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Anyone can join in to this fantastic tradition since 2004. Walk into any Woodcraft Store and turn pens for our troops!

I have walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, past the twin pillars of fire at the Gates of Hell, and descended into the depths of that Abyss. There we have done battle with the Furies, some have fallen. Words cannot express what it is like to hold a fallen comrade in your arms, hear him call for his Mother, pray with him that God will take away the pain, and listen as he begs you to take him home because he is cold. Nor can mere words convey the emotions you experience as you watch the last breath of life leave the body, see the eyes go cold and gray, then feel the gentle whisper of the wind as the spirit departs the body. I have avenged my fallen comrades. The enemy has known true fear, and experienced the vicious taste of my wrath. They have learned I will show no mercy. But it did not bring them back. My experience has taught me two lessons; the first is that life is short and should be enjoyed; the second is that Freedom is not free. It is paid for with blood and the sacrifice of those who stand on the line and say nothing crosses me on my watch. If you want past me you must go through me and I will not go quietly into the night. Today I enjoy the beauty of a soft rain on a lazy afternoon. I am grateful that God has allowed me to come home to be one of the “Returned”. As you go your ways thank those who have served and if you have a moment take time to “Remember the Fallen”.

Yesterday, May 18, 2109, was Armed Forces Day. I didn't notice it on my calendar until just now. Sorry. I'll get down and push off 20. One, two, three, four, ...... Congratulations and a hearty thank you to all members and veterans of all armed forces and their families everywhere!

I'm always glad to see recognition of veterans. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/first-east-idaho-memorial-dedicated-to-female-veterans-unveiled-in/article_373f0345-46ff-5087-8f6f-601341d0787d.html hat

Happy Veterans Day (Nov 11) to all veterans everywhere, alive or dead, and to their families and friends. Thank you for everything you have done , and continue to do, for all of us. Lots of local celebrations the entire W/E, Friday-Monday hat

https://navajotimes.com/reznews/south-korean-delegation-honors-navajos-korean-war-veterans/ Check this out! hat

http://www.mauinews.com/news/community-news/2018/09/joint-service-will-remember-sacrifices-of-nisei-soldiers-of-wwii/ Check out the article honoring the Japanese-Americans in WWII. hat

Memorial Day This is not a day of celebration, this is not a day to say "Happy Memorial Day", as we often see the banners streaming across the door way of a big box store, or your car dealers lot, "Happy Memorial Day!". My friends, there is nothing happy about it. This day is not a happy occasion to celebrate. It is a day of solemn remembrance for those who gave their lives under the banner of our nation. I am taken back by the celebratory mood that surrounds one of the most profound annual holidays in our nations docket of patriotic remembrances. Photo: 16-year-old Deandra Christiansen, whose veteran father, Eric Christiansen, passed away in April 2013 at the age of 45. The teenager was among hundreds of relatives who gathered at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan. Memorial Day, a day of memorializing the men and women who died while in service. This is a serious day, a day that, in a perfect world we should never have to recognize. But the reality is our country has been at the tip of the spear in conflicts around the world since the time of our existence as a nation. And we have lost many Americans. In today's challenging domestic environment it's even more crucial than ever to give our attention to the service members who have given all to our nation in order to ensure that the citizens of our nation can go about our daily lives, living and enjoying the fruits of labor that our military and the men and women who serve have provided, and continue to provide. All too often many people in our nation will forget what this day is all about, the youth today are losing sight of what it means to give, to sacrifice, to put the person standing beside them first, instead of putting themselves first. As adults, we need to remind our youth constantly that we live in a very exceptional country, and they should take nothing for granted. We should teach them the importance of our military, and we should remind them that if for one day our military stopped working, that would be the day life as they know it would change in an instant. Our enemies would exploit the weakness, and over run our shores. Our military is a great wall, a barrier between us and the bad actors of the world. Sometimes our military has to take the fight to them, instead of letting them come here to our nation. And our men and women have given their lives on some far off piece of land in order to ensure our safety here at home. We need to drive that message home to our own kids, their friends, and even often times, the adults around us. Photo: Christian Golcyznski accepts his fathers flag, Christian is one youth who will never forget the true meaning of Memorial Day. Lets enjoy the day off, lets enjoy being in the company of the ones we love, but the whole while, lets not let the feeling of solemness, and remembrance leave our hearts. We owe those who are no longer with us, that. Just one day is all they are asking. Memorial Day, May 28th 2018. I pray that God will keep in a very special place those who died in service and long after, for they are the ones who gave of themselves selflessly, and they will be "Forever Young". And we'd like to ask all who read this to pray or offer a word of thanks at your barbecue for our troops both past and present, and set out an empty table setting over an empty chair at your dinner table, in memory, and in hope that our men and women serving today will always return home safe, and whole in mind and body. Also may God Bless our great and very special nation, and may He protect those in harms way as they serve our country and its people today, and into the future. Posting in this topic Please post your feelings and memories in this topic, also please post the names and images of loved ones and friends lost during military service. Thank you all for being here, and helping us preserve the memories of those who served. Links of interest Time's Memorial Day History Wikipedia Memorial Day CNN Memorial Day Fast Facts and Timeline History Channels 8 Things You May Not Know About Memorial Day Featured Video

