"Thank You."

[thedrifter]

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 near the
> > 38th parallel.
> >
> > She (or he) 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 Parris Island drill instructor who has never
> > seen combat -
> > but has
> > saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account
> > rednecks and gang
> > members into Marines, 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 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
> > - paralyzed now
> > and
> > excruciatingly 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 veteran 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."
> >
> > It's the veteran, not the reporter, Who gave us our
> > freedom of the
> > press.
> >
> > It's the veteran, not the poet, Who gave us our
> > freedom of speech.
> >
> > It's the veteran, not the campus organizer, Who gave
> > us our freedom to
> > demonstrate.
> >
> > It's the veteran, Who salutes the flag, Who serves
> > others with respect
> > for
> > the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who
> > allows the
> > protester
> > to burn the flag.
> >
> > When you receive this, please stop for a moment and
> > say a prayer for
> > our
> > ground troops in Harms Way. Of all the gifts you could
> > give a U.S.
> > serviceman, prayer and support are the very best.


Sempers,

Roger