The Emerald Rose

Now that is truly a damn dumb, and ignorant question!! First and foremost it is the 241st Birthday of our country, The United States of America, secondly it is an opportunity to honor our service men, active or retired, who served their country and lived to tell about it, which most really don’t , they are just simply DAMN proud to have done it, and added to the value of the life of their current family and all people in America. Memorial Day is a time of rememberance, for those who gave their ultimate in sacrifice for the country, and those they left behind, without knowing that they did every single one of them a real favor in increasing their quality of life as they grew up.

No I am not a lawyer or other legal scholar for sure, but I absorb facts like the UV rays on the beach, (in fact sometimes I think my brain gets “sunburned” from cramming it with facts!)

Here’s one for you , as I said in my opening paragraph this is the 241st year of existence for our country, ALL of it under a single set of three documents, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, and the Bill of Rights. WE ARE THE LONGEST ENDURING COUNTRY ON THIS EARTH , in History, living under a single set of founding documents,…..that alone is something to be extremely proud of, and savor. And the history of those documents is in the History books, but the “CONCEPTS” are a real “work of genius” and a miracle to be hold as well. For example, the concept of a “federation” with an over seeing national government was actually conveyed to Benjamin Franklin by an American Indian Chief! In fact Chief Canasatega of the Onondaga “Nation” or tribe as we know it.

In 1744 Ben Franklin drew from  the Chief’s speech to the BRITISH colonists where he said, “Our wise forefathers established UNITY and AMITY between the five nations, (the Oneida, the Onondaga, the  Cayuga, theMohawk, and the Seneca.(in the 18th century they added the Tuscarora to the “confederation”)  “This has made us formidable. This has given us great weight and authority with our neighboring nations. (Sound like the group of what we call states ? The United States of America, and our”independent” State members who have AGREED to be governed, by elected members and an overlook group which the Indiana Confederation called The Iroquois Confederation, much like our Federal Government, with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. ( Read something other than TV guide and you can learn thousands of other facts.) And just like the Iroquois Federation, it granted individual Tribe (state) autonomy

Do the research and see the What and Why of our country, that is what we’re celebrating.  Next point, the honor accorded retired or previously active duty military who made and supported this entire “Noble Experiment” as it’s been called!

Fireworks are a reminder of all the battles, skirmishes and fights we’ve endured, YET  overcome and lived on and brought our country forward. Let’s talk about the military of this country who DID defend this country,…..count me in that, I am one of them, six years of my life in fact, yielding my personal future to accommodate our country’s defense needs.

For example, when my wife and I got married over 50 years ago in 1967, I drove home with one of my shipmate’s in June of 1967, for the wedding, I had just made third Class Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, and life was looking good,… BUT!

I was on “Liberty” or time granted off by the Navy, UNLESS a need arose that required an “All Hand’s on Deck”, or ME back on Duty. Check your History books friends, My wife, who did a marvelous job putting everything together without me until that Thursday before the wedding on Saturday, When I got home. (Her  Dad was a “SEABEE,” in WWII and a Reserve Chief in MCB7 (Mobile Construction Battallion 7),in the South Pacific, and then joined the Navy Reserves when he retired from active duty at the end of the war,  for the past twenty years, he and his wife understood the requirements of being in service.)

Anyway if you are in your history books, or google, check the “1967 Israeli War, note the dates. We had been told that if it “popped”  the probability was that “…..all Libertys will be cancelled and you are to report back to base immediately.” Talk about wedding night ‘jitters”‘,…..but it was not as bad as they thought it would be,….and no cancellation of my Liberty was ever ordered, hence I even had a honeymoon before we had to head for Georgia, where I was stationed, and back to the Navy.

I loved the NAVY, and was looking forward to adventure, When I was about 8 or so my Dad brought home a big “Coffee Table Book”about the Air Force carriers involved in WWII, and honestly that was when I decided I wanted to be in the Navy, and now had married my “best Friend” to do the journey with me. Long story short we went to Georgia, rented a little one bedroom bungalow in the back yard of another home and lived happily for about a year, when my “rotation” orders came in. (In the Navy in the 60’s bear in mind Vietnam Nam was raging, thousands of servicemen were dying, including a lot of sailors and Navy fighter pilots. My orders were to an older Aircraft Carrier,(that I remember from that book by God!) the USS Essex, now CVS-9, she was  built and launched in 1942 (three years befiore I was born) and served valiantly in the Pacific against the Japanese until the end of the war, and eventually to when by I joined her in Hamburg, Germany in 1968 (The first U.S. Aircraft Carrier to enter Hamburg Germany since 1945. ( we couldn’t buy a beer the Germans treated us like kings!)

But before I could join “The Fleet” and become a “real” sailor, I had to go back to school and complete a course in New Jersey at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, on “Antisubmarine Environmental Services” , it was a whole college curriculum pushed into 6 weeks on Oceanography, Sound Propagation in Water, Anti submarine tactics and methods, and specialized equipment utilized to detect submarines, (after having to consider all the sound propagation conditions and briefing pilots on drop points and depths for “deployment and acquisition acquisition points”of  sonobuoys.)

I loved Oceanography and the ASW (Anti- submarine Warfare) conditions as a scientific theory etc. It was in it’s infancy, and I saw lots of Russian Ships, and both Russian and American Submarines in my final two years, ad the “Cold War” was still going strong, regardless of what you thought or was told by the media.

Guess WHAT? We live in the greatest country in the world, and we are still part of the “GREATEST EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM” that the world has ever seen!

You are and have been a PART of that experiment, be proud of it, and I urge you to CONTRIBUTE, don’t ignore it or “dis” it! It’s what has brought you to this point in your life, and REAFFIRMED your the RIGHT to dissent, your  RIGHT to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the RIGHT to work hard, do your best and savor the results and riches you get from them.

So a rambling piece today on a lot of different things, but stop and look around, I have three grandchildren, 25, 9, and 1, and not a single one has ever asked me any of the things I told you in this section today, …..and BOTH of OUR SON’s have served in the U.S. military , (United States Air Force) as well.

You never forget, you’re always proud of your service, and YOU KNOW YOU CONTRIBUTED TO THE VALUE AND SUCCESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA…..THE GREAT EXPERIMENT started 241 years ago today, ……BE PROUD,  BE KNOWLEDGABLE,  BE BRAVE, and BE PART OF IT! AFTERALL IT’s YOUR COUNTRY TOO!!

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So now you know me even more, tomorrow we’ll look at LIFE, LOVE, CHILDREN,….and the ACTUAL  pursuit of HAPPINESS!!