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THE AIRBORNE SPIRIT
Serving something bigger than self with a "gung ho" attitude until it hurts and/or exhausts; then going back for more and continuing to perform exemplarily! Grif
WAR IS HELL!
When Johnny came marching home,
His long, bloody battles finally over...
Safe, at last... he thanks God for his survival,
Unaware, he brought the hell back with him!
The Grim Reaper has a surprise, he'll not set him free,
"Live? YOU? YOU want to live, try it with PTSD!
Both day and night, torment and death is all you'll see!"
HELL... NO! This AIRBORNE lair has a remedy!
Read Grif's books to bury the Reaper's hellish entities!
NOW, Trooper, is the time to give us YOUR orders!
~Then, as always, give it your best, St. Michael will handle the rest!~
HOOAH!
 
SAINT MICHAEL
PATRON OF PARATROOPERS AND POLICE
"SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, DEFEND US IN THE DAY OF BATTLE
BE OUR PROTECTION AGAINST THE WICKEDNESS AND SNARES OF THE DEVIL;
MAY GOD REBUKE HIM, WE HUMBLY PRAY;
AND DO THOU, O PRINCE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST,
BY THE DIVINE POWER OF GOD,
THRUST INTO HELL SATAN AND ALL EVIL SPIRITS
WHO WANDER THROUGH THE WORLD SEEKING THE RUIN OF SOULS. AMEN."
WHAT IS THE ALTITUDE OF YOUR ATTITUDE?
Below are three excellent examples of The Airborne Spirit. God bless you gentlemen and THANK YOU for your dedication and sacrifices in the defense of our great country. HOOAH! Grif.
Subject: Speech by Brian Shul...
A Vietnam era USAF fighter pilot, 212 combat missions, shot
down near the end of the war and was so badly burned that he was given next
to no chance to live. Did live, went on to fly SR-71s and completed a 20
year career in the Air Force. Has written four books on aviation and runs
a photo studio. His words below... well, you decide
Chico Rally Address
Thank you for the opportunity to address this rally today. It is not often
that a fighter pilot is asked to be the keynote speaker. There is a rumor
that they are unable to put two sentences together coherently. I'd like to
dispel that rumor today by saying that I can do that, and in fact that I
have written several books. I always wanted to be an author, and I ARE one
now.
I'm a pretty lucky person really. I'm like the little boy who tells his
father that when he grows up he wants to be a jet pilot, and his father
replies, "Sorry son, you can't do both". I made that choice a long time
ago and flew the jets. I was fortunate to live my dream, and then some. I
survived something I shouldn't have, and today, tell people that I am 28
years old, as it has been that long since I was released from the hospital.
It was like I received a second life, and in the past 28 years, I have
gotten to see and do much, so much that I would not have thought possible.
Returning to fly jets in the Air Force, flying the SR-71 on spy missions,
spending a year with the Blue Angels, running my own photo studio.... and
so much more. And now, seeing our country attacked in such a heinous way.
Some of you here today have heard me speak before, and know that I enjoy
sharing my aviation slide show. I have brought no slides to show you, as I
feel compelled today, to address different issues concerning this very
difficult time in our nation's history.
I stand before you today, not as some famous person, or war hero. I am far
from that. You know, they say a good landing is one you can walk away
from, and a really great one is when you can use the airplane again. Well,
I did neither.........and I speak to you to today as simply a fellow
American citizen.
Like you, I was horrified at the events of September 11th. But I was not
totally surprised that such a thing could happen, or that there were people
in the world who would perpetrate such deeds, willingly, against us.
Having sat through many classified briefings while in the Air Force, I was
all too l aware of the threat, and I can assure you, it has always been
there in one form or another. And those of you who have served in the
defense of this nation, know all too well the response that is needed. In
every fighter squadron I was in, there was a saying that we knew to be
true, that said, when there was a true enemy, you negotiate with that enemy
with your knee in his chest and your knife at his throat.
Many people are unfamiliar with this way of thinking, and shrink from its
ramifications. War is such a messy business, and there are many who want
no part of it, but rush to bask in the security blanket of its victory.
I spent an entire military career fighting Communism, and was very proud to
do so. We won that war, we beat one of the worst scourges to humankind the
world has known. But it took a great effort, over many years of sustained
vigilance and much sacrifice by so many whose names you will never know.
