The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Legion Hall THANK YOU !

I just want to send out a sincere THANK YOU to all those men and women that are veterans or currently serving our Country. Many have given everything for this Country and are gone from our presence. Please remember them and know that our Freedom is never free. Our freedom always comes from the many who sacrifice and serve this great Country. I'm troubled very much by the decisions of many to stop standing for our National Anthem and our flag. i can't appreciate or watch a Professional sporting event today because of their display of disrespect that seems to be pushed as the normal thing for our times. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am not a veteran but I have the utmost respect for our Country and those that have served to keep us free ! I would stand to defend Freedom at a moments notice because i don't take anything we have in the USA for granted. GOD Bless All of You that have Given to this Great Nation to Protect and Preserve Our Freedom !

Sincerely,

Jim Christian

I and many others look at the people kneeling and laugh!! Colin Kapernick who started this thing, is half white half black and adopted and raised by two white parents... goes on to join the NFL and become a multi millionaire... yet he trashes America as a racist country every chance he gets now. He’s a millionaire victim... I don’t get it...

And now NBA finals viewership is done by something like 70%.... I don’t watch sports but the people who do.... don’t want to watch a political event with a side of basketball... the stands are empty and not just because of Covid...

Thanks for the original post, Jim.

Tony -- I've known too many men and women, all better human beings than I and some, even, who were related to me, who have been buried under that flag to be anything but insulted and enraged by those who would spit on the very Country that has enabled them to live such empty and frivolous lives that truly don't matter when compared to just about any other American who actually contributes to the common good. There is nothing funny, and everything seditious, about it.

There are a few pieces of music that are more than music to me, chief among them, of course, is my country's national anthem. But I will also respect other national anthems as well. I will stand in the position of attention with equal respect for my beloved Marines' Hymn and Navy Blue and Gold (the alma mater of the U.S. Naval Academy). I stand with equal respect and reverence for West Point's, as well (as USMA alums do in return). I guess you can see the common theme here ...

As for me, all I can do is quote someone else:

"The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps."

Gen. Alexander Vandegrift, USMC, 18th Commandant of the Marine Corps

And the bottom line -- there is no defense for those people. And there will be no support for them on *my* web site.

Years ago I was with a detachment training Cadets at West Point, I was on Guard Mount one evening at a training range near the lake there. At 22:30 Taps began playing, it drifted over that lake and just filled the night. I still get misty any time I hear Taps... I was proud to serve in both the Army (8 years) and the Air Force (27 years). I know everyone is entitled to there opinion, but I feel it's a slap in the face not to stand for our Flag and our Anthem.

Craig -- I have only been to West Point a couple of times (and they were a long time ago ...) It is truly a magnificent place in a truly beautiful location on the upper Hudson. I can only imagine what that taps must have been like.

My favorite memory, though, is my running mate for the one weekend I was there (exchange weekend), my host pointing out how the statue of George Patton faces the library ... "It's the only time he's ever seen it" was the explanation. Apparently, he wasn't such a great student ...



A salute to the Long Grey Line ... worthy brothers in arms.

Semper Fi, John