Well, first off i would like to thank all of my fellow Veterans for their unselfish service to this great country! Thank you for you sacrifices, not only overseas, but here in country, in your personal lives, and the lives of your family. Many do not know the ammount of sacrifice a Veteran goes thru even while not deployed. The separation from friends and family members while in training and deployments are not only tough on our Veterans, but their family members as well. So THANK YOU for all of your sacrifices. I must say that today I was encouraged and excited to visit my sons school as they were to do a special dedication for our Veterans. Now just so that you know, this is in a small central texas community, just outside the gates of Fort Hood. Yet, there was so much disrespect at this "ceremony" that I was actually ashamed that my son had to witness it. Veterans were invited to sit in the middle of the football field as a place of HONOR. Yet the school had the high school football team dress in their jerseys and stand behind all the veterans in this "place of honor". As the "ceremony" began, they had a Vietnam Veteran stand up and give a small speach. After the speach was over, the high school principal walked up to the podium and said that he wanted to thank THE FOOT BALL TEAM!!! WHAT?? Thats right.. the f*cking football team!! I was disgusted! The stadium erupted with aplause for the Football team.. THEN.. AFTER thanking the football team, he said he wanted to thank the veterans, (many of which are active duty and in uniform)for their service... there were 3 of us clapping for our Veterans.. the principal had to say "how about a round of applause for our Veterans" before everyone else started clapping. And even then it wasnt as loud as the standing ovation that the football team recieved. He then dismissed everyone.. Well someone, Thank you whoever it was for trying, told the principal that the Veterans should be allowed to leave the field first as a sign of respect. The principal asked that everyone remained in their seats while the Veterans left the field. Then, without pause, he immediately went into how he wanted to mention to everyone about how the football team won last weeks game, and how they still have more games to come, how they are going to continue to play and win........ I was so enraged that I had to turn and walk away...
This being said; If there were any fellow Veterans there that witnessed this, I am sorry. You, WE, deserve soo much more than that. This Veterans Day "ceremony" turned into a damn football pep rally. I am ashamed that I was even present for this event.
My wife was so ashamed and pissed off that she wrote the following email to the school principal and the super intendant:
Sir –
I applaud Gatesville ISD’s Veterans Day program today. Thank you to the students and faculty who honored service members. I attended today as the mother of a primary student, a proud Army wife and as a reporter for the Fort Hood Sentinel. The program was a great opportunity to honor veterans and to show the students what it means to serve one’s country….until the end.
Your impromptu pep rally for the football team was inappropriate and completely disrespectful to our veterans. It was the wrong time and place, especially while so many of our men and women only a few years older than those football players are fighting and dying on battlefields today so that we can participate in such trivial (in the scheme of world events) matters as a high school football game. Yes, we are proud of our student athletes, but that pride should not and does not compare to the pride and gratitude that should be extended to our men and women in uniform.
My husband, a Silver Star recipient and two-time Purple Heart recipient, was crushed and deeply angered by your lauding of the football team. We both were disgusted that a community that sits just outside of Fort Hood could not put aside athletics for one day and show veterans the honor and gratitude they deserve. It was a small slap to have the football players standing in a place of honor with the veterans, but the larger slap in the face was the whooping and hollering that you encouraged for those players. It is a sad sight when a community shows greater adoration and applause for some kids who play football than for those who fight and die for our freedoms. That fact is even worse when it happens on Veterans Day.
I am ashamed to live in Gatesville today.
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So to all of my fellow Veterans, I salute you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope that you have had a better Veterans Day than I.
I am not going to say "Happy Veterans Day" as many do. I do not believe that today is a happy day.. Yes I am happy for my freedom, yes I am happy to have served the the best fighting men and women on the face of this earth, Yes I am proud to be a Veteran. But I believe that today is more of a day of reflection for all of those that have fought before us, and BESIDE us. That neve made it home alive. Those men and women who gave the untimate sacrifice for their country.
There is a saying that many of you have heard:
A “Veteran” — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve — is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to, and including his life.” Made payable at any time.
Thank you for listening to my rant. I am sorry for my spelling errors, but i have been so upset over this that i cant even think straight..
Well im off to pick my son up from school early. We are headed to have a talk about today, and what Veterans Day is REALY about.
This being said; If there were any fellow Veterans there that witnessed this, I am sorry. You, WE, deserve soo much more than that. This Veterans Day "ceremony" turned into a damn football pep rally. I am ashamed that I was even present for this event.
My wife was so ashamed and pissed off that she wrote the following email to the school principal and the super intendant:
Sir –
I applaud Gatesville ISD’s Veterans Day program today. Thank you to the students and faculty who honored service members. I attended today as the mother of a primary student, a proud Army wife and as a reporter for the Fort Hood Sentinel. The program was a great opportunity to honor veterans and to show the students what it means to serve one’s country….until the end.
Your impromptu pep rally for the football team was inappropriate and completely disrespectful to our veterans. It was the wrong time and place, especially while so many of our men and women only a few years older than those football players are fighting and dying on battlefields today so that we can participate in such trivial (in the scheme of world events) matters as a high school football game. Yes, we are proud of our student athletes, but that pride should not and does not compare to the pride and gratitude that should be extended to our men and women in uniform.
My husband, a Silver Star recipient and two-time Purple Heart recipient, was crushed and deeply angered by your lauding of the football team. We both were disgusted that a community that sits just outside of Fort Hood could not put aside athletics for one day and show veterans the honor and gratitude they deserve. It was a small slap to have the football players standing in a place of honor with the veterans, but the larger slap in the face was the whooping and hollering that you encouraged for those players. It is a sad sight when a community shows greater adoration and applause for some kids who play football than for those who fight and die for our freedoms. That fact is even worse when it happens on Veterans Day.
I am ashamed to live in Gatesville today.
-----------------------------------------------
So to all of my fellow Veterans, I salute you, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I hope that you have had a better Veterans Day than I.
I am not going to say "Happy Veterans Day" as many do. I do not believe that today is a happy day.. Yes I am happy for my freedom, yes I am happy to have served the the best fighting men and women on the face of this earth, Yes I am proud to be a Veteran. But I believe that today is more of a day of reflection for all of those that have fought before us, and BESIDE us. That neve made it home alive. Those men and women who gave the untimate sacrifice for their country.
There is a saying that many of you have heard:
A “Veteran” — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve — is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to, and including his life.” Made payable at any time.
Thank you for listening to my rant. I am sorry for my spelling errors, but i have been so upset over this that i cant even think straight..
Well im off to pick my son up from school early. We are headed to have a talk about today, and what Veterans Day is REALY about.
