Tag Archives: America

Current Events

Social Security Waste & Fraud

10 Comments

You really cannot make this stuff up.  This report claims that this problem was discovered ten years ago and still has not been fixed. I can’t even begin to estimate how much money was and is still being paid to dead people. Someone is getting the checks. I wonder if the SSA knows whether the checks are cashed or not; probably not, civil service folks don’t want to bother with that. This seems to me to be something that could be easily fixed. Obviously,Americans are not reporting to the SSA when someone dies. OMG

Elon Musk’s DOGE team has unearthed jaw-dropping irregularity from the U.S. Social Security database.

The numbers are truly mind-boggling: over 25 million Americans registered aged 100 and older, with some purportedly older than the U.S. Constitution itself.

Late Sunday night, Musk tweeted a staggering claim accompanied by a table of ages, suggesting that the Social Security Administration might be paying out benefits to “vampires.”

“According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the ‘death’ field set to FALSE. Maybe Twilight is real, and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk quipped.

The table Musk provided shows:

  • Age 0-9: 38,825,456
  • Age 10-19: 44,326,480
  • Age 20-29: 47,995,478
  • Age 30-39: 52,106,915
  • Age 40-49: 47,626,581
  • Age 50-59: 45,740,805
  • Age 60-69: 46,381,281
  • Age 70-79: 33,404,412
  • Age 80-89: 15,165,127
  • Age 90-99: 6,054,154
  • Age 100-109: 4,734,407
  • Age 110-119: 3,627,007
  • Age 120-129: 3,472,849
  • Age 130-139: 3,936,311
  • Age 140-149: 3,542,044
  • Age 150-159: 1,345,083
  • Age 160-169: 121,807
  • Age 170-179: 6,087
  • Age 180-189: 695
  • Age 190-199: 448
  • Age 200-209: 879
  • Age 210-219: 866
  • Age 220-229: 1,039
  • Age 240-249: 1
  • Age 360-369: 1

This information released by Musk aligns with the audit conducted by the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General (SSA OIG) in 2015.

According to the 2023 report:

In 2015, we reported that SSA had not established controls to annotate death information on the Numident records of numberholders who exceeded maximum reasonable life expectancies of age 112 or older and were likely deceased.

At the time, only 35 known living individuals worldwide were age 112 or older, however, SSA’s Numident included 6.5 million numberholders age 112 or older whose record did not contain death information.

Therefore, the numberholders’ information did not appear in the full DMF. We recommended SSA add death information to approximately 1.5 million Numident records where the numberholders’ death information appeared in SSA payment records.

We also recommended SSA determine whether it could efficiently correct the approximately 5 million remaining records. SSA agreed to explore the legal and technical feasibility, as well as the cost, to establish an automated process to update the millions of Numident records for individuals who appeared to be alive and age 112 or older, but ultimately decided not to update these records.

In response to our 2015 report, SSA considered multiple options, including adding presumed death information to these Numident records. SSA ultimately decided not to proceed because the “. . . options would be costly to implement, would be of little benefit to the agency, would largely duplicate information already available to data exchange consumers and would create cost for the states and other data exchange partners.”

SSA also believed a regulation would be required to allow it to add death information to these records, and adding presumed death information to the Numident would increase the risk of inadvertent release of living individuals’ personal information in the DMF.

We note that, as of January 2023, the full DMF included death information on approximately 137 million deceased numberholders. Over 18 million missing death records represents more than 10 percent of the records in the full DMF.

Therefore, the death information SSA currently provides Federal benefit-paying agencies–and will begin providing to the Department of the Treasury’s Do Not Pay initiative in December 2023–to help prevent improper payments to deceased individuals, omit information for more than 1 of every 10 deceased numberholders.

As of 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that approximately 101,000 Americans are aged 100 and older, representing about 0.03% of the total U.S. population, according to the Pew Research Center.

Individuals aged 110 and above are referred to as supercentenarians, a subgroup that is exceedingly rare. As of February 2025, the Gerontology Research Group reported that 136 Americans belong to this category.