And perhaps our nation, so weary from so long a cold war, relaxed too much
and felt the world was a safer place with the demise of the Soviet Union.
We indulged ourselves in our own lives, and gave little thought to the
threats to our national security.
You know, normally my talks are laced with numerous jokes as I share my
stories, but I have very few jokes to tell this afternoon. These murdering
fanatics came into our land, lived amongst our people, flew on our planes,
crashed them into our buildings, and killed thousands of our citizens. And
nowhere along their gruesome path were they questioned or stopped. The
joke is on us. We allowed this country to become soft.
We shouldn't really be too surprised that this could happen. Did we really
think that we could keep electing officials who put self above nation and
this would make us stronger? Did we really think that a strong economy
adequately replaced a strong intelligence community? Did we imagine that a
President who practically gave away the store on his watch, was insuring
national security? While our country was mired in the wasted excess of a
White House sex scandal, the drums of war beat loudly in foreign lands, and
we were deaf. Our response was to give the man two terms in office, and
even then barely half the American public exercised their right to vote.
We have only ourselves to blame. Our elected officials are merely a
reflection of our own values and what we deem important.
Did we not realize that America had become a laughing stock around the
world? We had lost credibility, even amongst our allies. To our enemies
we had no resolve. We made a lot of money, watched a lot of TV, and
understood little about what was happening beyond our shores. We were,
simply, an easy target.
But we are a country awakened now. We have been attacked in our homeland.
We have now felt the reality of what an unstable and dangerous world it
truly is. And still, in the face of this unprecedented carnage in our most
prominent city, there are those who choose to take this opportunity to
protest, and even burn the flag.
If I were the regents or alumni of certain large universities in this
county, I would be embarrassed to be producing students of such ignorance
and naive notions. Like mindless sheep, they march with painted faces
and trite sayings on signs, blissfully ignorant of the world they live in,
and the system that protects them, hoping maybe to make the evening news.
Perhaps if they had spent more time in class they would have learned that
those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. They might have
learned that all it takes for evil to succeed in the world, is for good
people to stand by and do nothing. If they had simply gone back in history
as recently as the Viet Nam War, they would have learned that an enemy that
knows it can never defeat us militarily, will persist as long as there is
dissention and disruption in our land. Their ignorance can be understood,
as their young empty minds have been filled with the re-written history
tripe that tenured leftist professors can spew out with no fear of removal.
But the unwitting aid they provide the enemy, in disrupting the national
resolve, is unforgivable.
I think this is wonderful country, though, that gives everyone their voice
of dissention. I am all for people expressing their views publicly because
it makes it much easier for us to identify the truly foolish, and to know
who cannot be counted on in times of crisis. These are the weak and
cowardly who, when the enemy is crashing through the front door, will cower
in the back room, counting on better men than themselves to make and keep
them free. Well, the enemy is at our front door, and isn't it interesting
those who cry loudest and most often for their rights, are usually those
least willing to defend it.
I heard a student on TV the other day say that this war just wasn't in his
plans and he would simply head to Canada if a draft occurred. Just wasn't
in his plans. I wonder what plans the young men at the beaches of Normandy
had that they never got to live. I wonder if it was in the plans of
19-year-old boys in Viet Nam to lie dying in a jungle far from home. I
guess the men and women at Pearl Harbor one morning had their plans
slightly rearranged too. Gee, I hope we haven't inconvenienced this
student. Those people in the World Trade Center have no more plans. It is
up to us to have a plan now. And it isn't going to be easy. Who ever said
it would? Just what part of our history spoke of how easy it was to form a
free nation? It has never been easy and has always required vigilance and
sacrifice, and sometimes war, to preserved this union. If it were easy,
everyone would have done it. But no one else has, and we stand alone as
the most unique country on earth.
And isn't it amazing that we have spent a generation stamping God out of
our schools and government, and now as a nation, have collectively turned
to God in memorial services, prayer vigils and churches around this
country.
I am also very disturbed to hear that there are people in this country, at
this particular time, who feel it inappropriate to wear the flag on their
lapel because they are on the news or in a public job, and school officials
who want to remove pro-American stickers so as not to offend foreign
students. Well I am offended that these people call themselves Americans.
