I’m not sure how long this exhibit is scheduled to be in the Heritage Center; in fact, I took the pics over a week ago. It doesn’t show up on the State Historical Society web page, but that doesn’t look like it’s updated very frequently. If you’re interested in this exhibit, hang a sharp right as soon as you enter the Heritage Center. It is (was?) in the gallery room preceding the door to the library of the state archives.
I was able to attend the ceremony at the Veteran’s Cemetery out near Fort Lincoln today and brought back some photos for those who were unable to make it. I had wool socks and long johns on, because it was cold enough to see my breath when I first got there and started swapping lenses. I’d even tanked up on hot cappuccino before getting out of the truck. There isn’t really much to say about the sacrifice of our military personnel that hasn’t already been said, and far more eloquently than I’m able, so I’ll let my photos do the talking.
That’s pretty much it. I have other photos as well, but these tell the story of the day pretty well. All this typing has also helped me regain feeling in my fingers; working a camera with gloves on isn’t very realistic! I hope you enjoyed this look at the ceremony and I ask that you take a moment to consider the brave men and women who carry the safety of our nation and our freedom on their shoulders.
As far as I’m concerned EVERY soldier who ever served receives my honor and respect, and not just on Memorial Day. Does a soldier have to die in battle to sacrifice? No, sir. For instance, the day they enlist they give up a lot of their freedom so that they can be prepared to protect ours. They give of their time. Their families do, too. They pay the toll in injuries in training and on the battlefield, many of them career ending. And, yes, many pay with their lives. How great a cost they pay for our freedom!
There are two memorial ceremonies being held this weekend. For a program of the events taking place at the Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery out near Fort Lincoln, click here. Patriot Guard Riders and other riders will be participating. Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, superintendent of the US Naval Academy, will be the keynote speaker.
It doesn’t have to be Memorial Day for a person to reflect on the sacrifice of US military personnel. Having a day to devote to their memory, however, is a special opportunity to make sure that we express our gratitude as a nation. Oh, and hopefully the flag is flying at the North Dakota State Capitol this year. That was pretty embarassing last year.
The museum is working toward building a new facility and expanding quite a bit. They also have a lot of science classes and special activities there, something that would be really cool for the kids. So if you’re in the mood to fly to New Mexico, stop on in! The geek in you will be pleased.
1- He pronounced Minot with a short i, as in “minnow.” For a guy who claims to have all kinds of knowledge about nuclear weapons handling, you’d think he would know how to pronounce the name of an Air Force Base that has been a critical part of our nation’s defenses for fifty years.
2- He claimed that the NIE is available for anyone to read. The last I heard, the full text of the NIE is available only to someone with the proper clearance, or a congressman serving on the appropriate committee. There are in some cases declassified “versions” of NIEs, or summaries that are public record; but by no means does an NIE lay all our cards out on the table for anyone to read.
Aside from having the worst web page I’ve seen in recent memory (heck, the conference links are five years old), I see nothing to indicate that this guy has the slightest bit of credibility whatsoever. It’s bad enough that such a serious lack of protocol took place at MAFB, but for the conspiracy theorists to have fun with it doesn’t help. Fortunately they only appear after midnight, where they belong.
Allow me to clarify…it just doesn’t FEEL like we’re at war, because it’s only the soldier and his/her family that are truly sacrificing, not the average citizen.
I support the troops. No, I don’t think that can be separated from supporting their mission. I think the men and women fighting for America at home and abroad are performing a commendable service, one for which few would volunteer. I want them to win in whatever combat theater they face. I wish I could send each and every one of them a Thank You card. Having said that, my life as an American is so comfortable during this time that I can actually FORGET that it’s September 11th, arguably the most memorable day in American history since November 22nd or December 7th.
In my family’s fire safe is a set of unused war ration coupons that were to be used to buy food for my dad when he was a child. When was the last time you had to ration anything? The greatest difficulty anyone has had to face in recent memory is the availability of the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3! We don’t deserve to have it so good. No, I’m not about to kick into any of the anti-American self loathing characteristic of the liberals. I’m just saying that we’re blessed beyond measure.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Who pays the cost of our comfort? Right now it’s people like my friend Roberta, who took over the chore of raising her two boys while her husband was in Bosnia. There are several of my friends in the National Guard and Army Reserves from Bismarck who have been mobilized as well. I think back to my friend Tony, who served in the first Gulf War and has some shocking memories from there as well. Or my friend Nathan from New York, who told me the stories of room-to-room combat clearing out Falujah, and what it was like to lose two of the kids under his command. He gave us some on-board video of an IED striking one of their Humvees…I don’t even know how to describe it.
To the greatest degree it’s the families of North Dakota soldiers who did not come home alive, those who had to say goodbye to a father, son, boyfriend, or husband. I bet they remembered today’s date. I was honored to make the gesture of participating in the Patriot Guard rides for some of these men…but when everything settles down, they’re left with the quiet emptiness of a soldier who’s not coming home.
I can’t reach everybody thru this quaint little website…but if you’re reading this and have served, or if you’ve had to pray for a beloved soldier to come home okay, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you not only for the safety and comfort my family feels today, but all the years of safety that have preceded this day. My little 8 month old boy is sleeping securely next to me while I type, and I have no doubt that it’s because there are guys all over the world with M-16s to insure that evil doesn’t get even one inch closer to our shores to harm him. God Bless America, and God Bless the Troops!