Currently, the oldest living American is Naomi Whitehead, born on September 26, 1910, in Georgia, making her 114 years old. The longest-lived person in U.S. history is Sarah Knauss, who lived to be 119 years and 97 days, passing away on December 30, 1999.

For years, conservatives have sounded the alarm on government waste, fraud, and abuse—particularly within entitlement programs.

The Social Security Administration (SSA), riddled with inefficiencies, appears to have an entire army of ghost beneficiaries cashing in taxpayer-funded benefits.

Drive on Elon!!!!

Current Events

Treason?

12 Comments

Having spent half of an Okinawan 13-month tour at Camp Courtney as the S-3/S/4 of HQ Bn, 3rd MARDIV, so I know the view Greg talks about very well, and yes the legend is true. Not just soldiers, but many civilians as well took advantage of the view to die for.

But then I digress and must at agree wholeheartedly with Greg about the POS of whom he writes. He was one of Trump’s mistakes during his first tour. He should have listened to Mattis and Dunford, but now he can make amends. Charge the POS for treason!

 

 

A General’s Consensus                                                    By: Greg Maresca

Legend said the cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Okinawa, Japan’s Camp Courtney, the headquarters of the commanding general of the Third Marine Division, was where Japanese soldiers committed harakiri rather than be taken prisoner during World War II.

You could say the view was to die for.

It was also my introduction to the palatial digs of MajGen. Steven Olmstead, as the food delivery detail I was assigned to made it obvious this wasn’t your typical stopover on mess duty.

Fast-forward to December 2018 when President Donald Trump nominated Gen. Mark Milley for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCOS), against the wishes of Secretary of Defense and former Marine Gen. James Mattis and then-JCOS chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford. Milley would serve as chairman from 2019 to 2023 under Presidents Trump and Biden.

Mattis and Dunford were vindicated when in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s book, “Peril,” revealed how Milley called Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the presidential election and again on Jan. 8, 2021, two days after Trump supporters marched on the U.S. Capitol.

Milley stated, “General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable, and everything is going to be OK. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you. General Li, you and I have known each other for five years. If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.”

This is not treason?

Sen. Marco Rubio responded in a letter to President Biden that was obviously ignored.

“I do not need to tell of you the dangers posed by senior military officers leaking classified information on U.S. military operations, but I will underscore that such subversion undermines the President’s ability to negotiate and leverage one of this nation’s instruments of national power in his interactions with foreign nations.”

In Woodward’s book: “War,” Milley declared Trump was the “most dangerous person ever” and a “fascist to the core.” Such statements violate Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by slandering the commander-in-chief.

When questioned about Woodward’s books, Milley claimed he hadn’t read any of them.

Who believes that?

Such candor defies credulity.

Perjury anyone?

Moreover, Milley made himself a part of the chain of command for January 6th and issued an order to the commander of the D.C. National Guard that he was in charge. Milley also assessed the Afghan army believing it capable to stand on their own and that Ukraine would fall in 72 hours. Milley was not shy in defending the teaching at West Point of Marxist-based Critical Race Theory, saying, “I want to understand white rage and I’m white,” at a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

Milley’s treason, disloyalty and incompetence were inexcusable.

During the last four years, accountability in the Defense Department has been MIA.

Before leaving office, President Joe Biden pardoned Milley.

Since then, Hegseth ordered the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate Milley to determine if he “undermined the chain of command during President Trump’s first term.”

Many generals are chairborne desk jockeys concerned more with politics than with military preparedness. Milley is another in a long line of flag officers who carried water for the Military Industrial Complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about.

Like presidents, generals are not all created equal, where only a few leave a historical footprint, while most just fade away – Douglas MacArthur notwithstanding.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has revoked Milley’s security detail and suspended his security clearance while exiling his two portraits from the Pentagon.

If justice is to be served, Milley should be court martialed for treason having betrayed allegiance to the United States by giving aid and comfort to a foreign power in a state in open hostility with us.

