As I sit here tonight in a hotel lobby checking my E-mail and surfing the WEB, I think back to the words of SSG Juan Jiminez, my US Army Drill Instructor back in April of 1978...

" The MORE SWEAT you lose in training, the LESS BLOOD you will lose in Combat ".

At the time, I didn't really understand what that saying meant. I had no idea then that those 15 words would forever change my life.

Speaking on behalf of my own combat experience, it DOESN'T really matter WHERE you are once you make contact with the enemy, if you are on the incoming end of the stick, there is no hole that is deep enough, or a shelter thick enough to protect you once the shooting starts.

You will FIGHT THE WAY YOU HAVE TRAINED. You either TRUST the man on your right or left or you do not. That is the true lesson of life. You TRUST or YOU DIE.

Those exact words came back to my mind when on 26 OCT 83, the patrol I was a member of received " both intense rifle and machinegun fire from a well-concealed enemy gun position 75 meters foward of the lead element " as it reads from my award citation.

On that particular October morning, we couldn't see the gun position because it was dug-in too deep and hidden too well. They let us walk right up to it before they opened fire on us. In the time span of 10 minutes it was all over. We all TRUSTED each other. Still, a very close friend of mine was dead.

Today there will be no bands, no parades, no medals, no shopping trips for me.


I will be standing in Arlington Cemetery at 11:00 am.


Thanks As Usual,

Gary

Frederick F. Villani
Private First Class, U.S. Army
112th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division
Died: November 8, 1944, Battle of the Huertgen Forest
Buried at: Plot A Row 18 Grave 38
Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery
Henri-Chapelle, Belgium
Awards: Purple Heart

"One man stepped on a booby trap, and a second man moving to pick him up stepped on another, touching off a chain of five anti-personnel mines. Twelve men of the headquarters group were killed or wounded in the minefield within four hundred yards of the start."

After my most recent tour in the sand box I cannot look at Veteran's or Memorial day the same again, I lost two friends in Fallujah, overall my battalion lost 11 men KIA or DOW in our tour. We have to teach those who have never served that 11 November is not about making money or going shopping. It is about honoring and remembering those who never made it home or were carried home on a stretcher, the best way to thank those who serve is truly to remember what they did and the sacrifices they made (and are making as we speak). I once heard someone describe the ultimate sacrifice as "one man giving up all his tomorrows so that we could have today", I find those words truly do describe it.

RIP Sgt. Matthew Fenton, H&S Co. 1st Bn. 25th Marines, WIA 26 April/DOW 5May 2006 and HM2 Christopher Walsh Wpns Co. 1st Bn 25th Marines KIA 4 September 2006. Both served with me in Fallujah, Sgt. Fenton had a OP named for him prior to 1/25 turning the AO over to 1/24.

"RIP Sgt. Matthew Fenton, H&S Co. 1st Bn. 25th Marines, WIA 26 April/DOW 5May 2006 and HM2 Christopher Walsh Wpns Co. 1st Bn 25th Marines KIA 4 September 2006. Both served with me in Fallujah, Sgt. Fenton had a OP named for him prior to 1/25 turning the AO over to 1/24."

I'll remember them all in my intentions at Mass tomorrow morning.

Like him or not, I appreciated the words that President Bush said over the weekend:

"They confront grave danger to defend the safety of the American people. They brought down tyrants. Through their sacrifice, they're making this nation safer and more secure, and they are earning the proud title of veteran"

I had the honor of participating in a color guard ceremony in honor of Veteran's Day at my university's Alumni Center. I was truly an honor to be able to put on that uniform and march with those cadets, one of which himself is a decorated veteran from OIF1 with the 3rd ID (2nd from the rear, holding the blue state flag). BTW I am last in formation with one of the sabers.



I give my thanks to each and every veteran, living and dead, from every nation, friend or former foe, for serving their country, and in many cases shedding their blood for it.

Jeff Edgar
C/SSG, Ball State University Army ROTC

Very well put. He's not on my hit paarde these days, but he is "the boss", and that was a really nice thing to say.




Agreed, for the most part, but the deeper I get into WWII history, the more my distaste for the Germans (at the time) grows. I recently came across photos of naked pregnant women and small children being machine gunned down at the Massacre of Babi-Yar that not only turned my stomach but have been left etched on my mind for 6 days now. I can safely say that I completely understand why some veterans never can forgiver their former foes.

But I deeply appreciate all of our veterans.

To our veterens - thank you for your service and your sacrifice. I wouldn't be able to write this today if it wasn't for what you did for all of us long ago. You have the eternal love of a grateful world for all you've done and we will never forget.

For those still with us, we will honour you forever. For those who have passed on or who had made the ultimate sacrifice, may you have peace in your gentle slumber.

respectfully and gratefully....
Bob

I'm gonna get all mushy on you guys....
I can recall a few years ago going with my Dad to see Stephen Ambrose speak in downtown Charlotte, and being seated in a sea of WWII veterans(probably 8,000 people came to see him), all clinging to photos, medals, war souvenirs, things they wanted to show to him. I recall him asking at the end of the lecture, for all the WWII veterans to stand for a round of applause, and then he asked for the other veterans to stand. My Father got up and looked down at me (still seated) and said "Come on Son, stand up" and I just couldnt, I couldnt do it, I didnt feel worthy of being in the midst of such nobility, such greatness, so much selflessness.

What had I done? What supreme act of nobility had I completed? Absolutely none, all I did was guard duty on a Missile cruiser in the middle of the atlantic a bunch of times, taunting Cuban and Russian spy trawlers from afar. I didnt deserve to stand amongst such great men, and I felt like I wanted to go anywhere to be away from such a room full of heroes. But my dad coaxed me into standing up, and he said "You're one of us", and I think I successfully held back my tears for six years, until just now.

Regardless of where you served or what you've done or are presently doing, it's all in the protection of security, freedom and liberty. If you've sat at a desk or stood a post, watched a radar screen on your 4 hour watch or loaded or unloaded trucks all day, then you've done your bit. WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Kosovo or radar picket duty in a destroyer somewhere freezing you butt off watching Russian spy trawlers on the horizon.... it makes no difference, you've done your bit. I'm reserve Navy and I've trained cadets, done SAR duty and bobbed around alot on the ocean looking for Russian subs (never found any) but I feel I've done my bit. I never fired a shot in anger and I'm gald I never had to but I would have if it was necessary and I respect the hell out of those that had to in order to keep me and my kids warm in my bed at night. Service is service and I count myself to be extremely lucky to know some of our aging veterens that did what they had to do in god-forsaken places all over the world a long time ago in order to keep us free. I know in my soul I didn't sacrifice myself like they did and can't ever feel like I honestly know what it was like, but I've done my bit and I know they respect me for having done it. Feel proud in whatever service you've given and hold your head high to be counted among those that did more, so much more....