I didn't make a special Vets Day post this year. Even though Veterans Day was yesterday, for gummint workers and many others it is celebrated today so they can get a day off and have a three day weekend. DanS sent me a column by the late great Mike Royko about this.
Mike Royko. What an incredible columnist. When I still lived in St. Louis, once a week, the local paper would have a Royko column in it. I wish they would have had more. I got to attend IBM computer basic in Chicago in January, February, and March of 1978. That means I got to read Royko five days a week. Five days a week! And hardly a clunker among them. Do you realize how much talent that takes? There aren't too many people who could write that often and that well. Royko was one of them.
Here's the column.
I just phoned six friends and asked them what they will be doing on Monday.They all said the same thing: working.
Me, too.
There is something else we share. We are all military veterans.
And there is a third thing we have in common. We are not employees of the federal government, state government, county government, municipal government, the Postal Service, the courts, banks, or S & Ls, and we don’t teach school.
If we did, we would be among the many millions of people who will spend Monday goofing off.
Which is why it is about time Congress revised the ridiculous terms of Veterans Day as a national holiday.
The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans.
So how does this country honor them?
By letting the veterans, the majority of whom work in the private sector, spend the day at their jobs so they can pay taxes that permit millions of non-veterans to get paid for doing nothing.
As my friend Harry put it:
"First I went through basic training. Then infantry school. Then I got on a crowded, stinking troop ship that took 23 days to get from San Francisco to Japan. We went through a storm that had 90 percent of the guys on the ship throwing up for a week.
"Then I rode a beat-up transport plane from Japan to Korea, and it almost went down in the drink. I think the pilot was drunk.
"When I got to Korea, I was lucky. The war ended seven months after I got there, and I didn’t kill anybody and nobody killed me.
"But it was still a miserable experience. Then when my tour was over, I got on another troop ship and it took 21 stinking days to cross the Pacific.
"When I got home on leave, one of the older guys at the neighborhood bar — he was a World War II vet — told me I was a ----head because we didn’t win, we only got a tie.
"So now on Veterans Day I get up in the morning and go down to the office and work.
"You know what my nephew does? He sleeps in. That’s because he works for the state.
"And do you know what he did during the Vietnam War? He ducked the draft by getting a job teaching at an inner-city school.
"Now, is that a raw deal or what?"
Of course that’s a raw deal. So I propose that the members of Congress revise Veterans Day to provide the following:
- All veterans — and only veterans — should have the day off from work. It doesn’t matter if they were combat heroes or stateside clerk-typists.
Anybody who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: "Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road," is entitled.
- Those veterans who wish to march in parades, make speeches or listen to speeches can do so. But for those who don’t, all local gambling laws should be suspended for the day to permit vets to gather in taverns, pull a couple of tables together and spend the day playing poker, blackjack, craps, drinking and telling lewd lies about lewd experiences with lewd women. All bar prices should be rolled back to enlisted men’s club prices, Officers can pay the going rate, the stiffs.
- All anti-smoking laws will be suspended for Veterans Day. The same hold for all misdemeanor laws pertaining to disorderly conduct, non-felonious brawling, leering, gawking and any other gross and disgusting public behavior that does not harm another individual.
- It will be a treasonable offense for any spouse or live-in girlfriend (or boyfriend, if it applies) to utter the dreaded words: "What time will you be home tonight?"
- Anyone caught posing as a veteran will be required to eat a triple portion of chipped beef on toast, with Spam on the side, and spend the day watching a chaplain present a color-slide presentation on the horrors of VD.
- Regardless of how high his office, no politician who had the opportunity to serve in the military, but didn’t, will be allowed to make a patriotic speech, appear on TV, or poke his nose out of his office for the entire day.
Any politician who defies this ban will be required to spend 12 hours wearing headphones and listening to tapes of President Clinton explaining his deferments.
Now, deal the cards and pass the tequila.
- Mike Royko
Screw the nasty, wormy tequila and substitute bourbon, and I'm with all the rest of it.
Posted by: Rurik on November 12, 2007 12:15 AMI think I have a new hero. Now, why is it we can't get laws like this passed? Oh yeah. We don't have politicians who would benefit from it.
Posted by: Random Thoughts on November 12, 2007 12:23 AMDennis:
YOU 'da MAN!'
I want to say something on behalf of almost EVERY Veteran I've ever met or known or served with:
We didn't let each other cry.
I think today that there was no ill-will nor mal-intention then, indeed quite the opposite, but I've come to realize, by offering a shoulder, that more than a few Veteran's are in need of a good cry.
