Music Monday - 20100531

I sometimes struggle to put something up for Music Monday, even though it is something i really like to do.  And when there is a holiday on Monday i usually do not bother putting one up, but now that i know how to schedule a posting in the future... no big deal!

I went with a patriotic choice for my selection today:

Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I spent 22 years being a "Citizen Soldier".  When i first joined it was not because i was patriotic, or because i wanted to fight for my country.  I needed a job, plain and simple.  It was only over time that i grew out of my adolescence and developed my appreciation for my country.  We are not perfect.  I know not everyone in the world does not want to live like we do, not everyone is jealous of our way of life.

For me it has been an appreciation of what our first National Guard units went through, and how our country has grown from over the past 400+ years.  The ideals of the forefathers of the late eighteenth century are solid, but since man is falable it has not been a perfect run since then (or now).

Only God knows how this "Great Experiment" will work, but it is a noble ideal in my opinion.  And one well worth fighting for.

My appreciateion goes for my fellow Airmen, Sailors, and Marines.  Please never lose a chance to say and give thanks for those who have fought and died for our country.  And while the Armed forces is our country's international defender/representor of our country, never forget those who serve our country domestically:  The Citizen Soldier, the Police, The Firemen, the EMT's, Unifromed Health Services, and many others that i fail to recall that serve us as a whole.

 

May America bless God, and may God continue to watch over and bless America.

In honor of those who have served

I found this over at Monkeys Are Funny (aka My ADHD Me) and felt it appropriate. The splicing is not very good, but the imagery comes through enough. "All gave some, some gave all" is a relatively common saying, but i am not sure it is fully grasped by the public at large. How can it be unless it is experienced first hand? I speak for myself as well. Both of my Grandfathers served in WWII. My Paternal Grandfather served in the Navy and my Maternal Grandfather served in the Army Air Corp (the Air Force now). My father served in the Marines for a time, and my brother is serving in the National Guard currently after having served in the full time Army for fifteen years. Although i served for twenty two years in the National Guard, all but thirteen months of that time has been spent as an M-Day troop. With the possible exception of an annual training spent in Honduras, i have never been in harms way. I have never been under fire. I have never had to fire my weapon in either offensive operations or in self defense. While i am a Veteran, and proud to be one who has served, i do not consider my self as one who has done things like my brother has. He has been deployed four times (that i remember off the top of my head), and he has paid the price in what it has cost him in regards to his family, and to him personally. Thank you to all of the Veterans who have served my country, Men and women. Clerk and Infantryman. Private and General. From the French and Indian War through the current conflicts we are now engaged in. No role was too small.