Change of Avatar

All serving and ex servicemen and women are being asked to change their avatar on FB as a mark of respect to the servicemen lost for a great nation. It started on FB and I am showing my respect on all the forums I am active upon by following suit.

If it offends any one I apologise but I am not ashamed of my background.

Doug,

What is FB? And do Ex-(US) Marines like me count too?

FB = Face Book

And yup, I truly reckon a marine US or other wise qualifies.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your motto Semper Fi?

Doug,

Yes, Semper Fi means "Always Faithful". I will change mine today.

Since we are talking about beer I thought this would be spot on.

Royal Navy is;

"Si vis pacem, pare bellum"

"if you wish for peace, prepare for war".

Very good avatar Jeff.

Thank you to Doug, JeffR and all the military men & women around the world who protect our freedom! Always remember our heros who paid the ultimate price, and remember the families that are left behind.

"The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten." -- Calvin Coolidge

"I never met a beer i didnt drink" - Norm Peterson

Doug,

I'll change mine in a couple of days and it will be topical.

I served and both of my sons currently serve. Rough way to make a living, but so rewarding and fulfilling.

Something I have had pointed out to me was a FB site that is deliberately taking advantage of folk on FB who have do tied down their personal security settings and are serving or ex military.

This is worrying.

A "group" on FB purporting to locate service people and their families. Set up by a false named Serbian. 'Laznim Imenom' which translated means "Fake Name"

Beware this site!!

http://www.causes.com/causes/645403-find-every-british-forces-supporter-on-facebook/about

I'm hopeless at changing Avatars and things like that but I wholely support the sentiment.

This may be of interest to some:
In a municipal cemetary between here and Bruges are two sections devoted to War Graves.
One contains the graves of Belgian and German soldiers and one, British.
Apparently, on Remembrance Day there is all the usual wreath-laying and so on but there has never been a British presence at the ceremony.
So this year, on the Sunday closest to 6th. June, my church, the English Church in Bruges, is going to have a service in the British bit.
We hope it will become an annual event.

There was a disgraceful display in Libya recently where the liberated locals were caught on film kicking over the gravestones of WW2 gravestones in the UK cemetery.

Makes you wonder why we helped liberate them!

Amen to you all. Hope my American Legion Riders avatar serves the intended purpose.

DickO wrote:

Amen to you all. Hope my American Legion Riders avatar serves the intended purpose.

DickO, total respect to what you and your colleagues in ALR do for your countries bravest.

There you go, to me it's just an old black and white photo, I left the Army nearly 40 years and have never been the slightest bit nostalgic about it ever since. I make an effort to attend an annual Rememberance Day service, and in June I'm going on a Ride Of Respect with a load of other riders up to Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. I went on a similar run of support for the Black Rats, the 4th Mechanized Brigade based in Catterick on a 650 Burgman with Mrs M on a very wet Sunday a couple of years ago.

I envy you not getting nostalgic over it Medrew.

Sometimes I can't get some of the experiences out of my head. Not good but there were more good times than bad.

Strangely I don't get involved with re-unions and rarely do Remembrance Day services.

I occasionally read posts on Forces Reunited type sites with vaguely remembered names 'swinging the lamp', going on about certain places and past times, saying it was the best time of their lives, and I'm thinking hang on mate I was there too, I don't remember it like that at all, it was shite.

I don't get particularly nostalgic about my Navy life, (it is 37 years ago!) but sometimes a programme comes on TV, and I find myself thinking 'Yeah, been there, enjoyed it.'

Like you say though Meldrew, some of it was pure shite, but there were some good times for balance.

Would I do it again? Not the way the world is now.

Do I regret doing it? No, made me grow up quick, taught me about life. (And I met the missus!!)

All that said, I have the utmost respect for all currently serving service personnel. They do a difficult job, and deserve our support, though sadly that is sometimes lacking.

(The avatar is the crest of my last sea-going posting - you really don't want to see a picture of me in uniform!!!)

It appears you guys were probably in harms way during your service. I was lucky... working the jet engine field kept me safe. I admire those who were on the wrong end of any weapon doing their job.

DickO, There are no "safe" jobs in the military----just some that are less dangerous. I salute all who serve, have served, or may serve.

Even though I was in the Marines I was safe since there wasn't a war going on. I thought I might have been sent to Iran, when the hostages were taken, but nothing happened. So I certainly think differently between those like me who served, and those who served and were sent places for combat or peace keeping roles.

I was in Uncle Sam's Army, but I don't have any Pictures of those days

JeffR_ wrote:

Even though I was in the Marines I was safe since there wasn't a war going on. I thought I might have been sent to Iran, when the hostages were taken, but nothing happened. So I certainly think differently between those like me who served, and those who served and were sent places for combat or peace keeping roles.

Jeff, a wee bit like yourself. My service was during the 'cold war' and the world was at relative peace, compared to what the world is today.

I did have a exciting period whilst looking after the fish of the North Atlantic in the mid 70's. To say it was fun would be way off the mark. A more accurate statement would be I learned to control my sphincter whilst bumping into a few Icelandic craft!!!!!

