Memorial Day


Posted On: Monday - May 26th 2025 8:18AM MST
In Topics:   Holiday from Stupidity

Happy(?) Memorial Day


Americans are in general happy to a) be out of school, b) have an extra day off for fun long weekend, and c) enjoy the warmth of summer. Memorial Day is not one of those holiday that should suggest "Happy" something-or-other be said, but we do that for all holidays and anniversaries. (I'll get into one of those other anniversaries later today tomorrow.)

It's a time to memorialized those American men killed in the various and sundry wars America has been involved in over our 1/4 Millennium history. Lots of these men did not make a choice to even be there and lots of others, being young, were not so wise, but brave and honorable. A decision to be "in the service" has not meant a very great risk of death or maiming in war over the last half a century, since the 2 large hot wars of the Cold War were over. I'll get into that later on (in the post and later today).

Nathan Bruckenthal put to rest:



Commenter SafeNow brought up thoughts of the death of an American member of the Coast Guard killed in war, one Nathan Bruckenthal. Yes, the Coast Guard, guarding SOME coast. (Straight from wiki) Nate Bruckenthal was killed in the Iraq War, becoming the first to die in wartime action since the Vietnam War. Bruckenthal and two U.S. Navy sailors were killed while intercepting a waterborne suicide attack on an offshore oil terminal off the coast of Iraq in the northern Persian Gulf in 2004. Bruckenthal was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device and the Purple Heart for his actions.

Yes, the Coast Guard.. off Iraq. I was thinking AMERICAN coast whenever I think of the Coast Guard, but what do I know? This military branch was formed 110 years ago for that purpose. As of now, (also wiki):
Due to ever-expanding risk imposed by transnational threats through the maritime and cyber domains, the U.S. Coast Guard is at any given time deployed to and operating on all seven continents and in cyberspace to enforce its mission.
No, they should be guarding THE coasts... of America.

I never even agreed with their mission of intercepting the schools of those square grouper*, much less their inclusion in the US world-warmongering. That wasn't Nate Bruckenthal's call though. R.I.P.

(I can't import a picture so easily now, so that will come, along with some more discussion on joining the military.)



* On the land end too, it's all Fentanyl, Fentanyl, Fentanyl!, when it should be about keeping out the PEOPLE, stupid. My opinion is that if you kept out the masses of cheap labor, traditional Americans' lives would be better such that they woud not feel they needed to OD/suicide on these drugs.

Comments:
Moderator
Monday - May 26th 2025 6:56PM MST
PS: You too, Adam. I'm too tired this evening to do any more of anything.
Moderator
Monday - May 26th 2025 6:53PM MST
PS: Decoration Day was the old term, yes. Once you learn how to get a sound out of a trumpet or bugle, it's pretty easy to pick up the bugle calls.
Adam Smith
Monday - May 26th 2025 3:37PM MST
PS: Happy Memorial Day, Everyone!

๐‘Œ๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐บ๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘.. ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘“ ๐ผ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ž...(?)
๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘‡๐ป๐ธ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ ... ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ด๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ž!

https://www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Area-Units/PATFORSWA/

๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ƒ๐ด๐‘‡๐น๐‘‚๐‘…๐‘†๐‘Š๐ด ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘’๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘, ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฆ, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›-๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘ฆ ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐บ๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘€๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐ธ๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ˆ.๐‘†. ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐ถ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ (๐ถ๐ธ๐‘๐‘‡๐ถ๐‘‚๐‘€).

๐ผ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› 2003 ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐ผ๐‘…๐ด๐‘„๐ผ ๐น๐‘…๐ธ๐ธ๐ท๐‘‚๐‘€, ๐‘ƒ๐ด๐‘‡๐น๐‘‚๐‘…๐‘†๐‘Š๐ด ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐พ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ต๐‘Žโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›...

Or something like that.

I just picked a whole bucket/bath towel full of snow peas and I'm headed to the porch for a cocktail with Mrs. Smith.

https://www.decisionproblem.com/paperclips/index2.html

I hope you guys all have a great evening! โ˜ฎ๏ธ

The Alarmist
Monday - May 26th 2025 12:37PM MST
PS

During the โ€˜80s, there were periods where we could barely scrape together enough volunteers to provide a full Honor Guard for veteranโ€™s funerals, and, quite embarassing, we sometimes had to place someone just out of sight to play Taps on a boom box. If we happened to have an active duty death, the base commander would find the bodies to give a full complement and the budget to hire a civilian bugler. It was sad duty to present the flag to a grieving family, but one I was happy to volunteer for, as it meant a lot to most of the families.

Happy Decoration Day.

๐Ÿ•‰
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