My Gold Star

[Sporadicus]

I regret that my contribution couldn't have made it soon enough to propel the boot toward *, but I was able to make it today from another computer. I still haven't figured out why I got a 'server not found' error when trying to donate last week; I'm suspecting the problem is related to my ISP, but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.

Anyway, back to my star. I'm a veteran of the armed forces, and the current smear campaign being waged against John Kerry troubles me a great deal. These Smear Boat Veterans for * degrade the sacrifices of EVERY member of the armed forces, regardless of the time period or branch of service in which they served.

I served six years active duty and 14 years reserve, and our nation was fortunate enough to have avoided major armed conflict during that time. I enlisted as soon as I turned 18, early in 1973, as the war in Vietnam was de-escalating toward 'peace with honor.' Aside from a close encounter with a Soviet submarine during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, my years of active duty saw only proxy wars being fought in the name of the United States and Soviet Union.

My years in the reserve coincided with conflicts in Grenada and Panama, but I was not called to active duty. Reservists and National Guard members generally expected activation only in the case of dire national emergency. Toward the end of my years of reserve duty, I transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve, since I was entering graduate school; I had a full-time job and youngsters in my family as well. Less than two months later, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and my old unit spent several months in the Persian Gulf. I suffered a good deal of guilt over 'checking out' so perilously close to activation, but received assurances that all my old comrades came through the tour without incident.

During all my years of service, I received some medals and ribbons - not a lot, mind you, since our nation was fortunate enough to have avoided major conflict in those days. A couple of these medals were awarded for my merit as an individual, but the others were awarded to the unit of which I was a part. Each one was a source of pride for me, even those awarded to the unit, since it represented concerted effort on the part of every individual within the unit.

Today I received recognition for a contribution as an individual, but it represents a group effort that is far greater than anything I could accomplish on my own. In the relatively short time that I have been participating on Democratic Underground, I have seen enormous dedication on the part of individuals toward what we see as a noble goal. We're not facing armed conflict in these efforts to promote progressive candidates and ideals, but the value added to our society and the world community is no less worthy of recognition than service in the armed forces. I'm just as proud of my donor star as any of those awards I received during my service in the armed forces.

Labor_Ready
USN, 1973-1979
USNR-R, 1979-1990
USNR-IRR, 1990-1993
DU, 2004-

[peekaloo]

1. kick

GD worthy.

[Bunny]

2. Wow! Great post!

Thanks for your service and congratulations on your star. It looks good on you!