Welcome home, Dad!

[Semper Fi]

Just got home about 45 minutes ago! Doesn't seem real, it's been 11 months. Now all I gotta do is wait for my brother to get home (from college) for Christmas!

 

[Stephanie]

I'm so happy for you and your family Semper Fi. Please tell your dad Thank You for his service, and we greatly appreciate him and all the military men and women who serve for us all. Have a very Merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year....

 

[Annie]

Semper, enjoy! :usa: :clap1: :clap1: :clap1:

 

[Mr. P]

That's great Semper!

 

[archangel]

Christmas present...your Dad is home safe and sound...have a wonderful Christmas and give your Dad a hug from my family.... :halo:

 

[Gem]

I'm so happy for you and your family, Semper! Please tell your Dad "THANK YOU!" from me and my family! :usa: :usa:

 

[Semper Fi]

Yeah he's kicking back in sweat pants with a beer right now. A little off topic, I just found a Target gift card in my wallet, turns out its got 25 bucks on it...any ideas? www.target.com

 

[fuzzykitten99]

Yeah he's kicking back in sweat pants with a beer right now. A little off topic, I just found a Target gift card in my wallet, turns out its got 25 bucks on it...any ideas? www.target.com

buy a board game that your whole family could play together when your brother gets home. I recommend "Cranium" if you don't have it already. I also love "Dirty Minds", but unless you are willing to read out phrases that sound dirty in front of your mom and dad, it may not be the best one. My whole family has a dirty mind (genetic, i guess), so this is one of the classics with us.

I find I have the most fun playing these games than anything else we do together. Even playing dominoes (mexican train) is fun. Better than movies or video games.

 

[no1tovote4]

Say Thankee to your pa for us....

 

[007]

Yeah he's kicking back in sweat pants with a beer right now. A little off topic, I just found a Target gift card in my wallet, turns out its got 25 bucks on it...any ideas? www.target.com

Man that's great your Paw made it home in one piece for Christmas. What a great Christmas story!!! And tell your Pop to have a cold one on the ole Pale Rider, saying thanks from a vet.

The Target Gift Card... I'd take it down town and give it to a bum.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Just got home about 45 minutes ago! Doesn't seem real, it's been 11 months. Now all I gotta do is wait for my brother to get home (from college) for Christmas!

Congratulations.

Thank your dad on my behalf, and enjoy your Merry Christmas reunion!

 

[BATMAN]

Thank God for men like your dad.

Have a Merry Christmas together as a family.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Just got home about 45 minutes ago! Doesn't seem real, it's been 11 months. Now all I gotta do is wait for my brother to get home (from college) for Christmas!

That's a great Christmas present. Send my regards and thanks to your dad as well. This also seems like an appropriate place to post something a friend of mine sent me on Sunday. He's a former Marine, by the way.

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, I couldn't tell quite how old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

 

[Semper Fi]

Thanks guys. That poem almost made me cry, which would have been embarrassing cause I'm at school. Thanks again.

It's definately good having him home. Tonight we're going to the Christmas party for my Civil Air Patrol squadron, should be a good time.

 

[Abbey Normal]

I'm so happy for you and your whole family!!

 

[archangel]

Thanks guys. That poem almost made me cry, which would have been embarrassing cause I'm at school. Thanks again.

It's definately good having him home. Tonight we're going to the Christmas party for my Civil Air Patrol squadron, should be a good time.

a really good group for the young and old for that matter...I remember when I was just a young'n and went to a 'War Games' event with my big brother...I kicked butt on the ground but was a little scarry in the Air...needless to say most, including my bro, went on to careers in the Air Force..I on the other hand went on into the Army...My bro and I still laugh about this...so what are you going to go into the Marines,Air Force or just a Ground Pounder? :teeth:

 

[Semper Fi]

a really good group for the young and old for that matter...I remember when I was just a young'n and went to a 'War Games' event with my big brother...I kicked butt on the ground but was a little scarry in the Air...needless to say most, including my bro, went on to careers in the Air Force..I on the other hand went on into the Army...My bro and I still laugh about this...so what are you going to go into the Marines,Air Force or just a Ground Pounder? :teeth:

Marine Corps, though not necessarily aviation. Hereditarily, however, I would make a good pilot; both grandfathers former Air Force, dad an Army aviator for 20 years, and my brother was a natural pilot the first time he flew the Cessna's at CAP. I, myself dont know, flying doesnt appeal to me as much as it used to (used to be OBSESSED with flying, I watched Top Gun almost daily). However, one never knows. One never knows....

So this war games thing, tell me all you care to tell about it, and does it still go on today?

 

[archangel]

Marine Corps, though not necessarily aviation. Hereditarily, however, I would make a good pilot; both grandfathers former Air Force, dad an Army aviator for 20 years, and my brother was a natural pilot the first time he flew the Cessna's at CAP. I, myself dont know, flying doesnt appeal to me as much as it used to (used to be OBSESSED with flying, I watched Top Gun almost daily). However, one never knows. One never knows....

So this war games thing, tell me all you care to tell about it, and does it still go on today?

I haven't a clue this was back about 1960 in Southern Calif..I was in the 10th grade and my bro the 12th...at any rate his CAP unit always had war games with the Northern Calif unit in the Mojave desert...I got to tag along and play...and play I did...we had a great time dodging flour bombs from a plane flying overhead...then we attacked the ground unit control base..being still pissed off from the flour in my hair I assaulted the command unit full blast and covered them all in flour! I was awarded ground pounder extraordinar...whatever that was worth!

 

[Semper Fi]

I haven't a clue this was back about 1960 in Southern Calif..I was in the 10th grade and my bro the 12th...at any rate his CAP unit always had war games with the Northern Calif unit in the Mojave desert...I got to tag along and play...and play I did...we had a great time dodging flour bombs from a plane flying overhead...then we attacked the ground unit control base..being still pissed off from the flour in my hair I assaulted the command unit full blast and covered them all in flour! I was awarded ground pounder extraordinar...whatever that was worth!

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
That sounds so cool! Man I wish we could do that here, ahh! I gotta talk to my commander and see about getting down there and showing them what Alskan CAP is like!