Obviously, I'm not talking pansy-tear's, but that ... that soul-deep shudder; and the tears that flow from a loss deeper than the Universe is wide.
Once, we helped each other keep it inside ... stoic, strong, manly, Buddies ...; I've come to understand that the Man and Woman who keep's such bottled-up requires both a bottle and a stopper.
You who are not Veteran's would do well to figure out a milleau & venue that would help Your Veteran get it out; get them, let them Cry, rage, shake, scream and curse & get it out & open & off both the mind & chest.
It's been my experience that such is both cathartic & beneficial.
Over this Veterans Day Weekend, I've had occasion to talk with almost 60 Veteran's who look forward to this Day of Reconciliation.
It's not Memorial Day, but a day when Veterans simply allow each other a day that those who don't fight for it, will never understand.
No blame; help us cry for a day. Help us remember in detail; help us recall feelings stuffed-up-tight inside from someplace long ago & far away.
We don't WANT to cry ... -but we NEED to.
Help us help our selve's.
Semper Fi!
Posted by: DanS. on November 12, 2007 01:43 AMI should like to share the following:
Happy Veteran's Day, Dan and Charles, Brien and Colleen!
Below was a message in my church bulletin:
"Did You Want To Go?"
Dear Beloved,
Did you want to go? It was so far away and cold. I don't mean the temperature. It may have been hot, as in a desert summer. I mean, the coldness that comes from being isolated, even in the midst of a band of brothers, eating strange K ration food, sleeping in a bunk with six others in the same room or a foxhole, and sharing a commode down the hall.
Did you want to go? Away from family, church home, friends, or the little girl with the pigtails who clung to her blanket as you kissed her goodbye early in the morning on the day you left. Did you want to go? Knowing, always knowing, that today could be the day you die?
Did you want to leave your spouse or parents? Those who loved you most in good times and bad? The ones who wept as you boarded the plane?
You didn't; did you? Deep down inside, you didn't want to go, but you went. You went for me, for us, for them, for freedom, and for love.
I wonder what you thought as you went. Was it the high and noble dreams of soldiers in years gone by? Those who fought before you on Iwo Jima, in Normandy, Viet Nam, and Iraq? Did they carry you forward somehow? Were you propelled by those who had blazzoned the trail of freedom and proclaimed, "We will never give up!"?
I wonder now, today, what you thought. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe you just went because you were called, and you had no aspirations of greatness. That stuff is only in movies anyway, right? When your friend next to you gets a bullet to the head, there is not much glamour and not much thinking of movies. It makes me cry to think of it.
When you came back, how was it? Did we treat you with the respect you deserved? Did we forget to say thanks? Did we discount the sacrifice, the horror, and the pain you had been through for us? What was it like to come home? Can you tell us now?
You know what I think? I think you are like Jesus. I mean it. He came to a cold place and knew one day would be the day He would die. He did not want to, but He came for us, for freedom, and for love. He is home now, and we forget to dwell on the significance of what He did, too. We are an ungrateful lot.
I am sorry. I am sorry, and I am hopeful. Sorry we do not value you as we should, and hopeful that this letter will help. Help us heal. Help us change. Help us learn to say thank you. We do love you, and we are glad you went; glad you came home. Greatness is not just for the movies.
We grieve with you over the ones you left behind; your brothers and sisters. You are our protectors. We look forward to a day when we will see those with Christ in glory.
Signed with much love and respect from those of us who have been protected,
Americans
Well I left this yesterday on the music post but let me leave it here as well where the vets are more likely to see it.
It's no secret that I'm against wars but I do very much appreciate those who answer the call to serve our country at risk to their own lives. I just want to say thanks to all the vets and all those who are currently serving.
Posted by: Libby on November 12, 2007 08:02 AMAs a serving Soldier of over 25 years who has gone from Private to Lieutenant Colonel, I can tell you no one is more against wars than Veterans. We do what we do because we love our Country. We believe it is the greatest Country in the world. We do it even for those who think our Country is the cause of all bad in the world. Because if we didn't, they'd find out just how good our Country is but it would be too late. The issue isn't the war, this time or any time; the issue is whether our Country is the greatest Country in the world and whether she deserves to remain so. The answer, of course, is a resounding YES. So, we do what we do and expect nothing more than the simple respect all people owe each other.
Charlie Mike -- continue to march.
Posted by: Dan on November 12, 2007 08:24 AMTHANK YOU TO ALL PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE VETS
Posted by: Bill on November 12, 2007 08:32 AMDanS finally delivers!! great column.. great post.
