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So, what does supporting the troops mean to you? No descriptions or explanations, I'm leaving this wide open, as it should be. Please be respectful of others when replying, thank you.

thanks for all the support it doese not go unoticed thank you

from the soldier in IRAQ

I agree scooby I agree

ScoobyDoo says ...

People are under the assumption that it's the warrior who wants the war.

Could it be due to some of our Heros volunteering?

I had a cousin wh was KIA in Vietnam. I wanted to get to know more on who he was. i had found out from someone who worked side by side with him (both being an RTO). I was told that my cousin was ferless and that he was one who could always be counted on. He did his plus helped others with their dutys. He even volunteered for a dangerous nigth watch which i was told NOONE did.

My cousin also  met a man in bootcamp that also was Airborne. They became close buds and planned on getting together after the war. This bud is now an auithor and has mentioned my cousin in one of his books Eye of the Eagle.

How do i support or Troops?

I pass on those chain emails that i normally wont. If i see a miltary persn in public i walk up and just say Thank You. (I remember the 1st guy i id that too and the look on his fce was priceless.) I dont think anyone has ever Thanked Him cause i seen the shock and appreciation in his eyes.

I prayer for our soldiers and I'm not a very religious person but they may be so i prayer to their God.(Not an Atheist)

I try to donate regularly to the disalbed Vets and any other that has to do with helping our soldiers.

So for those who are here that were/are or will be in our military THANK YOU!

Nice post peacebe

Throughout the history of the United States it citizens, both men and women, have heard the call when our nation's survival and the freedoms enshrined in the constitution and other founding documents of our country have been threatened.   I come from a family with a long tradition of military service.  My direct ancestors came over on the Mayflower and from that day we have served this nation in its times of need.  The Mayflower Compact was one of the seminal documents that helped give rise to this nation of freemen and women.

In defense of the principles of that compact, and the ensuing founding documents of this nation, my family and its members, old and new imigrants, have fought in every war this nation has been involved in.  From the battlefields of the revolution, the civil war, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on terror, members of my family have walked, shed blood and died on these fields.  We did so out of love of this nation and for the principles enshrined in those historic documents that gave rise to this nation of free men and women. 

After each war our family members came home, those who did not pay the ultimate price and could not be found, and reentered civil society.  All bore scars both physical and psychological from those wars.  In the days before we as a nation found the goodness to aid our veterans, they did without federal assistance.  Despite all of this, each succeding generation of my family sent forth its members when asked by this nation.  We did not expect payment for our pain and suffering but rather took pride that we helped preserve this bastion of hope and freedom for all mankind.  

I have, in my study, my great great great grandfather's pension papers from the civil war.  He fought on foot throughout the war and walked his way across its great battlefields to watch Lee surrender.  When he came home and could not work his farm, his family forced him to put in for a civil war pension.  Wounded three times on the battlefields of the civil, he patched up and sent to the front again and again from makeshift field hospitals.  He survived the rigors of those blood stained battlefields and lived to watch the end to our bloodiest war.  I note with some sadness that upon reviewing his pension papers that the federal government paid more to bury him then it paid him in pension monies.

I also recall my grandfather who served in WWII and fought his way accross France to the outskirts of Berlin and the Elb river.  He was an artillery man.  He loved to sit on the porch during thunderstorms because it reminded him of the thunder of the guns.  He also cried in his sleep because of what he saw as the war ended and the death camps were uncovered.  He had the unfortunate experience of visiting Bergen Belson after its liberation by the UK in WWII.  Of all the death he saw, both during the Battle of the Bulge and subsequent campaigns, he was haunted until his death by the sights he saw there.  He lived a long time and died in a VA hospital.  Like my ancestor from the civil war, the government paid more to bury him then to care for him while he was alive.  Despite this he was forever proud of his service and died knowing he had faced the forces of darkness on the battlefields of Europe and seen the forces of evil vanquished.

For me when I hear the term supporting our troops I think of my family and the its efforts to heal those of its members scared by war.  What we must remember with regards to this subject is that while at the end of the day we can debate and disagree with those that sent our men and women to war, they themselves went because of their love of this nation and the freedoms it bestowed upon them.  Given this it is our obligation to support them when they return home and help them reenter our society.  Aiding those who bear the scars of war, and caring for those families whose loved ones will never return home, is a moral obligation that we must bear if we are to continue to survive as a free people.

As for me.  I, and my wife, have too, served this nation in the flaming crucible of war or the icy embrace of the Cold War.  We both know war's horrors well.  Like many of my ancestors I too carry scars and memories that will never fade.  Like them I have with the aid of my family, reentered civil society and put down the weapons of war.  From time to time I hear echoes as did many other members of my family of old battlefields in far off lands and the thunder of the guns which oddley seem to call me back to them on occasion.  Both I and my wife will live our lives out as common folk earning our living from our labor and do not expect much from the federal government.  I expect, like most other members of our family, that the government will pay more to bury us than to care for us while we live.  However, despite this we stand proud of our service and will, when the time comes, pass with the knowledge that we too faced the forces of darkness. When we stood there in Germany and watched the Berlin Wall fall, knew that we had helped do our part to defeat the forces of evil facing our generation.  In us the cycle that has repeated itself from generation to generations once again manefested itself. 

Each generation must face its own forces of darkness, some here at home and some in far off lands under foreign skys.  When called our American families send forth their members to face these evil legions.  We do so because we know few other people have the courage or willingness to pay the price to defeat such forces.  In these current wars, our family members fight a foe unlike those we have faced before.  One who abides by no rules and seeks to kill the innocent.  Due to the nature of this type of conflict many come home with scars that will be a long time fading.  As in each cycle will come the time for us to open or hearts to these men and women and aid them in reentering civil society.  I hope and pray that this time, we will provide them services equal to the task and demands we asked them to accomplish and endure.  