The flags pictured above are flying at the ND State Capitol today. I’m sure a bunch of the atheist peacenik crowd would love to try to sue to get that “God Bless America” flag removed, but hopefully they’re still too busy licking their wounds from the fight to remove the Ten Commandments from the city of Fargo. I think all peaceniks should be shipped to Afghanistan to put their “War is not the answer” stickers and magnets on Taliban vehicles! See how far pacifism goes with evil men, and get back to me when they’ve renounced their ways. In the mean time, I trust the valiant men and women of the United States military to keep the forces of evil at bay.
It seems that the only time I ever see Earl Pomeroy is when there’s some sort of photo op or grandstanding opportunity. That’s the nature of politics I suppose, since our congressmen are busy………well, I’m sure they’re busy doing SOMETHING.
The PDF of the resolution he voted against, HR 861, can be found by clicking here. All the resolution did was give our troops a little morale boost by declaring that we WILL be victorious. That was too much for a dedicated liberal Democrat like Earl Pomeroy, yet he still wants to play like he’s a good patriot when he comes back home for the PR opportunities. That’s the perfect picture of hypocrisy.
The people of North Dakota should bounce this hypocrite out of office at the nearest opportunity.
One of the things I wish the civilians in our government would do better is let us know what’s going on overseas. Really…if you watched nothing but CBS, NBC, or ABC, or read only the Bismarck Tribune, would you think that our troops are doing anything at all aside from hiding in the green zone digging holes and sitting them all day, leaving only to drive around aimlessly until an IED goes off next to their Humvee? Shamefully, if someone asked me about what the guys are doing over there, I would have few answers, and none of them specific. Our soldiers deserve better than that.
I know that people opposed to our President politically like to claim that issuing good news about the troops is “propaganda” and can’t be trusted. Obviously that’s wrong, but those people are 100% wrong about the military anyway. Those are the same people whose overblown statistics are accepted as biblical fact when it comes to trying to damage the war effort or try to pass their silly little resolution through the state legislature calling for “peace.”
If we wanted to get political about our military’s role overseas, which we don’t, a guy could ask why Bismarck soldiers just spent a year in Bosnia trying to help clean up a mess that Bill Clinton created and then didn’t follow through on once the headlines settled. I’m not asking that, and I told my friends serving there that I was grateful for what they’re doing. I meant it.
I’ve got friends who were involved in some of the nastiest close-quarter fighting of the entire war in Iraq, flushing out terrorists (no, not “insurgents” or “militants” or “freedom fighters”) with the 3rd ID. These guys were fighting building to building, sometimes room to room, and it’s amazing the stories they have to tell. Too bad nobody’s telling these stories for them. To find good news, one has to hunt for it.
So if you want to see some success stories to combat the dearth of accurate reporting on the local TV and newspaper, check out the Central Command website every now and then. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what’s really going on over there.
You see, the cowardly Representative Pomeroy has always been clear on where he stands on this issue. As I pointed out in a post a while back, he voted against House Resolution 861 less than 24 hours before showing up at the funeral of a fallen Bismarck soldier, where he proudly looked all patriotic. This two-faced, cowardly liar had the nerve to wave and greet North Dakota soldiers and those of us there to support them less than a day after voting against a resolution supporting victory in the War on Terrorism.
The troop surge makes sense: let the rest of the soldiers in place in Iraq continue their operations as usual, while bringing in a force designed and deployed to root out the insurgency. But if we do that, then we don’t enable the Democrat party mouthpieces to cry “Civil War! Civil War!” But the fact of the matter is, they’re merely using this war as a means to attack Republicans here at home. That’s so cowardly, apparently Earl needed to be deployed back to Washington from ND to carry the mantle for the Democrats. He’s doing a bang-up job.
I’ve covered the text of the House Resolution in other posts so I won’t get into it again. Let it suffice to say that I’m not surprised to see cowardly Earl taking his five minutes to bravely stand the Democrat party line, trying to insure that our fighting men and women are not given the resources they require, hoping eagerly for a defeat to hang around the neck of a Republican president while paying for it with the blood of American soldiers. Way to go, Earl…you make me sick.
As I’m sure everybody knows, a group from Westboro Baptist Church (which is not a Baptist church, they just claim it) was up here to protest funerals in North Dakota. I don’t recall them having the guts to set foot on sovereign tribal land, however…hopefully they didn’t. These people claim a weird mixture of twisted and perverted Old and New Testament theologies with rancid hate and come up with the tactic of protesting funerals across the country. What they don’t tell you is that they’re also licensed attornies just waiting for some outraged patriot to lay a hand on them. Thankfully we haven’t had any such cases here, although it does require a lot of personal restraint.
So now, with this bill becoming law, protests like the ones I’ve decribed and stood to block are illegal. Will that make them stop? I sure hope so. Regardless, I’m sure the Patriot Guard riders will still stand in attendance to honor and pay respect to fallen soldiers and their loved ones whenever they’re called to do so.
The photo above is part of the ND state gallery. I’m holed up at home with a sore throat – fever – chills – headache kind of thing today. In fact, I slept from 7am to 7pm! Photos owned by the government are public domain, as far as I know…if they complain, I’ll take it down. But I don’t think I’m engaging in anything dishonest by using their photo. I’m sure Governor Hoeven and the others involved in this law’s passing are happy to get the word out. Now I’m going back to bed – my head’s in Mississippi (kudos if you get that music reference)
Favicon Plugin made by Alesis