Rant #2,463: Respect

Today is Veterans Day, which means today is the day we honor our veterans of all our wars and conflicts.

You don't have to agree with any of these unfortunate events, but you have to respect the service members that fought in them, that served in them, and often made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our country.

My father served in the Marines, and although he never fought in combat during the Korean War, he wears his time in the service very proudly.

He is a Marine, will be a Marine forever, and he will never forget his two years as a Marine. It is part of him forever.

Ironically, my father-in-law was also a Marine during the same period, and as I discussed in previous Rants, their paths definitely crossed at least once or twice while they were both in the service. How funny it is that years later, their oldest childrens' paths crossed into marriage. The world is small, isn't it?

Here is Rant #1,552, dated November 12, 2015, where I talk about Veterans Day and my father. It has been slightly edited:

"Today is Veterans Day, and I hope you celebrated it the right way, by honoring our troops in some way.

Going on Facebook, I found a relatively new phenomenon on this site: people were posting pictures up of their fathers who had served in the military.

Most were from the Korean War frame, some were from World War II, but people were posting up these photos along with little vignettes about their time in the service.

I learned a lot, I have to say, even about people I once knew, or thought I knew.

One of my friend's fathers, who died just a few years back, was a Purple Heart recipient. I had no idea at all about this.

Now, what about my father ...

My father only talks about his time in the Marines during the Korean War when asked to. He tells all the funny stories--and there are plenty--about his time in the service. If you want to believe all these stories, he was a cross between Sgt. Bilko and Valentino during this time stationed in places like Camp Lejeune and Opa Locka and Cuba.

But there was also a dark side to all this, and that stuff doesn't come up as much.

He has told some stories here and there about his time in the Marines which aren't funny, and really kind of sad.

I have heard from my aunt that when he came home on leave, he wasn't the same guy he was when he left.

But that was more than 60 years ago, and I guess he has learned to handle it, by telling the funny stories--which I believe probably aren't all true, but based on things that really happened--and forgetting the not so funny stories when pressed about it.

My father never went to Korea. One of the not so funny stories he tells is that two sets of papers were drawn on him, one to send him there, one not. The Marines thought there was some monkey business on his part, and threw him in jail for a time until they could sort it out.

So yes, according to my father, they never apologized for doing this to him, and he has a prison record in the Marines. I don't know if it was ever expunged or not, but according to him, his time in the brig is still on the books.

Anyway, I wanted to put up a photo of him on Facebook, but alas, my problem was that I had no photos of him in the military.

As I said, he only talks about it when pressed, or when he wants to talk about the funny stories.

I figured my mother had some photos squirreled away somewhere, so I called her, and she said she had just one photo.

So  I got the photo, scanned it, and you are seeing the only photo I have of my dad in the Marines.

He doesn't remember where it was taken, but I estimate it was taken in about 1949 or 1950, when my father was 18 or 19 years old--just slightly younger than my son is.

Even though he never went to war, he was there to serve, and his contribution should not be downgraded because he never went to the battle line. You always need a solid backbone at home, and he provided that, and he would have gone if called upon.

My mother says there are other photos, but she doesn't know where they are, so this one photo will have to suffice."

Well I guess that that about says it all about Veterans Day, at least for me. My father is my hero, and he will be forever.

Today is Veterans Day, and yesterday was my wife's birthday.

In spite of protests about getting hsr a gift being the the situation I am in, I got her one anyway, and we also ordered Chinese food in, so even though it was kind of a nothing day--we didn't do anything really special most of Sunday--we still honored my wife's birth.

It was fun, and it made me feel good that I still could get her something.

And today, on Veterans Day, I hope to get myself something, as I am finally permitted to apply for unemployment. My time in purgatory is finally over, and I can apply for something that I have been paying into for decades.

I have to literally start from scratch in doing so, but I will do it and try to get the ball rolling here. I have not brought one red cent into this house in over a month, so the time has come to add to the coffers, but it probably won't be a couple of more weeks before I actually get my first check.

But at least I know it will be coming if I need it, which chances are, I will.

So today is a big day for me. While I honor my father and all the other men and women who served, I also start my own process of getting whatever monies are due me.

Wish me luck ... and honor the veterans--they deserve it!