I am offended that innocent people were killed in a mass attack of
unthinkable proportions. And I am offended at listening to TV broadcasters
speak to me condescendingly, with a bias that screams of their drowning in
a cesspool of political correctness. I pity the person who thinks they are
going to remove this flag from my lapel.
This flag of ours is the symbol of all that is good about this country.
America is an idea. It is an idea lived, and fought for, by a people. We
are America, and this is our symbol. We are imperfect in many ways, but we
continue to strive toward the ideal our forefathers laid down for us over
225 years ago. I could never imagine desecrating that symbol. Perhaps
there are many people in this nation who have never been abroad, or in
harms way, and seen the flag upon their return. Those poor souls can never
know the deep pride and honor one feels to see it wave, to know that there
is still a good ol' USA. With all our warts we are still the greatest
nation on earth, and the flag is the most powerful symbol of that
greatness. When I was in grade school, we used to say the Pledge of
Allegiance every morning. It is something I never forgot. I wonder how
many children even know that pledge today.
This flag is our history, our dreams, our accomplishments, indelibly
expressed in bright red, white, and blue. This flag was carried in our
Revolutionary War, although it had many less stars. But it persevered and
evolved throughout a war we had no right to believe we could win. But we
did, and built a country around it. This flag, tattered and battle worn,
waved proudly from the mast, as John Paul Jones showed the enemy was true
resolve was. This banner was raised by the hands of brave men on a
godforsaken island called Iwo Jima, and became a part of the most famous
photo of the 20th Century. Those men are all dead now, but their legacy
lives on in the Marine Memorial in Washington, DC. Those of you who have
seen it will recall that inscribed within the stone monument are the
words-When Uncommon Valor, Was A Common Virtue- I don't believe you'll see
the words, "it was easy", anywhere on it. This flag has even been to the
moon, planted there for all time by men with a vision, and the courage to
see it through.
I personally know what it is to see the flag, and feel something deep
inside that makes you feel you are a part of something much bigger than
yourself. Laying in a hospital bed, I can vividly recall looking out the
only window in the room and on Sundays, seeing that big garrison flag
flying proudly in the breeze. It filled the entire window, and filled my
heart with a motivation that helped me leave that bed, and enabled me to be
standing here today. And many years later, while fighting another
terrorist over Libya, my backseater and I outraced Khaddafi's missiles in
our SR-71 as we headed for the Mediterranean, and I can still clearly see
that American flag patch on the shoulder of my space suit, staring at me in
the rear view mirror as we headed west, and it was a good feeling. Now
don't ask me why we had rear view mirrors in the world's fastest jet, I can
assure you, no one was gaining on us that day.
I am so happy to see so many flags out here today. Long may it wave.
History will judge us. How we confront this chapter of American history
will be important for the future of this great nation. This will be a war
like none other we have endured. The combatants will not just be the
soldier on the battlefront, but will be fought by us the citizens. We are
on the battlefield now; the war has been brought to us. We will determine
the outcome of this war by how well we remain vigilant, how patient we are
with tightened security, how well we support the economy, and most
importantly, in the resolve we show the enemy. There are some things worth
fighting for, and this country is one of them.
I pray for our leaders at this time. In the Pacific, during WW II, Admiral
Bull Halsey said, "There are no great men, just great circumstances, and
how they handle those circumstances will determine the outcome of history".
Our future and the future of coming generations are in our hands. Wars
are not won just on military fronts, but by the resolve of the people. We
must remain tenaciously strong in the pursuit of this enemy that threatens
free people everywhere.
I am encouraged that we will win this war. Even before the first shot was
finished being fired, there were brave Americans on Flight 93, fighting
back. These people were the first true heroes of this conflict, and gave
their lives to save their fellow countrymen.
This nation, this melting pot of humanity, this free republic, must be
preserved. This idea that is America is important enough to be defended.
Fought for. Even die for. The enemy fears what you have, for if their
people ever become liberated into a free society, tyrannical dictatorships
will cease and he will lose power.
How can they ever understand this country of ours, so self-indulgent and
diverse, yet when attacked, so united in the defense of its principals.
This is the greatest country in the world because brave people sacrificed
to make it that way. We are a collective mix of greatness and greed,
hi-tech and heartland. We are the country of Mickey Mouse and Mickey
Mantle; from John Smith and Pocahontas to John Glen and an Atlas booster;
from Charles Lindbergh to Charley Brown; from Moby Dick to Microsoft; we
are a nation that went from Kitty Hawk to Tranquility Base in less than 70
years; we are rock and roll, and the Bill of Rights; we are where everyone
else wants to be, the greatest nation in the world.