All good stuff, enjoyed it, would do it all again - even today. But thats me.

Only got in harm's way once during my service, but it was enough.

Returning from the Far East on HMS Victorious in 1967, we were the last warship to transit the Suez canal northbound before the politicos around there closed it for a period.

We were then anchored off Aden while the natives had a bit of a disagreement, and some of them decided it was a good idea to come out in a little motorboat and machine-gun the ship.

Wooden boat/machine-gun versus 35k ton warship with crazy Royal Marines manning 20mm guns - no contest!!

Mind you, at 18 years old, it focuses your attention when the lead starts to fly, even if only briefly!

I feel somewhat out-classed; my only 'service' was as a Civilian Instructor in the Sea-Cadet Corps.
Still, I suppose someone has to do the teaching.

MikeO wrote:

I feel somewhat out-classed; my only 'service' was as a Civilian Instructor in the Sea-Cadet Corps.
Still, I suppose someone has to do the teaching.

Bleeding right Mike.

Nothing 'big' about being in the services. (Good fun sometimes.) Some of my mates have a phobia about not joining up, but they are engineers and bloody good ones too. I tell them that without their skills then we wouldn't have had the backup.

Everyone has a part to play in life. I couldn't find anything else when I was a lad. Teaching is a fine profession. Moulds the youths of tomorrow.

Mike,
I can't remember the full quote (bet someone can!) but part of it says "And if you can read this, thank a teacher".

As Doug says, a fine profession.

x

How many people think that Doug's older avatar, he looked like a younger Anthony Hopkins?

For the story behind the photograph this avatar was taken from: http://wp.me/p17AKX-52

Or here without the photos:

I’m not certain why, but every March 15th, I recall the warning given to Julius Caesar by the Soothsayer (via W. Shakespeare’s pen) to “Beware the Ides of March.” I was in high school when I first heard the phrase and - for some reason - this little statement (along with Caesar’s tragic expression of surprise, “Et tu, Brute?”) is embedded in my brain.

So, some of you came here for a little culture and that’s as little as it gets.

One more reason the Ides of March sticks in my brain...circumstances, some beyond my control, turned March 15th (1991 to be exact) into a major life event. It was on that day 21 years ago that I reenlisted in the U.S. Army for the last time, and (this is the icing on the cake) the reenlistment ceremony took place on top of a destroyed Republican Guard T-64 tank in the lovely countryside of Iraq.

I was the first soldier in the 1st Armored Division to reenlist in the desert, and my reenlistment documents were hand written. The folks in the photograph above (starting in the back) are (L to R): SSG Robert C. Wolf (holding U.S. flag), SPC Charles Snyder (holding 123d SB flag), 1LT Wm. Mark Hunthrop (officiating), SFC Dale Anton (reenlisting), SGT Jackson (holding HQ guidon), and SPC Robert Schneider (holding E Co. guidon). What a fine group of men; thanks for being willing to be a part of my reenlistment. I was more than pleased, honored in fact, to include you.

Cheers to you guys and best wishes to each of you. Thanks for making the Ides of March an even more memorable day for me. No cause for me to utter in desperation “Et tu, Uncle Sam?”

An aside here – Kim did not know I was reenlisting. I hadn’t consulted her and I don’t actually remember how I told her about the reenlistment. She didn’t leave me so I guess she agreed it was a good thing.

In the photo (L to R): SGT Jackson, 1LT. Hunthrop, and SFC Anton standing in front of the same photogenic and extremely destroyed T-64 tank. I’m holding my discharge and reenlistment in my left hand. Technically I was not in the Army on the 14th. The Iraqi desert is not as desirable an exotic location as you might think and there are many other locales I’d have rather been on my day off. On the bright side, there really are very few places where you can spend your day off driving a tracked vehicle around with total disregard for tearing up the ground and actually play soldier!

A little post reenlistment Bar-B-Que feast. Finding charcoal in the desert is not as easy as one might think. Luckily we had an abundance of rat traps and a dearth of rats. Rat traps have a wood base, and so, with a little creativity, we have a grill (and, no, those are not little rat carcasses on the grill!).

bigbird wrote:

Prince Charles with his flight ears ready to take off on a moment's notice.

I heard his call sign was "Wing Nut" !

Stickout ears never did Bing Crosby any harm or Clark Gable.

Dale, 15th March, what a day for you.

The date is quite significant to me in that it was the date I left the Royal Navy after twenty four years and six months. What a day.

Talk about hero to zero in a few hours!!!!

x

Waspie wrote:

...
The date is quite significant to me in that it was the date I left the Royal Navy after twenty four years and six months. What a day.
...

What a day indeed! Small world.

You held on a bit longer than I did, I went 20 years and 6 days. I had always envisoned being carried out, but as the world changed so did my feelings toward continuing to serve. I still have a good bit of sentiment for the men I served with and stay in touch with a few of them. And obviously I know and care for my son's mates. I'm impressed with the calibre of the young people serving, they are in the main a very noble bunch.

Departing the service is not easy when it has been such a factor in life. I understand the sensation of; Now what? Who am I now?

We'll raise a glass some day!