A compromised general was pardoned by an equally compromised president.

Treason is the one exception to a presidential pardon. The act of pardoning someone who committed treason is also treason.

Milley most likely never took in the view at the general’s mess at Camp Courtney but being a DEI warrior, I am sure he is familiar with how any Asian culture would handle his situation having only himself to blame.

 

Recent Posts

The Silent Majority

2 Comments

I might ruffle some feathers with this one, but so be it.  

Before you venture into this blog post, I’d like to say a few words, and I will intervene in places in the post in red! If you’ve not read my book, I will not bore with any details or repeat what is in Chapter 28 titled the same as this post. I’m amazed at how foolish the so-called silent majority is today and has been for most of my adult life. They are a class of do-nothings who sit around and post comments on websites like the one that featured the below article. Remember the saying about what talks and what walks? Well, your posts mean nothing; no one of consequence reads your vents.   You are merely playing the “silent majority” game, which accomplishes squat. 

I remember reading a notation on the wall above a urinal many years ago that read: People who write these words of wit, wrap their sh** in tiny balls and people who read these words on walls, eat these tiny balls of sh**.”  Enjoy your meal folks, because that is, in essence, exactly what you are doing.

I am an Economist by education. In Econ 101, I learned the pricing of a product (micro-Economics). Money is everything, it is paramount to everything. Companies are in business to make money. If you truly want to influence something, follow the money then take decisive action. Who sponsors NFL games? Take notes on who they are and THAT’S where you vent your frustration. Instead of posting your vents on a blog, go to the sponsors website, tell them you have stopped  buying their product. Post it on FB, use the social media to ask for cooperation.

Some time ago while flipping through the channels, I noted my favorite financial company, one I have been with for over 43 years advertising on this left-wing news program. I wrote them a letter threatening to transfer all my assets from their company. I posted my letter on FB, then contacted the 100’s of like-minded, fellow military-types in my address book asking them to please speak out. They did and that company no longer advertises on that station. IT WORKED!

This article talks about the outrageous things happening within the NFL, and I’m not just talking about those millionaire pieces of garbage disrespecting the flag I served for nearly 36 years. The NFL is all about money, even if you are not a fan, which I no longer am, you are being taken to the cleaners by everything they have their hands in from stadium building to $9.00 beers.

We the people can change that, but the silent majority will never accomplish squat, nor will your posted comments on websites.

Today’s headlines tell me that Kansas City Chiefs’ player Marcus Peters sat out the National Anthem during last night’s NFL opener. I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t watching.

As consumers in America, we have a freedom to choose the products we purchase with the money we keep from our hard work after our government masters take their half. With that money, we buy the things we need and enjoy. It’s a simple concept; I don’t need or enjoy the NFL, so I do not participate in its offerings. I don’t go to games, I don’t watch them on television or the internet, and I don’t purchase NFL or player paraphernalia. I do this for a variety of reasons:

  1. It may be a small handful of players opposing their country’s anthem, but as long as it is accepted by the owners and coaches, (and the NFL) then they have lost me as a viewer. Yes, in the U.S.A. you have the freedom to express your views however ridiculous they may be. I, too, have a right to express my disapproval of your views through my pocketbook.The NFL is a business that sells a product. I happen to now find that product unattractive, overpriced, and out of style – so I refuse to buy it.
  2. The NFL has immersed itself in the hip-hop culture. Yes, I know this automatically makes me a racist according to the Left, but I simply don’t like the hip-hop culture and the things it represents that have nothing to do with skin color. I don’t approve of a culture whose music refers to women as “b**ches” and “h*s”, glorifies drug usage and violence, and encourages an illicit lifestyle. Plus, I don’t like the clothing. Pull up your pants, you look like an idiot. When this type of “music” blares out over the sound system in the stadium, as it did when I attended my last NFL game, I’m gone.
  3. It’s a game. As I age, certain things become more valuable to me. Time is a resource and I refuse to give it up to something I don’t enjoy. I do still attend some college games and cheer for my alma mater, so it’s not the game I don’t enjoy; rather, it’s the commercialization and the culture. At the last professional football game I attended, I looked around at the people spending $9.00 for a beer wearing their $90 team jersey, and decided I didn’t want to be one of them. I can still enjoy the game by watching my local high school team. I can even walk onto the field afterwards and make a young person feel good by congratulating them on a good game, great tackle, or exceptional run.
  4. The anthem. I served my country for six years, and the National Anthem brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it (when it’s done with class, not some hip-hopper adding his/her garbage to a beautiful song). Every. Time. It represents the collective sacrifice of my friends and colleagues and everyone who went before us. It’s the same flag that was draped over my former teammate’s coffin after being killed in Afghanistan. It’s personal to me, very personal. To sit it out, talk during it, raise your fist, or any other form of disrespect is unacceptable to me. Period. I’m simply not willing to look beyond that. There is no pass on this one. If you can’t stand still and respect the flag of this great nation and everything for which it stands, then you and everyone associated with you (advertisers) isn’t getting one dime from me. When Chiefs fans replace the last word of the anthem with the word “Chiefs” I don’t find it cute or excuse the behavior. It’s disrespectful to the millions of brave souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that these slobs could swill their $9 beers and scream at players on a Sunday afternoon. It’s inappropriate, disrespectful and I’m not going to participate.
    One aside on this topic: If I understand the argument, those who sit out the anthem think America is a racist country and the national anthem somehow represents the idea that all cops are racists. Huh? Seriously, your argument is just dumb and doesn’t even deserve a response. I would not disagree with those who would suggest that only a handful of players in the NFL hate America and therefore the rest shouldn’t be punished for that reason alone just like all cops are not racists. To that argument, reference items 1-3, 5, 6. Additionally, we are judged by the company we keep. You want to have an America hater on your team? Then I chose not to support you.
  5. We all have our likes and dislikes, and I simply dislike the culture that has become sports today. Geez, how much can we talk about and “analyze” a game? Admittedly, I pay attention to politics as much as a sports junkie watches games, but what politicians do affects my life. What’s going on in North Korea matters much more than whether or not Tom Brady completed 50% of his passes. If North Korea lobs over a nuke, you can kiss your sports goodbye, among other things.
  6. Taxpayer subsidized stadiums. A significant number of sports stadiums are subsidized or are built with taxpayer dollars. Does the taxpayer get to park for free? Do they receive free admission to the game? Are they allowed to use the locker room or weight room during the week? Do they get a free “I helped pay for this stadium” t-shirt? Of course not. Government should not participate in local business (Econ 102) other than by providing an environment where business thrives. While I commend the shrewd business owner who increases his wealth from government handouts, I do not approve of the practice and refuse to participate in something that encourages it.

So, Colin Kaepernick, Marcus Peters and every other flag protesting twit, this American is done with the likes of you. And, I’m not alone. Welcome to the unemployment line coming soon to your future.

How about a new look at the outlandish contracts offered to some of these scum. Make salaries performance-based. I’ve heard the story of last week, sorry I didn’t watch it.  Chicago down by  6, on the Falcons 5 yard line, 1st and goal and three receivers dropped or completely missed passes. Their millionaires for Pete’s sake, they deserve multi-million dollar contracts? Not if salaries were performance-based, much like everyone else’s.

Wake up Silent Majority and do something other than write your words of wit on the blogs, or to your elected criminal. I have and continue to do so.

Originally posted 2017-09-17 14:53:11.

Current Events, videos

The New USMC

4 Comments

While I have pretty much remained silent about CMC Berger’s FD 2030, there has been and continues to be a plethora of verbiage about it. And as far as I have been able to ascertain none of it has been good. I reckon I considered it a long gone conclusion with the new CMC simply carrying on his predecessor’s image of the new Corps. In nine days the world is going to change, make no mistake about that; the proverbial shit will hit the fan globally, not just here in the US. Our mainstream nerds will have so much to talk about it isn’t even funny. I will start watching the news again, except it will be either CNN or that ridiculous MSNBC. I can’t wait to hear their spins.

