tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post5361391444818524529..comments2024-03-18T19:45:58.932-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: Reflections on MortalityOldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-51968115685887671322015-01-07T13:12:58.924-08:002015-01-07T13:12:58.924-08:00NPNPOldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-70110173406837843842015-01-07T11:10:11.941-08:002015-01-07T11:10:11.941-08:00Thanks!
Thanks!<br />(not necessarily your) Uncle Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02705753220273516841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-40967950378106791282015-01-07T05:01:31.522-08:002015-01-07T05:01:31.522-08:00My daughter pointed out that inflatable over the p...My daughter pointed out that inflatable over the pool at Fort Myer, which is where she normally does her shopping.<br /><br />I saw the low wall, thought about those who were on the other side of that wall.<br /><br />At Thanksgiving we went all the way up the hill to General Lee's house (for I still think of it that way). Splendid view.<br /><br />Good words, Cap'n. Very good words.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-57544418838734018352015-01-07T00:31:33.228-08:002015-01-07T00:31:33.228-08:00I usually take my daughter to Fort Myer. This year...I usually take my daughter to Fort Myer. This year I sent her an email and asked her mom to pack her bathing suit because Fort Myer, every winter, sets up an inflatable over their swimming pool. Her mother didn't and we didn't go for a swim in that marvelous pool. I go to Fort Myer every time I visit home and I always will. Every time though, I think about parking the car there by the playground and hopping over that low little wall and stopping by my grandparents grave.<br /><br />It's amazing though isn't it? Arlington National Cemetery was running out of room a decade or two ago. There was no room for heroes or soldiers of any kind. You might not live in Arlington and drive down the George Washington Parkway in order to get to Annandale. There is ONLY one person I am related to who would... I noticed, with my aunt who I have not seen in over 40 years that the Air Force Memorial rises up now from a place hard by the cemetery. It was the place next to Henderson Hall that used to share that name and was also known as the Navy Annex. It is all bare grassy ground now. It wasn't such a place for a very long time. Really, a long time. It might be reborn as a place for resting heroes caught between the wars. It shares that tiny little wall.<br /><br />On the Fort Myer side, it really is a little wall. On the Navy/Marine side it is a tiny wall. It's a bit like life.One sees the Old Guard in their shiny duty uniforms, the measured pace of the guardian, the house now occupied by a Lieutenant General that was my father's house when he was a little boy and his father the Lieutenant Colonel was serving with the 12th Army Group and you kind of miss your childhood years growing up on the places the Army and the Navy and the Marines made home. Meigs is still answering for the crime.<br /><br />Set aside what it is today, look 8 miles down the river, consider who's home was planted with those of us and those like us. ANC born in conflict, home to warriors of conflict.HMS Defianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10024721130102173694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-32392417571545668742015-01-06T15:54:30.179-08:002015-01-06T15:54:30.179-08:00Thanks Cajun.Thanks Cajun.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-64724458627264560092015-01-06T13:26:09.219-08:002015-01-06T13:26:09.219-08:00Well said... WELL SAID!Well said... WELL SAID!Old NFOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16404197287935017147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-27153046346414661102015-01-06T11:12:28.579-08:002015-01-06T11:12:28.579-08:00I thought so too. Particularly after riding the Me...I thought so too. Particularly after riding the Metro in from Alexandria. Walking from the Metro station and then through the Visitor's Center.<br /><br />Then the quiet.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-87981854337219682132015-01-06T10:58:36.331-08:002015-01-06T10:58:36.331-08:00I have been there. I thought it was very peaceful...I have been there. I thought it was very peaceful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-68062490242507185302015-01-06T09:06:25.402-08:002015-01-06T09:06:25.402-08:00I had a thought (or two) about you over the holida...I had a thought (or two) about you over the holidays Skip.<br /><br />And a prayer (or two).OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-13079540610886359432015-01-06T09:05:24.986-08:002015-01-06T09:05:24.986-08:00"2014 was, in some ways, a simply awful year....<i>"2014 was, in some ways, a simply awful year."</i><br /><br />Yep... there've been better years.(not necessarily your) Uncle Skiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02705753220273516841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-4488722963588443932015-01-06T08:45:30.373-08:002015-01-06T08:45:30.373-08:00Great poem.Great poem.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-42175806546922001802015-01-06T08:41:55.440-08:002015-01-06T08:41:55.440-08:00"Got dusty in here, real sudden like."
..."Got dusty in here, real sudden like."<br /><br />Yeah. That.Rev. Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04588179227576383679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-20934212587569836722015-01-06T07:28:26.285-08:002015-01-06T07:28:26.285-08:00Thanks for sharing that, it's beautiful.
Got ...Thanks for sharing that, it's beautiful.<br /><br />Got dusty in here, real sudden like.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-68179039135144067932015-01-06T07:20:27.512-08:002015-01-06T07:20:27.512-08:00Was stationed, a time or two, in the vicinity of A...Was stationed, a time or two, in the vicinity of Arlington. Visited the cemetery whenever I got the chance. Hallowed place. Have thought about requesting burial there.<br />Back in 1984, while watching the interment of the Vietnam Unknown I began writing this:<br />http://jmawelsh.blogspot.com/2012/01/poem-unknown-soldier.html <br /><br />Thanks for the reminder.snuffynyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12843569994073955970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-38931400752819637452015-01-06T05:31:35.312-08:002015-01-06T05:31:35.312-08:00Thanks PA.
Good paraphrase BTW.Thanks PA.<br /><br />Good paraphrase BTW.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-56573184430317872982015-01-06T05:30:52.504-08:002015-01-06T05:30:52.504-08:00Two places that always get to me: Arlington and th...Two places that always get to me: Arlington and the Wall. To experience both, on Veterans' Day must indeed have been moving.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-32263243842844802292015-01-06T05:29:29.774-08:002015-01-06T05:29:29.774-08:00Any time shipmate.Any time shipmate.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-36277499179747763562015-01-06T05:28:33.067-08:002015-01-06T05:28:33.067-08:00Great stuff Sarge.
To paraphrase Lincoln, the wor...Great stuff Sarge.<br /><br />To paraphrase Lincoln, the world takes little note of and will not remember beltway babble, but it can never forget what these men and women did to earn their resting place.PrairieAdventurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06466447251827774900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-2036440731013955702015-01-06T04:51:55.801-08:002015-01-06T04:51:55.801-08:00My daughter and I visited Arlington National Cemet...My daughter and I visited Arlington National Cemetery on Veteran's Day years back when we were in DC to attend the Ia Drang Valley veteran's reunion. We spent dawn at the Vietnam Memorial Wall for roll call - an experience I will never forget. Then we moved on to Arlington. Unfortunately, President Bush was laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that day. We were there before Bush arrived and did not have time to stay and hear his speech, but it made for quite a crowd with high security. Still, it was a beautiful fall day and very moving experience. Bag Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01885412195900280096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-12743902790507012292015-01-06T04:39:12.054-08:002015-01-06T04:39:12.054-08:00Excellent............
I have a shirt tail relative...Excellent............<br />I have a shirt tail relative whose name on the Marker at The Little Bighorn.<br />I go into a certain mode at that place,,,,,,,,,,,,,<br />I have never been to Arlington.................<br />Thanks for the mention my friend.............................................Glenn Mark Casselhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11305109383344139028noreply@blogger.com