# Thank you for your service



## chic (May 25, 2019)

Thanks to all military veterans for your service. Happy memorial day weekend.


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## Falcon (May 25, 2019)

You're  welcome    Chic.   It was  our  pleasure.


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## hollydolly (May 25, 2019)

May I say on behalf of my family in the UK... we also thank all who helped to make our country free ....


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## Aunt Bea (May 25, 2019)

Thank you.

On Memorial day I always think of these words by the English poet Robert Laurence Binyon.

_"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."_


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## Ruthanne (May 25, 2019)

Thank you from me, too. :love_heart:


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 15, 2019)

I acknowledge  it when someone thanks me for serving in the US Military. But I do feel somewhat uncomfortable. While I was in the US Navy for 4 years, what I gave up was not much when compared to others, who gave  up a hell of a lot more than me.


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## Trade (Jul 15, 2019)

When I went into the Air Force they started me out at something like $115 bucks a month if memory serves me correctly. That was thanks enough.


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## Trade (Jul 15, 2019)

According to this it was $124.50 a month! Apparently my memory did not serve me correctly!

https://www.navycs.com/charts/1970-military-pay-chart.html


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## hollydolly (Jul 15, 2019)

In '75 when my ex husband joined the Royal Navy he was on less than £7.52 per day.. horrendously low wages..


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## Pappy (Jul 15, 2019)

Thank you marine for your service. Dad fought on Iwo Jima.


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## jerry old (Sep 28, 2019)

I had never heard the term, "Thank you for your service," until 2016 from a car salesman. I found it bewildering, had no idea how to respond.
I wanted to say, "Where were you in the 60's?" I didn't ,but  it brought back memories of the decade and longer. of the disdain,  our general society exhibited  for OUR  troops.

The draft not discussed, in the tiny redneck town I lived in: it was a given, they call, you go. 

2.  Kent State:  I did not understand?  
At the time the general opinion of the National Guard was 'a bunch of slackers' that wanted to avoid the draft.
(Remember, this was before National Guard Units were activated and became real soldiers) 
So, when they sent the National Guard my opinion was: Hum, their toy soldiers, but if the kiddo's piss them off, they will fix
bayonets and 'run those kids off.'

I had no idea, these untrained troops, with very limited knowledge of riot control, if any, would be given live ammo.
The news clips I saw were of kids throwing rocks and basically have a good time acting stupid.
Regardless, you do not challenge a group of people with guns. Obviously, the kiddies did not know the guard troops had live ammo.
It was unheard of to give toy soldiers ammo.

When the troops began  the killing, I had very little sympathy for the kiddies-Again, you don't piss off a group of men with guns!

I've seen the clips again, many times,  like any group confrontation, the facts are difficult to sift out  
The kids were stupid, not as stupid as the guys that opened fire, but still very dumb.

Also, the cop that shot the kid with a toy M-16.
The radio call was 'man with a rifle.'
The cop arrived, jumped out of his car and shot the kid.  That's acceptable behavior when the call is 'man with a rifle':
you do not have time to distinguish that it is just a youngster with a toy rifle.   
The clip of the incident last for, maybe 5 seconds or less. You do not get into a gun fight when you have a pistol and your
opponent has a rifle.
The cop;  was indicted, I don't know the results.

These two opinions will be unpopular, but if it were you were there-how would you act?
When you perceive yourself is in danger, you act, you do not try to determine, "What's going on here?"


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## Trade (Sep 30, 2019)

jerry r. garner said:


> At the time the general opinion of the National Guard was 'a bunch of slackers' that wanted to avoid the draft.



That's what they were.

Same goes for the reserves. It was just a way to get your military service ticket punched without having to sweat being sent to Nam.


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## 911 (Sep 30, 2019)

I would just as soon wish people would not thank me for my service. I volunteered to go into the Marines and spent the next 6 years learning more in those 6 years than I did in all of my 18 prior years. Book smarts that I learned in high school did me no good in war or the Marines. 

However, the education that I received in high school and the Marines have served me well over the rest of my life. For that, I am grateful to my teachers and officers and I wish that I could thank each one of them for their service.


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## jerry old (Sep 30, 2019)

deleted


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## jerry old (Sep 30, 2019)

Trade said:


> That's what they were.
> 
> Same goes for the reserves. It was just a way to get your military service ticket punched without having to sweat being sent to Nam.
> 
> ...


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## jerry old (Sep 30, 2019)

911
Marines are and have always been 'shock  troops,' much higher causality rate anticipated than Army. 
I don't know, would rather have been in Army.  The distinction of who will be selected for assaults has become cloudy in last
two decades; still I'd choose army.
Regrets, yea; however without the GI Bill, college would have remained out of reach.


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## Nautilus (Nov 29, 2019)

I was drafted in 1968 so I joined the Navy.  I spent the first three years on a Helicopter carrier in the Vietnam theater of operations.  It was a job, it was necessary and I got paid for the work.  Done deal.  It was not the highlight of my life and I do not need to be thanked.  No one does.


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## Islandgypsy (Nov 30, 2019)

I had an unusual draft experience. When we got to the induction center in lower Manhattan, the management too cheerfully announced that 20 of us directionless misfits would be drafted into the Marines. This was a very cold day in January, 1966 and so far had been nothing but misery. To my extreme relief, there were a bunch of Puerto Rican guys that goaded each other into macho volunteering for those twenty places. Digo muchas gracias mi amigos Puerto Ricaños. I say many thanks to my Puerto Rican friends.


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## oldal (Nov 30, 2019)

I accept your thanks, but I too feel a little guilty. I was in the US Navy for 30 years but never set foot on a Navy ship; I was stationed at shore activities all over the world.


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## fuzzybuddy (Dec 1, 2019)

I have to agree with 911. I feel uncomfortable when people thank me for my service. I can honestly say that I did give 100% to doing my job as a Corpsman. I'm proud of that. Being a  4-0 squared away sailor, well, that's a different story. But I was never in any danger what so ever. And when I think of what others sacrificed, what I did just doesn't compare.


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## ClassicRockr (Jan 24, 2020)

When folks say "thanks for serving" to me, I will say "thanks, but I enlisted, because I had to, due to the Draft." If the Draft wasn't there, I wouldn't have enlisted. My Draft Notice came in while I was a NTC Great Lakes. If the Navy would've release me for a medical reason, the Draft would've for sure got me. Luckily, that didn't happen. I was stationed on a Guided Missile Destroyer, and two other Destroyers for most of my Navy time. All in San Diego and Long Beach, California.


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