But I digress. FD 2030 is a disaster; our Corps is not the same and there is some serious doubt that it never will again be America’s 911 Force. The divestitures were HUGE, so much so that anyone who thinks it can still respond to an urgent crisis somewhere in the world is living under a rock. Do you actually know what all was given up?

Here is an article written by Captain Dale Dye, USMC (Ret). In case you don’t know of him, once he retired he became a favorite consultant in Hollywood for any producer who wanted to show or talk about Marines. In fact, he convinced producer Oliver Stone to let him put the principal actors—including Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, and Forest Whitaker—through an immersive 30-day military-style training regimen before the filming of Platoon. He limited how much food and water they received; when the actors slept, he fired cartridge blanks to keep them awake. Dale who had a small role in the movie as Captain Harris, also wrote the novelization based on Stone’s screenplay.

Here, in his usual uncensored style, is a good recount of everything that has happened since Berger’s stroke of his pen behind closed doors.

Marine Swords Beaten into Puny Plowshares

Not likely anyone in authority will be influenced by a long-retired Mustang bitching about the state of today’s Marine Corps, but I feel compelled to lob a few grenades at Force Design 2030. That’s the radical restructuring of the Corps ordered by former Commandant General David Berger in a sleazy backroom deal that demanded all the sycophants involved sign non-disclosure agreements. Since it was announced three years ago, the revamping of Marine missions, tactics, and techniques has created a defecation deluge from opponents who believe—as I do—that the whole thing has a lot in common with a jet engine. It sucks and blows.

Before I get into the weeds here, let me say a thing or two about the general mission and offensive ethos of the United States Marine Corps. Simply stated, the Corps is—or was—always designed to be the country’s 911 force, most ready to fight when the nation is least ready. It’s meant to be the crash crew in crisis response anyplace and anytime around the world. The key asset for global combatant commanders was a Marine Corps air-ground team (MAGTF) always forward deployed—usually aboard Navy amphibs—trained, equipped, and instantly ready to handle any mission in the full range of military operations.

For some reason known only to General Berger and his clones, that wasn’t good enough for a force facing China in the Western Pacific as the perceived priority threat. Rather than tweak weapons, training, and positioning to meet that challenge as Marines typically do, they decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater and ordered a tactical shift to defense with primary focus on small teams of missile-armed Marines who would jump from island to island in efforts to damage or deter a growing Chinese blue-water fleet in the event of a shooting war in the Western Pacific. The Navy—and certainly the Army—currently has a plethora of missiles capable of sinking ships. Here’s a hint. If you want to avoid redundancy arguments, don’t try to do something another service already does and probably does it better than you can.

Not much thought—if any—was given to moving these small vulnerable Marine detachments, much less resupplying and otherwise supporting them under the ever vigilant eyes of Chinese radars, satellites, and cyber capture networks. And apparently never mind if the sovereign nations that claim the territory Marines would need to launch their ship-killer missiles want no part of a super-power fight. What if—as entirely likely—those sovereign nations deny the Marines those operational bases? I’ll wait while someone thinks that through.

Under this misbegotten concept, the US Navy has a huge vote as the provider of small, fast amphibious ships needed to move Marines. And they voted no. Not only do we have insufficient gator freighters in our current fleet, but the Navy has no apparent plans to produce the smaller inter-island transports called for under FD 2030.

Screwing around with the Marine’s central mission—locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver—threatens to turn the US Marine Corps into a single-mission niche outfit ready to die in place on remote islands and unready to handle crises anywhere else. It puts Marines in a defensive posture when our time-tested ethos has always been the offense, forward deployed and eager to fight any enemy. It’s that attitude that used to permeate Marine ranks and kept us supplied with avid young recruits. Seems to me given the puny recruiting numbers we’re seeing from all the other services, the Marine Corps can ill-afford to sacrifice this aspect of their gung-ho, first-to-fight reputation.

