Thank you for your service, Jim. My Dad was in the Navy too, WWII era. His two brothers also served, one in the Army and the other Air Force. My uncle on my Mother’s side served in Korea in the Navy. My DH was in the Army, Vietnam era, served mostly in Germany, then stayed in the Army reserves as an instructor and retired from the reserves with a total of 29 year’s service. He loved his time serving. My brother went to West Point and also served in the Army. DH and I worked as civilians for the Department of Defense until retirement, and then we both had post-retirement engineering consultant jobs with DoD. Hoo-ah!

Yes, thank you for your service Jim! I’m a proud Navy Brat. My father served in the Navy for 22 years and also fought in the Vietnam war. I don’t think he was ever shot at either, but he used to talk about how poor it was in Vietnam and how fortunate we were. He was gone 6-9 months out of the year. I can still remember as my mother would anxiously drive us to Long Beach Navel Station so we could greet him as he left the ship. A few times, we got to go on board to celebrate Christmas, meet “Santa” and open presents which was magical. Dad was never as happy after he retired and had just joined the Merchant Marines when he was killed in an accident at work. I have his Year Books from the ships he served on though, I believe his favorite was the USS Eversole and/or the Navasota.

Darn Outside! Thank you to your whole family for their service!

Marine Corps. I served with the aircraft wing,
flight operations, aviation ordnance for the legendary A-4 Skyhawk
pilots. Yes, Marines do fly.

I got to serve on land, sea and air, just like they promised. :)

My son served as an Army Reserve Officer. Two deployments to Iraq and 1
1/2 to Afghanistan as Petroleum Supply Officer. He retired after 22
years of distinguished service.

Thanks to all who served and are serving now.

My dad fought at the Battle of the Bulge in WWll. He would never talk about it. He came home with frostbitten toes. Great-nephew is currently in the Navy, he works on helicopters.

Jim, thank you for your service and to all others who are in the Navy!!!

My husband's brother died at Mutter's Ridge, on Dec. 11, 1968, almost 50 years ago. He was commander of F Company. Here is a story about that battle from the point of view of the commander of H Company.

Thank you all for your service!

My son was Special Forces 82nd Airborne, Ft Bragg.

Grandson is in the Navy

Glenda, your grandson will be in Hawaii until when? Will he get sea duty or back to the states?

Got one more year in Hawaii, then he'll have sea duty. Thanks, jim.

Thank all of you and yours for making us feel safe. (What happened to

those days?) I had a DH, 2 brothers, 1BIL, 3 cousins and a nephew in

the service. Lost an Uncle to Viet Nam. Two of those were career men,

and one retired from the AirForce and one still in the Navy. The others

served their enlistment terms.

Thank you, Jim and others. Only one cousin was in VN and came home and stayed away from everyone and was drunk for about a year. Somehow he became a very successful man, and just "retired" to the family farm to work. He seems content and very happy.

USMC vet here. I was also assigned to the airwing and spent 1 year in Iwakuni Japan. My DH is a Navy veteran and my son and his wife are both full time active duty Army National Guard.

My thanks to all who served.

My late husband was LRRP, long range reconnaissance patrol with the Army, pulling three tours in Viet Nam. He struggled for years, but found peace after he left the workforce and could stay home.

I too would like to Thank you Jim. My DH served in Navy 1972-1976 and now our Grandson will have 6 years in Navy Air Crew next week. Because of a health issue he may not be able to serve a life service with the Navy Aircrew which was his dream from day one.

Very sadly, a few days ago a mayor of the town next to me and Member of the National Guard was killed in Afghanistan. Such a horrible tragedy that happened. The community has so been affected by this. Mayor Taylor was a very incredible man and I think all should know how he felt as well as how his family feel about serving our country. Anyone who cares to read the story Ksl.com as well as all Utah news station are covering it. His body just arrived back to North Ogden, Utah this evening. He was truly amazing.I thank every veteran who has put their life on the line for us all.

Isnel, I read the story about your Utah Mayor. So sad to lose these good men like him.

Air Force here. Most of my dad's side of the family were in the military. Dad was a Korean conflict, Vietnam vet, Navy. Both of my brothers were Air Force. Now my son is. Spent Veteran's day and the following day, which was the designated holiday this year taking calls from veterans. Funny how so many don't realize it's veteran's day.

Thank you to all the Veterans!

My dad served in the Canadian Navy during the Korean conflict.

Army here (WAC). Son was in Army.

DH s Dad and uncle WW11. They were to meet for a few days R&R when uncles plane was shot down. Body was never recovered. DHs Dad was wonded but ok.