To: DanS, Dan, Denny, CD, VFH and all other vets. Thank you so much.
Posted by: patrick on November 12, 2007 08:41 AMI grew up in Chicago reading Royko's columns. This column ranks with the best of them. (Was that IBM training at their facility on the river?)
THANKS TO ALL OUR VETERANS!
Posted by: John in May-retta on November 12, 2007 09:11 AMI've had this column hanging up at my desk at work for about 6 years. I love it. Royko was very passionate about 2 things: vets and 16-inch softball.
Posted by: Greg on November 12, 2007 09:25 AMI give veterans day about 10 more years before it becomes a non-holiday. Its not far from it now. As soon as the libs find a way to exchange it for some other day like gay rights day it will be gone. Yeah I am a vet, I just rapidly don't give a shit anymore.
Posted by: james old guy on November 12, 2007 10:27 AMpatrick-
I cannot be included in that list of Veterans, but to all the others, thank you for your service!!!
I believe this is my favorite Royko column ever. And I would support this 1000%. Every year I read it and every year it brings tears to my eyes.
Let's hear it for EVERYONE:
"...who went through basic training and was awakened before dawn by a red-neck drill sergeant who bellowed: "Drop your whatsis and grab your socks and fall out on the road,"..."
Posted by: Teresa of Technicalities on November 12, 2007 11:14 AMListen; Watch; Remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd2Y4X2nOvA
Posted by: DanS. on November 12, 2007 11:23 AMAnd, of Course, NO ONE say's it better than Brother Ray Charles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD-IgFhmVdI
Posted by: DanS. on November 12, 2007 11:39 AMJohn in May-retta - Yep! At that time it was called 1 IBM Plaza. I don't know what it's called now. I stayed at River Plaza and we would cut through the Sun Times building (which I understand no longer exists) and watch the newspaper being printed. One windy morning I stepped out of the Sun Times building and a gust of wind caught me and propelled me right across the street. Fortunately, there were no cars coming so I made it safely. Chicago got hit by three really bad blizzards that winter.
Posted by: Denny on November 12, 2007 12:18 PMHappy Veterans Day to all who served. You are remembered whether the lefties like it or not. I am going down to the VFW to drink beer, bbq and bullshit with my opa and some of his buddies. BTW did you hear Pattons new speech on TGWT
Posted by: kerrcarto on November 12, 2007 01:08 PMPosted by james old guy at November 12, 2007 10:27 AM
First, thank you for your service.
Second, there will also be American's that believe EVERY day is Veteran's Day. I can assure you that if this holiday gets "exchanged" for somthing else, it will *NOT* go quietly!
Posted by: StanW on November 12, 2007 01:08 PMHappy Veterans Day Denny!
Posted by: Kim on November 12, 2007 01:28 PMTo all you veterans that read this blog thank you very much for your service.
For all the liberal troals that read this blog, your silence is deafening.
Posted by: Ray on November 12, 2007 02:20 PMI'm glad someone remembers Veteran's Day. I think of the men I knew that died in front of me. And how their families suffered without them. And how I wish I could somehow bring them back.
Here is what libs do, they block supplies to the troops and take their own children as shields.
http://michellemalkin.com/
http://www.sondrak.com/index.php/weblog/mad_maxing_olympia/
http://www.theolympian.com/570/story/268949.html
I would take one of those veterans back over a 100 gutless lib traitors like the protesters anyday.
Posted by: vetfromhell on November 12, 2007 03:49 PM
Ray - That's because most of the liberals who read this blog hate the military and hate veterans. I had to shut down comments on the IT-Valour post because of military and veteran hating liberal trolls. Even Teresa had to display her BDS on a post for a good cause. Amazing! I hope her son never reads this blog and finds out what a barking moonbat his mother is.
Vetfromhell - We need to accelerate global warming so places like Olympia (and San Francisco) get flooded out by the seas rising "20 feet" (per Pope Algore). Those moonbat protesters make me want to puke.
Posted by: Denny on November 12, 2007 04:49 PMFo realz...
Posted by: vetfromhell on November 12, 2007 05:16 PMAs both a vet and a Chicagoan, my day was not complete until I read the late, great Mike Royko's column on page 2 first in the now de-fun-ked Chicago Daily News, then the Chicago Sun-Times, and finally the Chicago Tribune (Ironically, Royko resigned from the Sun-Times when FOX NEWS founder Rupert Murdoch purchased the paper, saying "No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in one of his newspapers").