In order to twist itself around this maypole of new war fighting concepts, General Berger cooked the books in what he called “divest to invest” which basically amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul as my Dad used to call false-economy measures. That little bookkeeping maneuver made some $16 billion available which the new model planners spent on long-range missile batteries, drones, and other high-tech goodies to equip what are now proudly called Marine Littoral Regiments. Fine if all future fights are in littoral areas of the world but history begs us not to bank on that.

Most stunning in an outfit that focuses on the combat power of basic infantry, FD 2030 orders a reduction of three full battalions from the point of the Marine Corps bayonet, or a loss of 14 percent of combat strength. If that wasn’t dumb enough in formations that face inevitable casualties in ground combat, the end-strength for a Marine infantry battalion has been reduced by 200 Marines across the board which translates to a loss of 4,200 frontline war fighters. Marine Corps Reserves won’t be there to fill in the gaps. The reserves lost two full infantry battalions under the FD 2030 axe.

None of this seemed to bother force designers all that much as they also eliminated all—that’s correct all—Marine Corps tanks. So much for lessons learned in Ukraine or the Middle East. Supporters say if the Marines need tanks in a future fight, the US Army will provide them. That’s unlikely to be any kind of high priority for an Army outfit that might well be engaged in its own fight. And even if they were willing to cough up a platoon or two of Abrams, it would likely be at the end of a lengthy and complicated pipeline. Marines need tanks at hand, not in some remote Army motor pool.

Which brings me kicking and screaming to the matter of fire support for what’s left of Marine Corps maneuver battalions in the next fight. God help the grunt commander who needs quick and accurate artillery fire support, a reliable staple of infantry combat in modern times. He might not get it as FD 2030 cut a full 16 battalions of cannon artillery for a firepower reduction of a whopping 76 percent. Savings were spent to stand up 14 rocket artillery battalions which is OK if you’re shooting over the horizon at Chinese ships, but not worth a damn to a grunt outfit pinned down and in need of rapid steel on target at close ranges in crappy weather. We will hopefully live to regret this emasculation of versatile, reliable tube artillery. If you have any doubts about the utility of cannons and howitzers on the modern battlefield, let me direct your attention to the Ukraine where artillery on both sides is proving to be a deciding factor.

Another dumb-ass divestiture under FD 2030 came in Marine Corps aviation. One of the most brilliant assets of forward-deployed Marine units is that they come to the fight carrying their own air support. Both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aviation was quickly available to a MAGTF commander who could call it up and then down on an enemy without having to ask the Air Force or compete with other battlefield priorities. Not so simple these days.

FD 2030 cut almost 30 percent of tactical and logistical aviation support. Offensive aviation cuts included at least two of seven light attack helicopter squadrons which will be sorely missed by grunts on the ground who always appreciate the quickly available support of helicopter gunships. Also eliminated were three of the current 17 Osprey tilt-rotor squadrons and three of eight heavy-lift helicopter units. With the Corps struggling to field a reliable sea-shore connector—the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle is still not approved for deployment—now seems like a hell of a time to be cutting aviation logistic and transportation support.

I could go on here about the elimination of engineer support units such as bridging and breeching units that are always a valuable and versatile piece of the battlefield toolbox, but my morale might not survive it. What’s keeping me afloat as an old but loyal believer in the spirit and inherent value of the Corps, is the controversy at very high and influential levels that surrounds the changes mandated by FD 2030. Wiser heads than mine are arguing for a return to sanity. It may take some long and bloody time to correct our course, but I believe we will do just that.

In the end active-duty Marines, veterans, fans, and friends of the Corps will demand it. As General Brute Krulak wisely said back in 1957, “America does not need a Marine Corps. It wants one.” And the one it wants is not the one that’s being shaped by Force Design 2030.

I was fortunate enough to meet Dale while I was at Marine Barracks, NAS, Lemoore CA. It was during an attempt to have Brian Dennehy as our guest for a birthday ball. Quite an impressive guy to represent our Corps to Hollywood.