The enemy does not understand the dichotomy of our society, but they should
understand this; we will bandage our wounds, we will bury our dead; and
then we will come for you.......and we will destroy you and all you stand
for.
I read this quote recently and would like to share it with you:
We are pressed on every side, but not crushed,
Perplexed, but not in despair,
Persecuted, but not abandoned,
Struck down, but not destroyed.
That is from II Corinthians. Not too long ago it would have been
politically incorrect to quote from the Bible. I am so happy to be
politically INCORRECT. And I am so proud to be an American.
Thank you all for coming out today and showing your support for your
government, and your nation. You are the true patriots, you are the
soldiers of this war, you are the strength of America.
Brian Shul
Chico, CA
October 3, 2001
Subject: FW: A Soldiers' thoughts
From: Sergeant First Class Steve Theim
21 September 2001
To: My Leaders, To Congress, and To America
I am a soldier. I am America's military. 19 some years ago, I raised my
right hand and pledged to defend America and its way of life. I agreed to
follow the orders of those appointed over me. This is a vow I took of my
own free will. It was a decision I made on my own. No one held a gun to
my head. There was no promise of a life of happiness or prosperity. I
joined for my own reasons and have served to see them through.
Many times during my enlistment have our forces deployed. Students hugged
soldiers as we "invaded" Grenada. It was an Island not many had ever heard
of. We saw all the triumph on television and could only ask, "What
happened?" It was over before it began, and yet soldiers gave their lives.
Panama took a little longer. It was built up in the defense and we
eventually went in force to oust the government there. Again, soldiers died.
Over the past nineteen years, America has sent soldiers in rapid reaction
to various threats to our liberty and the freedom of others. We have
responded to the cry of oppressed people around the world. In Mogadishu, soldiers
died performing a mission they were ordered to carry out. Our presence there has often been questioned, even within the military. The outcome is still
the same. Soldiers were sent. Soldiers died.
Today, America again faces the issue of sending soldiers. I heard a
representative from the senate during an interview saying, "I don't want to
send our soldiers". I am a soldier.
Send me.
This time, terror has hit our homeland.
Send me.
This time, the fight has killed thousands of innocents in an instant. The
bad guys aren't off in a foreign land oppressing foreign peoples. They have
struck our own families, our mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. These
have they killed.
Send me.
This time, the battle has started right in the very back yard of Congress.
The Pentagon is known as the home of our military leadership. An airplane
was crashed, passengers and all, through it's walls. They didn't use a
rifle to attempt to kill our leaders; they used a whole plane. And for the
bullets, they used our friends and family.
Send me.
This time, when Congress, the Senate, or even my Commander in Chief is
considering sending soldiers, remember one thing. You aren't sending us as
so much as you are allowing us to go. I volunteered for this job years ago.
You aren't sending me to die. You are allowing me to fulfill my promise;
allowing me to defend freedom; allowing me to stand, as guard, in the
doorway to democracy.
Send me.
You aren't choosing my fate. I did that when I swore to uphold the
constitution by which we live and through which you were elected.
Allow me to accomplish my mission.
Send me.
Sergeant First Class Steve Theim
An open letter by:
Captain Stephen R. Ellison, M.D., USA
I am a doctor specializing in Emergency Medicine in the Emergency
Departments of the only two military Level One-traumacenters. They are
both in San Antonio, TX, and they care for civilian emergencies as well
as military personnel. San Antonio has the largest U.S.military retiree
population in the world, because of the location of these two
large military medical centers.
As a military doctor in training for my specialty, I work long hours and
the pay is less than glamorous. One tends to become jaded by the long
hours, lack of sleep, food, family contact and the endless parade of
human suffering passing before you. The arrival of another ambulance
does not mean more pay, only more work. Most often, it is a victim from
a motor vehicle crash. Often it is a person of dubious character who has
been shot or stabbed. With our large military retiree population, it is
often a nursing home patient.