My Dad got me to start reading his columns when I was still a kid maybe 11-12 yrs old, and I fondly remember Royko's semi-fictional pal/alter-ego Slats Grobnick, who represented what most working Chicagoans, including my Dad and Uncles, were back in the 60's and 70's- Blue collar union workers who got off work and stopped at the neighborhood bar (and yep, every neighborhood had at least one) before going home to dinner with his family.
FYI, Royko (and his widow after he passed away) published quite a few books that consisted of his daily columns that were published over the years.
Check eBay or Amazon.com, they're great reads if you buy them...
Thanks to my father and his fellow "Devil Dogs" for martching accross Belgium to defeat those "Nazi Bastards" over 60 years ago. Thanks to you because I did not have to learn German.
Thanks to my brother Dave. You left home when I was a kid to serve in Viet Nam. I bet you would have been a great dad or uncle, had you come home.
Thanks to my neighbors grand son. You are playing in some sandbox half way round the world, showing some sandcrabs what Marines are made of.
Thanks to all of you who have served our nation.
We love you all.
We owe you all.
Yep. I went to work today while a gazillion people who didn't serve got the day off.
It's OK, though. I live in Jersey, so I'm used to being screwed.
Posted by: Jim - PRS on November 12, 2007 06:38 PMLISTEN To Rob Cooper!
He is telling TRUTH beyond your Understanding!
ChuckS: you have a firm shoulder in me. Bring it; Bring it for me if not for you.
Just once, just because it is SO right:
Cry. Cry outloud. Regardless of the wanna-bee's and the BS they think they know:
Cry.
Get it OUT.
Cry not for you, but for the memory of your loved-one.
SCREAM.
Scream & YELL and LAMENT! Let your feelings, your care, your concern be given VOICE so as to become one with the fabric & record of the Universe.
Posted by: DanS. on November 12, 2007 06:47 PMIf you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a vet.
Thanks guys.
Posted by: Ralph Gizzip on November 12, 2007 07:16 PMGreat post Denny! I send out my utmost respect for those serving in Irag and Afganistan and to those who have served so bravely in the past. Today is Your day Vet's and I hope that you stand proudly because you are well deserving of it.
Posted by: Teresa on November 12, 2007 09:24 PMJim PRS, Rob Cooper - thank you. chuckS........wow. outstanding.
Posted by: patrick on November 12, 2007 09:29 PMI'm goin home,
My tour is done.
I'm going home,
I'm a lucky one.
But I've left friends behind me,
Who won't go home no more,
Yes many friends remain forever,
On that bloody shore.
And at night when I sleep,
I know my dreams will be,
About the friends I've left,
Across the sea.
I will hear a young may cry,
Laugh again not loud,
We'll all be together,
In a happy croud.
But then I hear the scream,
Of bullets whinning over head.
Hear the crash of mortars,
And all my friends are dead.
And then in my slumber,
They'll come and say goodbye.
Though I'm sound asleep,
A tear, I'll cry.
And they'll say something that fills,
My heart with pain,
Tell them about us Sadler,
Don't let us die in vain.
I'm going home,
My tour is done.
I'm going home,
I'm a lucky one.
SSG Barry Sadler. 1940-1989
I wish I could remember all the words for some of his other songs, like Garret trooper. Its funny, but back in the 60's, the phoney soldiers were REMFs in the eyes of the grunts. Today, we have a new stack of winter soldiers types slithering out of the wood pile who make REMFs look respectable.
A heart felt happy Veterans Day to all my fellow vets, and also to the wives and parents whose hearts long for the safe return of their husbands, sons and daughters.
Posted by: Jeremy on November 12, 2007 10:46 PMNot sure why you're thanking me, Patrick, but you're welcome nonetheless.
I just wanted to add my $0.02 about Mike Royko, and what a great storyteller he was, although almost all of his columns were based upon events that actually happened in his life growing up in Chicago (and a lot were about the democratic political machine, led by the current Mayor Richard J. Daley's dad, Mayor Richard M. Daley- This was back when the democratic party still loved their country- like when Mayor Daley sent the Chicago cops out to beat the shit out of the Vietnam war protesters in Grant park protesting the '68 democrat convention), but Royko "changed the names to protect the innocent", and the not so innocent! :)
And DanS., a compliment from you? Geez, I'm going outside to look for flying pigs...Hope Rosie is at home tonight.
BTW Denny, the Sun-Times building is long gone- Donald Trump is about finished building one of his "Trump Towers" of multi-million dollar condominiums were it used to sit on the banks of the Chicago river.
Posted by: Rob Cooper on November 12, 2007 11:41 PMAnd the great city of Chicago, Greg!