Current Events

“Thank You for Your Service”

6 Comments

Really? Do you truly mean those words, or are they something that makes you feel good about your lack of it? I have often wondered about that because it seems so common today like Good Morning or Good Afternoon. Here is an article that my favorite contributor Marine Greg Maresca, had published in the American Spectator. I think it is a fitting article for today as it’s Veterans Day, or for those who remember when it was Armistice Day. Enjoy, and if you are a Vet, think about Greg’s recommendation. I love it!

When I first stepped onto the college quad, I was just another young man, making his way, surveying the lay of the land. For me, however, there were a few personal firsts playing out in real time to which none of those aspiring collegians were privy.

For one, I was no longer getting a weekly haircut, nor was any razor getting acquainted with my face on a daily basis. I no longer used shower shoes, waited in line to eat out of a can, or pitched a tent to sleep in a bag. “The slide into civilian slime,” as Marine Corps GySgt. Cooley, a decorated Vietnam veteran, would lament, was well underway. Perhaps that is why Gunny assigned me to the Civilian Readjustment class — twice.

In one of my first collegiate classes, everyone took a turn at the professor’s lectern, and we were all instructed to introduce ourselves with a brief biography, explaining what brought us to university. As the class was dismissed, the professor asked to speak with me. In no uncertain terms he wanted me to know that, during the Vietnam years, protests on campus occurred, and veterans were not well received by some.

Growing up, I witnessed the domestic upheaval that was endured by these veterans, many of whom were the senior NCOs and field grade officers I served with. There was even a smattering of Korean War veterans among them. Sensing the opportunity to support and defend these men who mentored me, I did it without trepidation and with satisfaction.

This was before the days when the ubiquitous expression “Thank you for your service” became the new catchphrase echoing throughout our lexicon, especially around Veterans Day. For some, specifically those Korean and Vietnam veterans, the “thanks” and “welcome home” were much too long in coming. Whether or not these words bestowed upon them are sincere, the fact is that plenty never got a chance to hear such benign salutations.

Or is it just something we say, like “Happy Thanksgiving” and “Merry Christmas,” to fill an uncomfortable void that often comes across as disingenuous?

This seemingly quasi-support perhaps stems from the fact that most have never served, even though America had, until recently, been at war for nearly two decades. More than 2 million served in Iraq and Afghanistan following 9/11. That seems like a lot, but, categorically, they represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.

Americans’ experience of war today happens as they are surrounded by the comforts of home. That battle against evil and freedom-hating rogues is fought compliments of a computer video screen and mouse, where the terror, blood, and stench of death is nonexistent.

“Thank you for your service.”

Really?

If you truly mean what you say, how about making your gratitude count the next time you vote? For once, stop casting your ballot for Marxists who take their liberties for granted, while despising this country that I served, and you chose not to, a nation that seemingly does not exist today.

How about that — or are you offended?

Freedom’s steep and never-ending price tag is disproportionally paid, time and again, by veterans, and it always has been that way, even after 1973 when Congress put the draft to rest. If attempting to assuage your draft-deferment guilt with your yearly perfunctory “thank you for your service” makes you feel better — then have at it.

After all, it’s a free country, right?

There is one hero of the Iraq War, who had the humility and grace to respond in kind, who was nothing short of perfection. You won’t find this gentleman on Facebook or any other narcissistic social media outlet extolling his every move as some validation of purpose. He does not wear a hat, shirt, or jacket to distinguish who he is because his mere presence and the way he carries himself more than suffices.

While on patrol in Iraq, his face and hands were mutilated by an improvised explosive device. Maimed for life, he looked the person dead in the eye, saying, “The best way you can thank any of us for our service is to make America a nation worth dying for, again.”

Amen.

Greg Maresca is a longtime Sample News Group columnist and a Marine Corps veteran living in Flyover, Pennsylvania. 

Wow, was that powerful or what?That is a great response to those common words of “Thank you for your service” (because I didn’t). Thank you so much for this Greg!! And Semper Fi, Brother.

Originally posted 2023-11-11 10:24:26.