May God keep and protect this nation of the people by the people for the people. 

The support is what gets us through these long deployements I am on my 15 month rotation and will be returning back to germany at the end of NOV early december and then sent out to FT Stewart and the 3rd Infantry Division and will most likley return sometime next year to either IRAQ or Afghanisstan. But that is what  war is like you come home to train to go back out again. Thank you for all the support

ScoobyDoo,

I've been to that monument in Gettysburg.  That is a huge memorial to those who died in battle.  Very brave.  Especially then where the bullets caused as much damage if not more.  I've seen pictures of what it looked like after some got shot with those miniballs.  Not a pretty sight.   Your great, great, great grandfather must have really been someone whom his family could have been proud of.  Perhaps he knew the 72 year ol man from town with his musket fighting along with the troops.  I think that must be the biggest monument there.

I still get moved when I read "Fourscore and seven years ago ..." at the Lincoln monument at the cemetary.   God bless everyone who fights for this country.

In terms of supporting the troops returning from the wars, some specific recomendations I have are as follows:

1.  Expanded medical coverage for those suffering from PTSD induced psychological trauma.  In specfic veterans suffering from PTSD need more access to psychological services from the civilian sector.  The VA's VET centers are good but at present do not have the resources to adequately meet the needs of all service members.  Their services should be supplemented by funding for treatment by civilian providers for those that, for what ever reason, can not have their needs met at the VET Center or VA Hospital.

2.  Development of alternative sentencing programs for veterans suffering from PTSD induced pyschological disorders who commit crimes.  This would not excuse their behavior but open a door for mandated treatment rather than compounding the problem by putting them in a worse situation by comiting them to prison.

3.  Expansion of the VA's adaptive housing program for disabled veteran's and increasing the amount of money allocated for the program.  This would be coupled to increased payments for service connected disabilities.

4.  Increasing the ease of hiring disabled veterans by making it a priority within the federal government to actively target such people for open positions.

5.  Expanding the VOCREHAB program to include online universities greatly assisting disabled veterans in acquiring certifications and degrees in preparation for post military careers.

I offer the above as some examples of things that could be done to assist veterans with the transition back to civilian life.  I have focused on disabled veterans as they are the ones most in need, but recognize that all veterans need assistance.

For those who have put their lives on the line for us we owe then much.

For ScoobyDoo. 

Gettysburg was the turning point in the war.  As such it was a defining moment in American history.  Each of us that had ancestors who fought in that war should study what exactly those soldiers were called upon to do.  When I read my ancestor's story as recorded in his civil war pension application I was taken aback by the suffering he went through.  It made much of my own pains as a result of military service pale in comparison. 

For those that paid the ultimate price we owe a debt beyond that which material wealth can bestow.  As Lincoln said, that battlefield is holy ground. 

What I tried to convey in my previous posting is that each generation of Americans are faced with their own unique enemy of darkness.  This enemy comes in many forms and is fought in many places including court rooms and in the press as well as on the battlefield.  What our ancestors have shown us is that somethings are worth dying for or giving up your material possessions for. 

As stated in the inspired words of our Declaration of Independence,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed".

For these words, and the others that form the basis of our society, many have given up their lives, property and reputations so that these words and what they gave rise to, could never be undone.

I also wish to recognize the fact that it was not just our ancestors who fought in our long ago wars that fought and died for these words but also wave after wave of imigrants from all lands.  Men and women who upon their arrival in this country, volunteered to fight for it in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, and all the other conflicts.  Some came straight off the boats and shortly there after got back on the troop ships destined for a place in history.

America is an inclusive nation by its nature and as such stands alone among the great nations of this earth.

May God Keep and Bless the United States of America 

Thanks PEACEBE

that is awsome we really do not have that much time out here we work 12-16 hour days and then go to sleep so it is long and tiring

I think the two most important ways to support the troops are as follows:

1.  Keeping them out of harm's way unless absolutely necessary and having the humility to take them out of harm's way when putting them there in the first place might have been wrong.

2.  Making sure they receive the best healthcare, benefits and educational opportunities possible and that they are rewarded for their service.  This means keeping the wounded in clean hospitals, paying for surgeries for combat injuries and providing the highest level of educational support possible.  No matter your position on the war in Iraq, we have to admit that our country has failed in doing this over the last 5 years.

There's a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called That's What We're Fighting for.  If you get a chance to hear it, please do so.  It's about a man who's fighting in the desert and thinks about his little girl and his wife.  They pray themselves to sleep at night and his wife tells their daughter that everything's going to be alright.  The soldier knows that everyone has their own opinion about whether what he and the other soldiers are doing is good or bad. 

He sees children as he passes a playground and they look up and smile and wave at him and the others with him.  He notes that there is something in the children's eyes -- the biggest change. He remembers about other people's opinions as to why the soldiers are over there, but when he closes his eyes, he sees his little girl and her mother, praying themselves to sleep.  Dreaming of the day when he comes back home.  Because this is what he's fighting for.

This night he prays himself to sleep and dream about the time when he does come home to his family.  Then he awakens back to what he's fighting for.  This is what he's fighting for.

This beautiful song was playing and couldn't help but share it.  To every member of the armed services serving or have served, my prayers go out to you.  To those who never reached home but are in a better place, prayers go to your family and friends.  May God's love shine over you and protect you from harm.  May you see it, but never reach you.  Let Him make your paths straight and smooth.  God loves you and I love you.  Thank you so much.

Thanks, Leo.  I want ot thank everyone for all that they've done.  Out of all the discussions here, this is my favorite. Just remember that you are in my prayers everyday.  God bless you.

49 days and counting till i come home from IRAQ !!!!!