Even with my enlisted service and minimal combat experience in Panama,
prior to medical school, I have caught myself groaning when the ambulance
brought in yet another sick, elderly person from one of the
local retirement centers that cater to military retirees. I had not
stopped to think of what citizens of this age group represented. I saw
"Saving Private Ryan." I was touched deeply. Not so much by the carnage
in the first 30 minutes, but by the sacrifices of so many. I was touched
most by the scene of the elderly survivor at the graveside, asking his
wife if he'd been a good man. I realized that I had seen these same men
and women coming through my Emergency Dept and had not realized what
magnificent sacrifices they had made. The things they did for me and
every one else that has lived on this planet since the end of that
conflict are priceless.
Situation permitting, I now try to ask my patients about their
experiences. They would never bring up the subject without the
inquiry. I have been privileged to an amazing array of experiences,
recounted in the brief minutes allowed in an Emergency Dept encounter.
These experiences have revealed the incredible individuals I have had the
honor of serving in a medical capacity, many on their last admission to
the hospital.
There was a frail, elderly woman who reassured my young enlisted medic,
trying to start an IV line in her arm. She remained calm and poised,
despite her illness and the multiple needle-sticks into her
fragile veins. She was what we call a "hard stick." As the medic made
another attempt, I noticed a number tattooed across her forearm. I
touched it with one finger and looked into her eyes. She simply said
"Auschwitz." Many of later generations would have loudly and openly
berated the young medic in his many attempts. How different was the
response from this person who'd seen unspeakable suffering.
Also, there was this long retired Colonel, who as a young officer had
parachuted from his burning plane over a Pacific Island held by the
Japanese.
Now an octogenarian, his head cut in a fall at home where he lived
alone. His CT scan and suturing had been delayed until after midnight by
the usual parade of high priority ambulance patients. Still spry for
his age, he asked to use the phone to call a taxi, to take him home, then
he realized his ambulance had brought him without his wallet. He asked
if he could use the phone to make a long distance call to his daughter
who lived 7 miles away. With great pride we told him that he could not,
as he'd done enough for his country and the least we could do was get him
a taxi home, even if we had to payfor it ourselves. My only regret was that
my shift wouldn't end for several hours, and I couldn't drive him myself.
I was there the night MSgt Roy Benavidez came through the Emergency Dept.
for the last time. He was very sick. I was not the doctor taking care
of him, but I walked to his bedside and took his hand. I said nothing.
He was so sick, he didn't know I was there. I'd read his Congressional
Medal of Honor citation and I wanted to shake his hand. He died a few
days later.
The gentleman who served with Merrill's Marauders, the survivor of the
Bataan Death March, the survivor of Omaha Beach, the 101 year old World
War I veteran, the former POW held in frozen North Korea, the former
Special forces medic-now with non-operable liver cancer, the former Viet
Nam Corps Commander. I remember these citizens.
I may still groan when yet another ambulance comes in, but now I am much
more aware of what an honor it is to serve these particular men and
women. I am angered at the cut backs, implemented and proposed, that
will continue to decay their meager retirement benefits. I see
later generations that seem to be totally engrossed in abusing these same
liberties, won with such sacrifice. It has become my personal endeavor,
to make the nurses and young enlisted medics aware of these amazing
individuals when I encounter them in our Emergency Dept. Their response
to these particular citizens has made me think that perhaps all is not
lost in the next generation.
My experiences have solidified my belief that we are losing an incredible
generation, and this nation knows not what it is losing. Our uncaring
government and ungrateful civilian populace should all take note. We
should all remember that we must "Earn this."
HIS LOVE HAS NO END
A poem by Peter S. Griffin
Oh, so many blessings, God has granted us,
But only love, oh so holy, oh so timeless....
Love, so pure, needs no refinement,
It has no bounds, not even death, can confine it....
Death can cast it's sorrow, darkness and gloom,
Love shines through, to brighten and bloom....
Through trials and hardships, love grows stronger,
Love, perpetual..., eternity - lasts no longer....
The keeping of peace, the duty of the soldier,
The horrors of war, he carries on his shoulders....
He will lay down his life, for his friend,
There is no greater love, HIS LOVE HAS NO END....
Truly, truly, I say unto you, he was a good man, a very good man.
You can now order "When You Hear The Bugle Call" from Amazon.com by clicking the above cover.
Please read THOUGHTS, MEMORIES AND TEARS customer reviews at Amazon.com by clicking the cover above. It might also be a great time to place an order. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, "Grif"
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