Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day


This weekend we were able to spend time together as a family, which doesn't happen very often between Jay playing shows, studying, and he's been traveling a lot more often.  We spent last night after Siri went to bed watching several programs memorializing the military, which was really such a great way to commemorate the fallen and really put into perspective what our freedom has cost.  It was also interesting to sit and watch these programs with Jay, who has lost friends in Iraq and is incredibly close mouthed about a lot of what he's been through and seen in his deployments.  We were watching a show about "Operation Proper Exit," where military personnel that have PTSD have been taken back to the site of their stress to see if they can get some closure.  I was crying, probably harder than was warranted due to hormones, about all of the things these men deal with and was talking to Jay about it when I realized, no one walks away from war unscathed.  You don't make the incredible bonds these men make with each other, watch them die, and come home the same person.  

I tease Jay all the time about being obsessed with the Marines. I will definitely never understand the bonds he formed with his Marine buddies, but I'm super thankful he decided to be one of the 1% that serves and let it form the person he's become.  

Jay looks up Marine quotes on the regular, here are a few of my favorites.  

A Marine is a Marine.  I set that policy two weeks ago - there's no such thing as a former Marine.   You're a Marine,  just in a different uniform and you're in a different phase of your life.  But you'll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico.  There's no such thing as a former Marine.
General James F. Amos, 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!
Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945 

Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States; 1985 

Marines die, that's what we're here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means YOU live forever.
GySgt. Hartman, USMC

1 comment:

  1. We wandered the Mt. Pleasant cemetery yesterday, going from flag to flag. We saw veterans from every war from Korea and earlier (didn't happen upon anyone more modern), including many veterans of the Indian wars in the 1830s, 40s, 50, and 60s. Freedom does have a price. Thank Jay for us, please—we are grateful he's a Marine.

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