Shot in the Dark

Veterans Day

Our country has chosen this, the anniversary of the end of World War I, to commemorate our veterans.

I’m terrible at finding words to express that kind of thanks, naturally; I took my best stab at it a couple of years ago, and I’m kind of proud of it – but seriously, how do you thank someone for spending the best years of their life fighting for this country?

It feels somehow mawkish and inadequate to say “thank you for your service”; while it’s sincere enough, it almost feels programmed.

But what else to say?  So thanks, veterans, for all you did; for spending the best years of your lives doing jobs daunting in their danger…

…and grindingly mundane…

…and for doing the impossible…

…and for making it impossible for the bad guys to wreak any of their havoc…

…thanks to you all.

(By the way – I suppose one way to observe Veterans Day is to politicize it, as my “representative”, Betty McCollum, does on her Facebook page.  I’ll demur, thanks).

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Mitch Berg

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9 responses to “Veterans Day”

  1. TriggerWarning:Swiftee Avatar
    TriggerWarning:Swiftee

    Not a big deal, we just did what we were supposed to do. All male Americans should all be required to serve.

  2. TriggerWarning:Swiftee Avatar
    TriggerWarning:Swiftee

    Sorry to hijack the thread, but I thought you’d find this 2A story very interesting:
    “Summerville man dies, N. Charleston man arrested after shootout with 13-year-old”
    http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151110/PC16/151119940

    That’s right. A 13 year old kid grabbed his mom’s gun and shot it out with 2 slobs that had busted into his house.

    Time to talk about good kids with a gun?

  3. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Not to worry, Mitch.

    Whether it sounds programmed or not, I know that I and many of my veteran friends, greatly (and humbly) appreciate the thanks.

    At work today, I exchanged greetings, high fives, fist bumps and even some hugs from customers and coworkers, veterans or not.

    So, to my fellow veterans on this forum, welcome home, thanks for your sacrifice for this great country and may God bless you.

  4. DMA Avatar
    DMA

    I was in Mpls today and went to feed the meter and find parking was free because it was a “holiday”.

    Now not being a veteran myself there is no reason in the world I should reap a benefit just because it’s Veterans day.

    So I would propose next Veterans day, collect parking fees a usual, but contribute the day’s take to some program benefiting veterans.

    And furthermore, why not instruct the meter maids to never give a parking ticket to cars with Purple Heart license plates? It would cost the city nothing. But I think it might mean something to wounded vets.

  5. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Good ideas, DMA!

    Unfortunately, the cynic in me would cause me to believe that with libidiots running our government entities, the money would get diverted to some other pet DFL cause.

  6. kel Avatar
    kel

    Happy Birthday to all you Marines!

  7. Bento Guzman Avatar
    Bento Guzman

    From the Strib::
    http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-va-official-received-an-8-697-bonus-in-year-she-was-under-investigation/347315962/
    “St. Paul VA official received an $8,697 bonus in year she was under investigation. Administrator was being investigated for using her position for personal gain. ”
    The VA scandal occurred because VA executives are exactly like the executive in (name your for-profit company here). They are gunslingers. They get payed lucrative bonuses for achieving goals set by the board (or the congressional committee). What do you think. These guys got got law or business degrees so they could earn 23k/year?
    Gosh, maybe a person with a degree in journalism might figure out that these execs at federal and state bureaucracies are in it for the money, just like their private-sector counterparts.

  8. The Head of Prince Charming Avatar
    The Head of Prince Charming

    Honestly, while words are nice, I’d be grateful if you all would vote for those who would adequately fund veterans care. As one, it saddens me greatly to see a nation turn its back on friends who now need that nation to live up to its financial obligations. The VA’s primary issue is that it simply doesn’t have the staffing to meet the current need, a need that exploded after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fund that, thanks are nice but I’d really rather see you put your money where your mouth is.

  9. The Head of Prince Charming Avatar
    The Head of Prince Charming

    Bento, a $9k bonus isn’t what a private for-profit exec gets. Take that times about 50 and you’re in the ballpark for a quantitative analyst or a senior exec at a small company. Take it times 1000 and you’re in the ballpark for an executive at a big company. $9k, seriously, it’s peanuts. I understand it’s taxpayer money, but to simply assume everyone at the VA deserves nothing, did a bad job, etc.. is too simplistic. Since Goldman Sachs cheated their customers and made $4B off them, should everyone at Goldman be fired, have their wages frozen, did none of them do a good job that year? As I said, the key problem at the VA is staffing relative to workload. Most of the people there are pretty dedicated and take less than private sector pay to do what they feel is something honorable, helping vets recover. I agree that it’s honorable, they certainly don’t deserve to be painted with a broad brush.

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