on facebook like requested!
W00T!!
Way to go, Lady!
Rev Amy,
Has anyone every told you that you would make THE best Secretary of Human Services America has ever had??
Thanks so much for another stirring post. Your presentations always cause me to laugh, cry or ponder deeply. You change people lives with your wonderful stories.
WOW – no, and thank you so very much! What a HUGE compliment! I appreciate your kind words, Nellie! Thanks! (Oh, and thanks for making me blush, too!)
RRRA,
I signed the pledge. Thanks for the nice post.
My husband and I had a nice chat yesterday with an Iraq War vet. He stopped to pet our big, very spoiled Iranian rescue dogs as we sat outside of Starbucks while the dogs ate most of our pumpkin bread. We told him how dogs from Iran got to us because he had seen first hand how dogs are treated in that part of the world (He has a pit bull and a spaniel).
He had been in the big push to take the airport at the opening of the war, was there twice but finally sent home with injuries–lost part of a thunb. He’s doing well now and has a job he loves.
I think of the brother of my son’s girlfriend, there for the third time and waiting to come home in December, which was later than they originally said he could.
These kids need our support, no doubt about it.
Wow, what a GREAT story, Diana! Thank you!
That is so cool abt adopting the dogs from Iran. DO you mind telling me/us how you went abt that?
Holy smokes abt the brother on his third tour. Good grief. I cannot even begin to imagine the toll this is taking on him (his family, too). Wow…
Loved the story. Thanks so much!
Signed and forwarded. Thanks…very touching.
Rev Amy,
I cannot thank you enough for this post, and the general well being it provided for me. I signed up, posted to Facebook, became a member all of the above, after I cried from watching the video, Here’s to the Heroes. I am thanking you specifically for helping me get those tears going, I needed them. I was so angry Sunday from reading the post and coping with Presidential abandonment issues over Afghanistan and our soldiers.
The tears helped me feel something stronger than that anger, which is the love of my country and our soldiers.
The tears never fail to teach, and remind me what I hold dear, what is worthy of my heartbreak and what is insignificant.
SO Rev Amy, you brought a rare form of ministry forward(compassion, empathy and understanding) in this flat dimension of the internet, and it touched me. I needed that and I needed the tears. You stand very tall Rev Amy, with kinds hand and a beautiful heart.
Thank you so much, Rev. Amy
Katmoon, your words stirred my heart, and brought tears to my eyes. I thank you with all humility.
And I am thankful that this post was able to help you get to another place, one in which you could feel the love, compassion, and yes, even heartache, for this country, and those who serve it, including your two precious children. They ARE heroes, and it says so much abt you and Ferd that both of your children are serving their country this way.
Absolutely beautiful, powerful, quote from Ponca Chief White Eagle. Thank you for that, Katmoon.
I know you know that even with the one dimensional aspect of the internet, that the wonderful people who come here most certainly are not one dimensional. We bring our full humanity here, and to each other. It is hard with so much crap going on constantly with our government to remember that there is a lot more going on in the world, and that WE are so much more than the political junkies.
In this case, with this post, it is a moment of gratitude to those among us who chose to live a life of service we hold up, and hold close. They are too often forgotten by too many in this country.
Thank you again for your lovely words, Katmoon. You are a special person indeed.
Who’s been in charge of Afghanistan??? A reminder from Sam Smith’s http://www.ProRev.com:
KARZAI: THE STORY THE MEDIA DOESN’T TELL YOU
According to Afghan, Iranian, and Turkish government sources, Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the El Segundo, California-based UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan. Karzai, the leader of the southern Afghan Pashtun Durrani tribe, was a member of the mujaheddin that fought the Soviets during the 1980s. He was a top contact for the CIA and maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence Service interlocutors.
Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency’s interests, as well as those of the Bush Family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources. When one peers beyond all of the rhetoric of the White House and Pentagon concerning the Taliban, a clear pattern emerges showing that construction of the trans-Afghan pipeline was a top priority of the Bush administration from the outset. Although UNOCAL claims it abandoned the pipeline project in December 1998, the series of meetings held between U.S., Pakistani, and Taliban officials after 1998, indicates the project was never off the table.