09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
What the hell is this?
THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR
"This unwritten Code of the Warrior contends that the true warrior must hold loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor as important, above all else. An appreciation and respect for life is also imperative, as it adds balance to the warrior character in each of us. Warriors who have experienced the bitter taste of combat may appear aloof. They seek an inner truth. Something to explain being fierce and deadly in combat and yet so gentle and compassionate with children and loved ones. It is the ultimate human paradox that exists in every warrior. The truth of this inner conflict is so profound, it is understood only by another warrior."
THE VETERAN
"Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity."
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking."
What Is A Vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery in combat.
She is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into soldiers, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, palsied now and aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being. A person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU."
My Thoughts
You only get one chance at this life. Remember that we are shaped more by our failures than by our successes, the key to happiness is to recognize your mistakes and fix the situation that created them. That means facing them head on, very rarely does running or hiding from them improve your situation.
That said I am always looking for new friends - they are the ones who get you through the tough times. As for romance, when it comes along I fall hard and that person becomes the most important thing in my life. That is my choice. If you are looking for a good guy for a friend or partner that is me.
If you are looking for the same type you've always dated, ask yourself has that type worked for you in the past?
Live and learn. New beginnings are up to you
"Dost thou love life?Then do not squander time,
for that is the stuff life is made of."
- Benjamin Franklin"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
- Henry David Thoreau"All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible."
- T.E. Lawrence"The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live."
- Elbert Hubbard"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure."
- William Feather"Strong people make as many mistakes as weak people. Difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong."
- Richard Needham"That was a crazy game of poker
(That was a crazy game of poker)
I lost it all
(I lost it all)
but someday I'll be back again
And I, never to fold.
(never to fold)" - OAR, Crazy Game of Poker"I love the infantry because they are the underdogs.
They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys.
They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities.
And in the end they are the guys that wars can't be won without."
- Ernie Pyle"When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world,"
- Barack Obama