My husband was one of the last draftees to head to Viet Nam. The war was technically over, but he was shot anyway. We'll never know, nor does it matter, whether it was friendly fire or Vietnamese. His job was cleanup, setting explosives to bury what they couldn't bring back.

Thank you Jim for your service.

My Dad was a WW1 veteran. He was a PFC in the trenches in France. He and his comrades did not speak of that war after they returned. From what little I learned from my Mom, he must have been shell shocked. He also had a fear of land mines and VA hospitals. He met my mother a year after after that war and she said that when they'd take a walk in the woods, if he heard a stick snap, he would instantly freeze and then look around. He associated Army field hospitals with VA hospitals in the States and would not go to one for treatment. He had observed terrible conditions at Field Hospitals. The surgeons ran out of morphine, the drug they used at that time for anesthetic, but amputations had to proceed without it. Medical conditions reverted to that of the Civil War. Those memories haunted him to the end of his life at age 82.

Korea would have been my war following graduation from high school in 1954. In my county, I became prime draft bait on my 18th birthday (graduated before my 18th birthday), and would have been drafted except that I had a deferment because I was in an Engineering Training Program at Rock Island Arsenal, a program sponsored by the Army Ordnance Weapons Command. That deferment was not a gift; It had strings attached. The daft age was 18 through 24 yr of age. By taking this deferment, 4 years was added to my draft age. I could have been drafted the moment I Ieft or graduated from this program. The World was on edge during this period with fear of a nuclear war. Our group was being trained to replace an aging core of ordnance designers. Fortunately for me, the world had calmed by the time I graduated from this program and the Arsenal did not need all of us.

In this group were 3 veterans from the North Korean Conflict. I learned from them that the Korean Police Action was no picnic. The phrase, War is Hell, held true.

Thank you veterans.

Army life was great for me. I learned a lot and had loads of fun. Weekends on the beach in Ocean City and DC when it was too cold for the beach.

Met my xDH moved to Fort Campbell, Ky where he was in 101st Airborne.

Thanks to all who have served!

Lukk said it - the whole family serves when a loved one is in the military. Jim, we are so thankful for the service you gave, and to your family who held down the fort at home. My son is a Major/career Army National Guard who spent a year in Egypt as a Chaplin - it was a very long year for this family. I watch his wonderful wife do her job of raising 4 children and she sure is devoted to Jared to have this much responsibility by herself and never complain. GOD bless all of you!

I went into the Navy in 1966 weighing 166 pounds (almost perfect for my height). When discharged, I weighed 240! My evaluations all noted the excess weight. I sat on my butt for four years and consumed a lot of beer.

Thank all of you who served.

Dad was in WWII, a radio operator in the Pacific arena. As he tells it, his group were asked if they wanted to go to the South or North Pacific. Being an oddball, loving colder climates, he was one of the few in his group who chose North Pacific.

The rest of the enlistees from his group mostly chose South Pacific... and except for two, did not return.

I really don't know if enlistees had this sort of choice, but that's how he told it.

But being in the North, he didn't see any real combat. He spent some time at a base in Siberia (he loved that), and rode out a tsunami at sea, His main personal battle was with a Kodiak bear on the Aleutian Islands, Also, the ship he was aboard (he was in the Army, not the Navy, but there was overlap in deployment) was fired upon by native Aleutian Islanders because some men on the previous ship calling at that same port had taken highly unwelcome liberties with the women on the island.

To all who have, and are serving, thank you.

Thank you everyone for serving when I couldn't. I could not pass the physical.

My father and all 6 of his brothers served in the Danish Army as well. No one ever spoke of it...

I can't imagine the horrors that they saved us from never being able to unsee...

They and everyone who saved us from a life worse than death have my eternal thanks.

As to picking where you wanted to go...we were offered a "dream sheet" several months prior to change of duty station. I had been in San Diego for a year and put down anywhere east coast. They sent me to Maine, closest town of any size had fewer than 1,000 people. I was there for two years.

Next "dream sheet", I asked for the Philippines (I had been working with a guy who had been there and the stories were good). Darned if they didn't send me to the Philippines. Closes town was about 6 miles away and there were no bars. Best town was a 30 minute drive and it was mostly Air Force people there.

I learned to be careful what one wishes for.

Thank you for your service! My DH is a Vietnam vet -- 3 tours! And I am proud of him as well as my Dad who was in the army in World War 1.

Going into the reserves, my active duty obligation was limited to boot camp and military occupation training. I said I didn't care where they sent me (and really had little choice anyway) , but that they needed to get me back home and back to my life as a civilian in 6 months or less. It was different than an active duty commitment. I got home in 5 1/2 months. Because I intentionally chose a job that had a short training period for the very reason to limit my time on active duty, they had no ability (or need) to keep me longer.