Faces most of us remember _Hollywood Veterans.pdf

Our president signed a bill, and it looks great for our troops, just a heads up. And it looks great for our NASA program! Please no politics, this is just a heads up for our vets and active duty who may be reading, some new bene's are in town along with a pay raise, and a chance for retired military to transition to recruiting. Any controversial commentary regarding our current president and past administrations will be deleted immediately, this is an FYI only for our troops and interested parties. Please stay away from any commentary positive or negative towards current or past administrations, only commentary on the actual bill itself are allowed. Cheers https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/12/12/trump-signs-defense-bill-heres-what-it-means-you.html?ESRC=army-a_171214.nl

Introduction Our very own Patriot Woodworker John Mordus, or better known in our circles as @honesttjohn, is an artist on CNC (computer numerical control) woodworking. John was one of the first CNC woodworkers to join our community and helped crowd our new CNC forums. One of John's favorite creations he performs on his CNC machine are the military plaques he enjoys carving. You can see his CNC gallery featuring these very plaques here at: John's Contribution John contacted us and asked us if we could use any of his work to benefit our current project for our Gold Star Widow Nicole Merlo. As you all know we are in the midst of raising funds for the Merlo Family. The carvings below are for sale. All the proceeds from the sale of these items will be used to purchase their Christmas meal for the family, which is a stipulation of our project as assigned to us by Operation Ward 57. Yes I know, 200 dollars is a good fair amount for a Christmas meal, but let's hope the Merlo Family will have a Christmas meal they will never forget! Perhaps they'll invite some friends over, perhaps they'll go a Prime Rib route in addition to the traditional Turkey and Ham. Whatever they decide to do, it will be memorable, and they can shop without worry for their memorable Christmas meal as provided by you, The Patriot Woodworker's. Each plaque has approximately 10 hours of glue up and carving labor into them. These are American Crafts of high quality and workmanship. (shipping will be paid by the TPW community, so that all 200 dollars will reach the Merlo Family) How to purchase Please leave a reply to this topic here if you wish to purchase one or both of these beautiful carvings. Keep in mind, these are also displayed throughout our Merlo Family project portals such as Facebook and Twitter, we reserve the right to sell these carvings outside of our Patriot Woodworker community, all here will be notified immediately if one or both carvings sell outside of our community before they sell here. In Closing We want to thank everyone who has contributed to this project with your raffle ticket purchases, your "getting out the word campaigns", just being here, and all your best wishes for the success of this years Christmas project. And we want to thank John Mordus for his material contribution to the project. You all have come through wonderfully this year, nothing more can be asked of you all, we have some big donors of treasure through our raffle, and we have had some very important smaller donors through our raffle, because even though they don't have much for themselves, they still managed to come up with a few extra dollars to help make a difference in a Gold Star widows Christmas. All contributions hold equal weight, we have all given what we can, and most importantly, it was all done with heart. We truly have the greatest and smallest woodworking community in the cyber world. After all, we are: The Few, The Proud, The Patriot Woodworkers! Thank you Patriot Woodworkers!

