Veterans Day 2011

Veterans Day is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world and falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.)
(from wikipedia)

I have set this post to show up at 11:00 a.m. on 11/11/11 in honor of the original Armistice Day that started it all. Veterans Day is an important day for those of us that spent time in the military. It's a day we get to talk about the things we did, the people we met and understand that most people we know will actually care about what were saying for a change. Spending a few years in the Service plays an important part in who we become later in life no matter whether the service was in war or peace. Of course the experiences are different, but then again everyone's life is different even among people who share the same events. It's a great feeling to meet someone who's pretty cool and then to find out you are both Vets ESPECIALLY if you had related jobs. For instance Roadside Marty and I both crewed Hueys during our time in. Opposite sides of the world, but a shared experience none the less. I think we bored a few folks to death at BMR telling war stories about what we did, but that's OK we had fun doing it. Get out today and attend some of the events if you can, here in Birmingham we have the oldest and biggest Veterans Day parade in the country and I will be there showing my support. Our troops of today are going through some serious stuff and need all the support we can give them. We as a nation screwed over our troops when they came home from both Korea and Vietnam (especially the Nam Vets), we need to make sure NOTHING like that happens today. We may not agree with what the Govt. decides to do with our troops, but we sure as hell better support the men and woman who make up our Armed Services. With out them we wouldn't have the freedoms we have today. The Govt. may be taking more and more freedom away, but that's not the fault of our great Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members. Hail the Einherjar!

My Dad SFC Paul Dailey in Korea during his last tour before coming back to Ft. Bragg to retire in 1966.

Me in basic training Ft. McClellan, AL 1984

the Aviation Section of HHC, 937th Eng Gp, Ft. Riley KS (except me of course since I was taking the picture) My first duty station and the first time I was made a crewchief on these beautiful aircraft.

A really great painting I found on the web. My position was in the gunwell behind that M-60 or sitting in front of it depending on our mission.

Pictures from Korea. We landed near a village in Korea and of course the kids had to come see us. I stuck my flight helmet on one of them and took a few pics. I still have that visor cover somewhere buried in my old stuff. The Chinook was taking supplies to units on the DMZ. The bottom picture was at a refueling point near the DMZ. The aircraft that flew around there regularly had to have those yellow stripes.

This is a picture of me in a hanger on Homestead Air Force base (before it was bulldozed and made into a Nascar track) after Hurricane Andrew. The winds were so strong they pushed this Huey onto the nose of an F-5 INSIDE the hanger. We lived in a hanger on a Coast Guard base for a month while we supported the Florida National Guard units who were flying supplies into people.

Part of a really nice Veterans park Allison and I stopped at on Hwy 78 in Georgia. There are more pics on my other blog HERE.

AND just to keep it bike related here is a picture of me in An Jung Ri, Korea sitting on some stores delivery bike. This of course was many years and many pounds ago.

Maybe next year I'll post pics from Germany and Ft. Bragg.

Do something to show your support of our troops today!!