Words that moved us...
POWERFUL WORDS FROM SENATOR JOHN GLENN
This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it's also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the Uniformed Services do what they do for a living.
Senator Metzenbaum to Senator Glenn:
"How can you run for Senate when you've never held a real "job"?"
Senator Glenn:
"I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook; it was my 'Life' on the line. It was not a 9 to 5 job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.
I ask you to go with me... as I went the other day ... to a Veterans Hospital and look at those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them they didn't hold a job. You go with me to the space program and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job.
You go with me on Memorial Day coming up, and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you think about this nation, you tell me that those people didn't have a job.
I'll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men - SOME MEN - who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.
I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD! What about you?"
Daniel R. Agers Jr.
MSG USARC SROTC CELL
STATED AS ONLY A MARINE COULD…
The following is an editorial response to a complaining resident.
San Diego Union Tribune February 8, 1999 Re: "Is harassment of resident the role of the military?
(Letters, Feb. 4):
Responding to Maura Harvey's letter wondering if the Marine helicopter training flights that passed above her Del Mar home were simply to harass residents, I can say that, yes, our mission is to harass residents, specifically Mrs. Harvey.
We do not train 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide freedom and security to all residents of the United States. We exist only to annoy the very people we are sworn to protect, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We spend months and years overseas, away from our families and loved ones, in some cases making less than minimum wage, choosing to live a life in which many qualify for food stamps, just to have the chance, one day, to annoy people like Mrs. Harvey.
There is no more sought-after position in the military than the Maura Harvey Annoyance Task Force. As a matter of fact, the Marines who spent Christmas dug into fighting positions in northern Kuwait and their brothers in the sky, braving anti-aircraft missiles and artillery, were just training to come back to the States and fly missions over Mrs. Harvey's house. It has nothing to do with the security of the nation. It has no impact on our ability to carry out missions in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and it has no bearing on Mrs. Harvey's ability to enjoy "nature and peaceful, quiet living." The "strange, almost science fiction war scene" she described was put on solely to make noise and to destroy her "scenic view corridors" in Del Mar Terrace. It certainly was not valuable and necessary training to help sustain the lives of those who ensure this nation's freedom, should they ever be sent into harm's way to do just that.
Next time, Mrs. Harvey may want to look upon those loud machines and think about the men and women, who fly, ride in, and maintain them. Ponder the sacrifices they make in providing this nation with the warm blanket of freedom we all enjoy. Maybe she might even imagine how much more disturbing it would be if she were not sure what country the helicopters were from, or whether they were going to attack her beautiful neighborhood.
But she shouldn't worry too much about that, because we will not let it happen.
Capt. JOHN F. PETERSON,
USMC Pacific Beach
A WIFE'S PRAYER FOR HER MARINECourtesy of Leatherneck Magazine
Dear Heavenly Father,
Now the evening shadows gather, the lonely night is here.
This day which has been so empty is almost gone.
Oh Dear God, be with my husband who is so far from home.
Help him when the thoughts of his loved ones bring awful heart ache on.
Lord, let him know that with You ever-lasting love, You are right beside him
With your loving mercy from above.
Help him with his heartache, with the closeness of a friend, a smile of understanding.
It will lift the burden from his heart.
Let him also be a blessing to one who needs him.
Let him feel the prayers of his loved ones whose thoughts are always with him.
And, Dear God, when the tide has turned against him,
His whole world seems upside down,
Let him see things more clearly.
Show him how to love Thee more dearly.
Let his faith in thee stay unbroken.
Inspire him with new courage every day so that he will soon be with us.
Make him strong to run the race.
Amen
WHO PACKS YOUR PARACHUTE?
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason...
Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.
Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform- a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.
Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?"
Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.
His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. As you approach the New Year...recognize people who pack your parachute!
Author not known by webmaster
SACRIFICES: SPOUSES GIVE UP MANY THINGS FOR THEIR SERVICEMEMBERSBy Amy J. Fetzer
"So, you're a military wife?"
Sounds rather degrading coming from a civilian who has no concept of military life. I, for one, have a great concept. My father was a Marine for 31 years and I married a Marine. When I said, "I do," 13 years ago, I knew what I was getting into. Most people don't. People don't realize that we the spouses are just as involved. We make more sacrifices in 20 years than most people do in a lifetime. We let go of friendships we've formed over the three year tour, turn around and start new ones at our next station. We wring our hands when they don't come home some evening, knowing they might be on spontaneous maneuvers, but no one will tell us for sure. So we sit and wait--gripping with the fear that when the door opens we'll see a captain standing there in his dress blues, his cover in his hand and regret in his eyes from a grateful nation. It wasn't "playing Marine" this time. It was for real.
From Desert Shield to Desert Storm, the nation needed the Corps and it was there, trained-- ready and willing to give the ultimate sacrifice. And the world witnessed the support that has always been there, in us, the other half of the Corps.
I heard a civilian woman say to my mother, "Oh, how fortunate are military families; free housing, medical and dental care, the commissary..."
My mother replied with, "Nothing is free. It's compensation." It's compensation when they take the husband, the father, and more often now, the mother and wife, for a year at a time to serve in some remote location that's strategic and secret and has no name. Yet, it's little compensation when you pass by a house after a terrorist attack on the Marine barracks---and see a black wreath hanging from the door. I knew Inside there was a widow with children. And I knew that widow could have been me.
The Marine wife is a special breed. A strong women. I owe a lot of my strength to my mother. I saw her cope with hardships that would have made any man fold. What would you do if you found yourself stranded in a New Jersey airport in 90-degree weather with 3 children under the age of five, dressed for your destination in Iceland with no passports, no lodging, no luggage, and no help? I'm proud to say she overcame and we met my father in Iceland, a little ragged---but together. Mom showed me to look for things that most people don't see: the young Marine away from home for the first time during the holidays, missing those homecooked meals in a family surrounding, or the young expectant mother that's frightened, wishing her Mom was close to ask questions she believes are silly. We take care of our own, and hope that when our loved ones are in a similar situation, someone will reciprocate. Giving thanks, such a small effort.
A point of advice to the young Marine Wives: seek the support of other Marine Wives, enlisted or officer. Experience is the best teacher. We were in your shoes once before and know what you are feeling. Ask. They know the tricks to a smoother moving day, quarter inspection, the knowledge of medical facilities, the schools and definitely the best shops. And If they don't know the answer, you can be certain they'll know where to find it.
If I sound as if I'm glorifying the Marine Wife, perhaps I am. We're just as good at what we do as our spouses are. We are not simply wives and husbands and children. We are a part of the Marine team.
I get a lump in my throat when I hear the Marine Corps Hymn or the Star Spangled Banner. My shoulders pull back and my chin lifts a little higher when I see my husband in his uniform or when someone asks me what he does for a living and I say with great pride, he's a United States Marine.
