6:33 PM |
The paper said that Memorial Day is not the beginning of summer. It is not Veteran's Day. It is not the Fourth of July. Memorial Day is Decoration Day which was when stuff was put on the graves of Civil War casualties. Veteran's Day was done after WWI and is an international holiday. Who knew?
The VFW in Delaware had a ceremony which was really a BBQ today. There was a little flag raising, or to be exact, half raising. The post commander's daughter in Iraq donated the flag. Her unit's motto is something like Vigilance or Valient or something and the commander made a speech and said "whatever that is." The commanders wear those little hats that they wear in parades. It's okay if you put little replicas of your medals on it. My SEAL is the most highly decorated in the post, with a silver star, two bronzes and a purple heart (which he says is a marksmanship award for the enemy). He said he'd never wear one of those (he called it) beanies. But there it is on his bean. After the flag half-raising, a young guy did taps on a bugle. He wasn't very good, but he is a young guy and you don't get many of them at the VFW. The old guys smoke up a storm and the bar is not a good place to be unless you are an old guy smoking. They used to put cigarettes in K-Rations. Two old guys did the 21 gun salute except it was 3 guns. They had to be schooled on how to do it. Not how to shoot, that is. How to do it like they want you to do it in the military. They sorta stumbled on the quarter turn or whatever it is. The 3 gun salute was aimed over the neighbor's roof. No one remembered to police the brass until some other old guy stepped on a casing. This is my ex-husband the SEAL and my son doing the flag thing.
The VFW members often do not have many teeth. They do have grey ponytails and motorcycles with no helmets. And they do happen to be very nice, especially after a half dozen Bud Lights. They are going to do shots later. Here are some old guys at the bar. You can tell they have served our country.
This is a new guy away from the bar. His name is Jamie and he spent ten years in one of the branches before he went to Officer Training School and then learned to fly stuff. He flies Blackhawks now.
The most important part of the celebration is the food. They make a lot of food. This is Charlie with some hoochie mama. Charlie is the grillmeister. They developed this clever flipping thing that can make 150 pork chops at a time. They got the pork chops at Zingermans or Zingers or Zingos or something with a z that sells pork chops. The pork chops are an inch and a quarter. We are all impressed.
In addition to the pork chops, there were beans and salad and applesauce and baked potatoes and rolls. There were also two cakes. One celebrating the achievement of our military and one celebrating the achievement of my kid in actually getting through high school.
Outside of the post is the requisite tank and also this signpost pointing to the different combat arenas in which the members served (I think). There is an empty helmet on top of it as a reminder to everyone.
I was very excited in the parking lot because there was this truck whose front plate says:
The VFW in Delaware had a ceremony which was really a BBQ today. There was a little flag raising, or to be exact, half raising. The post commander's daughter in Iraq donated the flag. Her unit's motto is something like Vigilance or Valient or something and the commander made a speech and said "whatever that is." The commanders wear those little hats that they wear in parades. It's okay if you put little replicas of your medals on it. My SEAL is the most highly decorated in the post, with a silver star, two bronzes and a purple heart (which he says is a marksmanship award for the enemy). He said he'd never wear one of those (he called it) beanies. But there it is on his bean. After the flag half-raising, a young guy did taps on a bugle. He wasn't very good, but he is a young guy and you don't get many of them at the VFW. The old guys smoke up a storm and the bar is not a good place to be unless you are an old guy smoking. They used to put cigarettes in K-Rations. Two old guys did the 21 gun salute except it was 3 guns. They had to be schooled on how to do it. Not how to shoot, that is. How to do it like they want you to do it in the military. They sorta stumbled on the quarter turn or whatever it is. The 3 gun salute was aimed over the neighbor's roof. No one remembered to police the brass until some other old guy stepped on a casing. This is my ex-husband the SEAL and my son doing the flag thing.
The VFW members often do not have many teeth. They do have grey ponytails and motorcycles with no helmets. And they do happen to be very nice, especially after a half dozen Bud Lights. They are going to do shots later. Here are some old guys at the bar. You can tell they have served our country.
This is a new guy away from the bar. His name is Jamie and he spent ten years in one of the branches before he went to Officer Training School and then learned to fly stuff. He flies Blackhawks now.
The most important part of the celebration is the food. They make a lot of food. This is Charlie with some hoochie mama. Charlie is the grillmeister. They developed this clever flipping thing that can make 150 pork chops at a time. They got the pork chops at Zingermans or Zingers or Zingos or something with a z that sells pork chops. The pork chops are an inch and a quarter. We are all impressed.
In addition to the pork chops, there were beans and salad and applesauce and baked potatoes and rolls. There were also two cakes. One celebrating the achievement of our military and one celebrating the achievement of my kid in actually getting through high school.
Outside of the post is the requisite tank and also this signpost pointing to the different combat arenas in which the members served (I think). There is an empty helmet on top of it as a reminder to everyone.
I was very excited in the parking lot because there was this truck whose front plate says:
This Farm Uses
JOHN DEERE
Tractors
Note to self: meet farm guy and see tractors.
There was also this cool Impala. It has fuzzy dice hanging off the mirror and amazing chrome. It has 16,000 miles from new. The top is good, too. It is for sale. Note to self: if in need of car, go to VFW.
Escape from bar smoke. Sunburned again. See Ron the Hun, get ass kicked and have water ice.