At precisely 11:11 am on Veterans Day (Nov. 11) the sun’s rays pass through the ellipses of the five Armed Services pillars to form a perfect solar spotlight over a mosaic of The Great Seal of the United States. Thank you to all veterans, today we honor you!
@Pastorfuzz and everyone else that served.
That’s a beautiful photo. My brother served in Desert Storm and unfortunately never made it home. This was him in Afghanistan in 1989
Thank you @KC111 that monument is so cool. It echos the great ancient structures built by our ancestors using light, timing, astronomy, math et al. And thank you for thinking of our vets and putting up this post. My dad served and I miss the stories he would tell me when I was a young girl. He also had albums of pictures that blew my little mind away.
Oh Lynda Marie, I am so sorry for your loss. I remember Desert Storm well and how people with loved ones there related this song to it. My dad was in the Airborne, too.
I’ve been a bit emotional today due to some things I had to do but nevertheless, emotions or not, I think humanity is finally becoming sick and tired of war on this planet. I mean REALLY sick of it, like we’ve HAD ENOUGH already. STOP killing our loved ones. STOP destroying everything in sight. We can’t even think about one war because another one starts somewhere else. It’s PURE INSANITY. …rant over
My father served our country for 41 years in the Air Force. He retired in 1992 and is now 81 years old. The stories he tells from the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War are sad, full of tragedies on all sides and the one statement he always ends with is “no one ever wins a war!” I admire my dad and all that he stands for, all the sacrifices he made for the betterment of his family and country. I am grateful that he is able to still be here and enjoy the sunset of his life. I am eternally grateful for those that gave their all to secure our freedoms. Thank you to all the veterans that have served our country!
@Lynda_Marie Doff of the cap to your brother. 
My shop is by the main route to a national cemetery and I often hear the rumble of the Patriot Guard motorcycle procession accompanying a veteran to his rest. I may have only been a F-15 crew chief back in the 80s, but when I hear that rumble, everything comes to a halt so I can step outside to pay my respects. 
He is such a handsome guy! Did he leave behind any family besides you and your parents? I am so sorry for your loss, and I thank him and all our vets for their sacrifice and service. Thank you for keeping his beautiful memory alive and for letting us know about him. God Bless you. 
I agree, weakness from leaders promotes enemies aggression, so I am not surprised at these outbreaks of war. My father and brother both served and I am grateful for their stories, too.
I completely agree, however, I don’t think it’ll get better, unless we make our voices heard
Thank you so much. Desert Storm was such a waste. He’d send me cassette tapes instead of writing a letter, he’d record while on watch, the noise in the background was eerie, it changed him. He was also psychological operations and that definitely changed who he was as a human. The propaganda flyers they’d drop in the air while jumping, were horrible. I still have some he sent me. It was just my parents, and me and some cousins we aren’t close to.
Thank you, and thank you for your service!
I’ll cry if I listen to this song, I know it well. I definitely can’t hear taps anymore either. Thank you to for dad for his service.
I went to an accredited USAF JROTC high school(boarding) growing up. As the head bugler, many weekends I’d get picked up wearing my full dress blues and spit shined shoes to play taps at military funerals. An air force car would pick me up, head straight to the burial, play taps and right back after the flag folding. Most got 21 gun salutes, and there was the odd flyover. Hearing taps still chokes me up.
Along with many of the more recent wars.
I completely agree with you, but I didn’t want to bring this up and diminish your brother’s servitude. I understand that many felt the need to protect our homeland after 9/11, but it ended up being lives sacrificed for oil.
I thought you were Canadian? I feel the same way when I hear taps or our anthem.
Thank you for everything you’ve done. It’s must have felt like an honor to escort the fallen to their resting place. My brother got a 21 gun salute. I have the shells in my purse. I carry them everyday along with his and my dad’s tags.
Truth spoken by the only ones would know. I thank your dad for his service.
I feel badly now that I posted that. Sorry, Lynda, for stirring memories.
You are all most welcome. It was a tough job but I managed to entertain the Germans with the Eighth Army Band for two years. I had to drink way too many beers and have too many wonderful meals during my tour. All part of the job. If it hadn’t been for the psychos in our gooberment I would have made it a career. But they just could never stop getting into fights with other gooberments and sending my friends off to be killed. Just not something I believed in.
Oh no, don’t feel bad. I just meant t there’s some things that make me teary eyed. I’m not sad anymore about it. It was so long ago, that I just have the memories left, which is what I think about.