Posted by: Rob Cooper on November 12, 2007 11:42 PMJim-PRS- Screwed ROYALLY!!! Gov. Corzine, Sen. Lautenberg, and Sen. Menendez...What a trifecta...
Posted by: Rob Cooper on November 12, 2007 11:54 PMDenny- The three blizzards in Chicago- Winter of 1979? That's when I moved back there from Phoenix. Great timing, huh?
Posted by: Rob Cooper on November 12, 2007 11:56 PMRob - Teresa (the smart one) gave me the news about the Sun Times building.
Nope. It was the winter of 1978. O'Hare had to close down three times that winter. I drove home to St. Louis one weekend and the drifts along I-55 were seven feet tall. I was surprised the highway was open, but it had been plowed and once I got past Bloomington it was OK. That was the most snow I had seen except for Christmas of 1968 in the Laguna Mountains of California.
Posted by: Denny on November 13, 2007 12:13 AMRob:
Recall with me the Snowstorm of 1979.
Can you say Mayor Michael Bilandic?
Do you recall he and his Wife, Heather, ENSCONCED in that One Ivory Tower along LSD? Asking us to enjoy a glass of wine as the snow fell? I was way out on the Southside where Stevie Goodman chose to wait the storm out .....
I recall breathing-in thru the nose...; the Wind.
Posted by: DanS. on November 13, 2007 12:29 AMI was born at Edgewater hospital. I remember the blizzard of 66.
Posted by: vetfromhell on November 13, 2007 01:03 AM"Rob Cooper, Rob Cooper. You have no Complaint!
You are what you Are and you ain't what you ain't".
C'mon and SING with us out by 111th & Western SW where the Young Talent seeks to be worthy of the Northside bars & girls's up along Lincoln Avenue.
Posted by: DanS. on November 13, 2007 01:15 AMVetFrom Hell:
Whoknew? Who KNEW you were from Chicago?
Recall with me Those deep, dark Winter night's and that Cold winter-breeze!
Posted by: DanS. on November 13, 2007 01:24 AMCharlie D:
If You EVER forget what I've shared with you, I'm coming to Kick Your Ass!
Not on my behalf, but on behalf of the o-so-many just like you.
You'll get a beatin' you truly don't deserve. Methinks you'll stand it well and understand where it comes from.
Which is why more than I like & care for you.
You can put that in yer Pipe and Smoke it!
Posted by: DanS. on November 13, 2007 01:55 AMDanS-
Kick away dude! Not on your behalf, but the many like you! Come by for a beer one of these days...
The hippy beat-down sounds actually fun, not on your behalf, but fun non the less. Bring on the hippies...
That's in my pipe, and I'm smokin' it...
I remember the tanks on Dearborn Street and all the people chanting "The whole world is watching".
Posted by: vetfromhell on November 13, 2007 03:43 AMI remember across the street from the Congress Hotel; My brother and a few pal's had picked me up at O'Hare earlier on in the day; I came home from Con Tien on emergency-leave after another of my brother's had suddenly died.
Of TWELVE Brother's and 2 Sister's, there's left but me and Peggy. Nonetheless, we knew and once held Chicago as home.
Posted by: DanS. on November 13, 2007 09:41 PMWow. Twelve brothers and sisters? And I thought five brothers was a lot! BTW, many thanks (a little late here!)to all of you vets!
Posted by: Peggy U on November 13, 2007 11:30 PMmeet vetfromhell.http://momnos.blogspot.com/
Posted by: o'brienpwned on November 14, 2007 02:29 AMI love that column, Love you guys here as well.
What's with Teresa BDS only recognizing the troops in Iraq and Afghan-stan-man? Didn't Bush start those wars; why is it that she only recognizes them? I say, Veterns Day is for all. And I agree with everyone here, that in some way shape or form...to remember them/us on this day.
To listen and learn of the past and our history.
Let the nattering of the trolls lie in the dust on this topic...the silence is deafening...and quite enjoyable for the moment.
Posted by: LisaKay on November 14, 2007 07:48 AMOh LisaKay, I chose to bring up our troops because they are the ones going through hell right now. Not you honey. If you want a medal I will send you one if it will make you feel better.
Posted by: Teresa on November 17, 2007 12:39 AMTeresa, I like that you refer to me as 'honey'. Should make it that much easier for you to pucker up and kiss my tight white ass-In Your Dreams!
You know nothing about me, other than the fact that I am intellectually honest. And that's all you'll ever get from me. Go play code pink Rosie BS with someone else k?