Otherwise, this is what Joe has told me about Memorial Day in Iraq and his view as a deployed Soldier.
Joe's opinion:
"If the general population wanted to honor us for real, they'd save $5 out of their BBQs & donate it to the USO or MWR."
"Memorial Day isn't for us, its for everyone else to take a day off work and use us as the excuse. Monday will be business as usual here."
His comment from FB: "I'm sick of hearing all this junk about supporting our troops, especially on Memorial Day. If you truly want to support the troops donate to the USO, MWR, or VFW. They do a lot more for the troops than people taking a day off work and eating BBQ in our honor."
And what did the guys do to "celebrate" Memorial Day? They had team based PT stuff, like pushing a hummv 3 miles. Joe said he was thankful he was asleep (he's on a night shift).
So while you have a 3 day weekend and repost warm, fuzzy Memorial Day wishes on Facebook and Twitter and say you are supporting the troops, think about what these men and women are going through and think about what you AREN'T doing to support the troops.
YES YES YES, we should all be remembering all of the servicemen and women that have come before us and thinking about the currently deployed ones and the ones getting orders to go soon. But placating on Facebook and Twitter is not the way to do it. So this post is an awful reminder that a yellow magnet on your car doesn't do anything for our troops. Think bigger.
http://www.uso.org/
http://www.armymwr.com/
http://www.vfw.com/
tellthemthanks.com
9 comments:
Very well put. Thank you for posting.
Amen!
I totally agree about the donation. But I also think that since there is a good number of people who do not know what Memorial Day is for, posting those "warm fuzzies" on Facebook and Twitter is totally okay too to help education... with a note about donation of course ;)
well said! thank you!
Good post Sara! Hopefully it will the get the message out to all those who only think of Memorial Day as a day off.
I'm so glad to see this. I feel the same way! <3
I am very lucky that I did get to enjoy a long weekend with my husband this year, but in the back of my mind is the knowledge that he will be away next year. That niggling thought coupled with your kick-in-the-butt (in a good way!) post inspired me to make a donation to the USO. Hope it'll help brighten a few days out there.
I always heard about the USO, but never really knew what they did for the deployed troops. And I had never heard of the MWR, but now I LOVE them!! They provided the phone banks in Kuwait and Iraq so the guys can make FREE phone calls home. I am going to the USO here on post this week to see if there is a way I can volunteer here in the states. And I will always always always love Tell Them Thanks. I know that even a little letter from a perfect stranger can brighten someone's day. The women that run it are AWESOME! Many of them dont have loved ones in the military but know the need of loving words from back home.
Very nicely said! I couldn't stop reading posts on Facebook yesterday, and while I was glad to see so many of my friends post about their support for the troops, I did feel frustrated. None of them are DOING anything other than talking about how much they appreciate it. Very few of them have taken the time out of their day to follow through with their "support."
*sigh*
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