Motivational - 8/4/06

[JWG]

Daily Motivational - August 4th, 2006.



From: Sgt. Grit's Website ---- Suggested By: Our very own, BARRET . MOTO!!

Marine writes to his friends and family,

I am the proud mother of two United States Marines. I noticed the page of poems & etc written by Marines. My older son was out at sea when 9/11 occured. He sent a letter home that brought tears to my eyes. I sent copies of it out with my Christmas cards that year.

Thank You, Dorothy D. Di Liddo

To my friends and family,

No doubt you have a lot of questions, and I wish I had a lot of answers but I don't. The fact is there is a lot of stuff I don't know, and the stuff I do know I can't tell you. Your questions as to where I will be in a month and what I will be doing are impossible to answer.

There is one thing I can tell you though, and that is that I am all right. My future remains uncertain, but there is one thing I am certain of; I am ready. I am not afraid of what lies ahead, whatever it may be. And should the call to arms come my way, I will gladly answer it. I am confident in the training the Marines have given me and I have strength in the Lord. As long as I have that, I know I will make it home safe, even if I don't know when that will be.

Whatever you do in the next few weeks, don't let what has happened get the better of you. That is exactly what they want. They can trample as many American flags as they want, but they can never trample our spirit. Believe that and we can never be defeated. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and know I am doing the same.

God bless you all, and God bless America.

----

If that ain't MOTIVATING.. I don't know what is!

[WannabeDevildog]

Damn, the secret's out! That's where I've been getting my inputs for the MOTO posts. Anyway, here's my input for the day, again from Sgt. Grit's website (grunt.com)

Subject: John Glenn's Response to H. Metzenbaum, May 3, 1974, Ohio Senate Democratic primary

This exchange between Senators Glenn and Metzenbaum is worth reading. Pretty impressive impromptu speech! Next time someone accuses you or any veteran of not having a "job" because you're in the military, quote Sen Glenn.
Howard Metzenbaum to John Glenn:

"How can you run for Senate when you've never held a 'job'?"
John Glenn's Response:

"I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I was through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions."

"I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook, it was my life that was on the line. This was not a 9-to-5 job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank."

"I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day to a Veterans Hospital, and look those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them they didn't hold a job."

"You go with me to any Gold Star mother, and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job."

"You go with me to the space program, and you go as I have gone to the widows and the orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job."

"You go with me on Memorial Day coming up, and you stand on Arlington National Cemetery--where I have more friends than I like to remember--and you watch those waving flags, and you stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a job."

"I tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men--SOME MEN--who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself."

"And their self-sacrifice is what has made this country possible."

"I HAVE HELD A JOB, HOWARD!"