Barney
Well-known member
I retired 13 years ago from the USAF. It was a bittersweet day. Years of service, travel, joy, and abject horror. For my friends across several ponds: Joy to you! Your young men and women should be honored as ours used to be.
Lots of lip service today. Who knows what the future will bring.
August 2007
John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” I certainly did not plan to enter the military. I planned to be a schoolteacher. Still, I enlisted in 1975 to earn the money to finish college. Who would have thought 32 years later, I would still be serving?
No one finds success on their own. We need the goodwill of others to reach our full potential. There is not enough time for me to thank everyone who has helped me. But let me mention a few...
Mom: You loved me, cried with me, laughed with me, and when I went to the war you prayed for me.
My children: Thomas, Megan, and Bronwynn: You bore the brunt of my career decisions. I missed so many important days in your lives. I am deeply sorry. You are my joy and my heart.
My sister Mary: Thank you for showing me what not to do. As a child, I watched you get in trouble and steered clear of those actions.
My commanders and supervisors: You let me, be me; this was not an easy thing. You trusted me to do the job you gave me. Thank you all. My dearest Carol: You are the calm in my storm of a life. When I marched off you kept me sane and safe with your love. I can never thank you enough.
For whatever reason, we have all answered a call to higher service that General Douglas MacArthur calls Duty, Honor, Country.
“Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.”
This call causes us to put aside our personal wants and desires. Hearing this call we offer our sacrifices for the greater good of the whole. For my entire adult life I answered this call unwaveringly. I have been deployed to war zones and places of natural disaster, often with only a day’s notice. I have lost friends, comrades, civilian jobs and ruined
relationships. If you asked my ex-wives they would say that I loved the military above all others. I left my family and my home on too many occasions to answer this call. I sacrificed time with my children and family in the service my country.
I have had great adventures, been places no one I grew up with could dream of, seen the sun rise on countries that no longer exist and watched it set on governments that never should have existed.
For many years I was uncertain why I wanted to stay in the military. There were many reasons, but nothing that defined the desire. One day I read a plaque at RAF Mildenhall. It said: “When you go Home, and they ask of US say: For YOUR tomorrow, We gave OUR todays” Then, I knew why.
For over 200 years, Americans have offered their todays for others tomorrows. From Valley Forge to Falluja, New Orleans to Normandy. At places like Inchon, The Frozen Chosen, Tarawa, The Bulge, Tripoli, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor and a thousand more; we have kept the flame of freedom burning.
Today, in a world gone mad with ethno-nationalism, racism, and religious zealots, we continue to offer our todays for other’s tomorrows.
Americans live in a country of great opportunity. We have rights and freedoms unseen in other countries of the world. Without the sacrifice of our fighting men and women, we would not enjoy many of the privileges we take for granted.
In the dark days of 1970’s, Americans had a very poor opinion of the military. We were reviled and seen as a worthless institution, filled with less-than-bright individuals who couldn’t survive in the civilian world. Still, we served. We stood long watches at duty stations from the Arctic to the south Pacific. We served. We were there when we were needed. We served and sacrificed.
Today we are engaged in a war that may have no end. Terrorism spreads across the globe and few places are as safe as they were in my youth. We serve to keep safe what is safe. We serve so that others may form governments that reflect their culture and ideals.
As I enter into retirement, I will well remember the people I have had the pleasure to serve with. I will remember the places and missions. I will remember, recall it all and marvel that I did this.
In my twilight years, I will hear the roar of jets, the bark of rifles outside the wire. In the distance, I will hear a lone drummer beating that tattoo of Duty, Honor, Country. I will count the gains and losses and be proud to say: I served.
So my friends, in the future, when someone asks of me say: For their tomorrows, I gladly gave my todays.
God bless you all, Farewell
Lots of lip service today. Who knows what the future will bring.
August 2007
John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” I certainly did not plan to enter the military. I planned to be a schoolteacher. Still, I enlisted in 1975 to earn the money to finish college. Who would have thought 32 years later, I would still be serving?
No one finds success on their own. We need the goodwill of others to reach our full potential. There is not enough time for me to thank everyone who has helped me. But let me mention a few...
Mom: You loved me, cried with me, laughed with me, and when I went to the war you prayed for me.
My children: Thomas, Megan, and Bronwynn: You bore the brunt of my career decisions. I missed so many important days in your lives. I am deeply sorry. You are my joy and my heart.
My sister Mary: Thank you for showing me what not to do. As a child, I watched you get in trouble and steered clear of those actions.
My commanders and supervisors: You let me, be me; this was not an easy thing. You trusted me to do the job you gave me. Thank you all. My dearest Carol: You are the calm in my storm of a life. When I marched off you kept me sane and safe with your love. I can never thank you enough.
For whatever reason, we have all answered a call to higher service that General Douglas MacArthur calls Duty, Honor, Country.
“Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.”
This call causes us to put aside our personal wants and desires. Hearing this call we offer our sacrifices for the greater good of the whole. For my entire adult life I answered this call unwaveringly. I have been deployed to war zones and places of natural disaster, often with only a day’s notice. I have lost friends, comrades, civilian jobs and ruined
relationships. If you asked my ex-wives they would say that I loved the military above all others. I left my family and my home on too many occasions to answer this call. I sacrificed time with my children and family in the service my country.
I have had great adventures, been places no one I grew up with could dream of, seen the sun rise on countries that no longer exist and watched it set on governments that never should have existed.
For many years I was uncertain why I wanted to stay in the military. There were many reasons, but nothing that defined the desire. One day I read a plaque at RAF Mildenhall. It said: “When you go Home, and they ask of US say: For YOUR tomorrow, We gave OUR todays” Then, I knew why.
For over 200 years, Americans have offered their todays for others tomorrows. From Valley Forge to Falluja, New Orleans to Normandy. At places like Inchon, The Frozen Chosen, Tarawa, The Bulge, Tripoli, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor and a thousand more; we have kept the flame of freedom burning.
Today, in a world gone mad with ethno-nationalism, racism, and religious zealots, we continue to offer our todays for other’s tomorrows.
Americans live in a country of great opportunity. We have rights and freedoms unseen in other countries of the world. Without the sacrifice of our fighting men and women, we would not enjoy many of the privileges we take for granted.
In the dark days of 1970’s, Americans had a very poor opinion of the military. We were reviled and seen as a worthless institution, filled with less-than-bright individuals who couldn’t survive in the civilian world. Still, we served. We stood long watches at duty stations from the Arctic to the south Pacific. We served. We were there when we were needed. We served and sacrificed.
Today we are engaged in a war that may have no end. Terrorism spreads across the globe and few places are as safe as they were in my youth. We serve to keep safe what is safe. We serve so that others may form governments that reflect their culture and ideals.
As I enter into retirement, I will well remember the people I have had the pleasure to serve with. I will remember the places and missions. I will remember, recall it all and marvel that I did this.
In my twilight years, I will hear the roar of jets, the bark of rifles outside the wire. In the distance, I will hear a lone drummer beating that tattoo of Duty, Honor, Country. I will count the gains and losses and be proud to say: I served.
So my friends, in the future, when someone asks of me say: For their tomorrows, I gladly gave my todays.
God bless you all, Farewell