While perusing my Facebook friends pages I came across Scott Phillips who was posing in a most awesomely cool picture of himself, and his WWII Veteran Dad. What a great pic!

September 11th 2001, I woke up and went to the living room and asked my mother what movie she was watching. She turned with tears in her eyes and said it's not a movie it's the news. I was going to St Pete Community College to enter the military as an officer. I continue to get ready for the day and went to school. When I arrived the first class we turned on the TV and continued to watch. They then cancelled classes for the rest of the day. I left and immediately went to my recruiter. I told him I no longer want to finish this as an officer application but I want to go in as enlisted now. He processed my paper as fast as he could and next thing I know I was on my way to basic training. I had signed on as a uh60 helicopter repair with the possibility of going flight and being a crew chief door gunner. My first Duty station was Camp Stanley Korea with 2nd Infantry Division. When we arrived we went straight to the sergeant majors office. He asked the five of us "who would like to go into maintenance?". Three of them raise their hands and he said perfect, that's just what I needed, you two are going flight. I then reported to my company and was sent to Green platoon to learn how to be a non-rated crew member. I spent my tour in Korea doing air assault resupply missions Etc. I was then transferred to the general officer platoon due to my ability as a crew chief. I then was the personal crew chief for the assistant division Commander maneuver assistant division Commander support and the division Commander under VIP missions. When I left Korea I was sent to Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras. The main missions were humanitarian Aid and Counter Narcotics. In 2004 we had a major deployment to Haiti for "Operation Secure Tomorrow". The mission was to overthrow and oust Aristide. After 3 months we had completed our mission and preparing to redeploy back to Honduras. We then got word to stand down one week before we were going to leave due to a major incoming storm. We then provided humanitarian Aid throughout the country as it was devastated by said storm. We delivered rice water cooking supplies Etc. This is where I first truly experienced death. Bodies floating in flood waters along with bodies crushed underneath landslides with arms and legs sticking out just to name two things. We then redeployed to Honduras and I continued my missions until I I went to my next Duty station. I then was stationed with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. In 2006 we deployed to FOB Speicher, Iraq. We did resupply missions for troop movement missions and air assaults and air coverage for ground assaults Etc. On October 26th 2006 we had a mission to bring VIPs to determine how to repair and guard an oil pipeline that was blown up. We dropped off the VIPs and loitered in the area. Well wheel ordered the wind shifted 180 degrees and our new Landing Zone was in the area of Fallout from the fire. We were approximately 40 ft above ground level when the dust kicked up and stuck to the windows due to the oil in the talcum powder dust. The new pilot that was flying next to the instructor pilot panicked and dumped the collective instead of transitioning to instruments. I was standing up outside the crew window to ensure we didn't contact the pipeline. When we hit the ground I crumpled into the window frame on the side of the butterfly grips of my machine gun and the lower window sill. We then rotated on to the right landing gear and somehow managed to land back on the left. I don't understand how this happened as we were past the point of dynamic rollover. This is when the aircraft is past a certain degree that will not be able to recover and continue and roll. They denied what happened due to not wanting it on record. After about a month I went to my platoon later and told him I cannot fly anymore as I was hurt too bad. I was denied medical care or medical evacuation and immediately transferred to the support battalion. While I was there the same aircraft came in for phase maintenance. I immediately told them not to touch the aircraft and we need to perform a hard Landing inspection due to what happened. they then went to my unit and asked where the records of this hard landing were. I don't know what was said but it was recorded somewhere and when we redeployed I was able to get checked out by the doctors. That's when they found out my neck back hips knees ankles feet and wrists were injured. I was then transferred to the Wounded Warrior Battalion where I received treatment and was in the process of medical retirement. Unfortunately I had a suicide attempt and was inpatient at Tripler Medical Center. If you miss two appointments during your Retirement Board they cancel it and send you back to your unit. I had already been back to my unit as I was told that's where I had to be to finish my paperwork. My unit had already deployed to Afghanistan so I was placed on the rear detachment. The persons in charge were the ones that they didn't trust to deploy or hold a weapon or lead troops. While I was in the hospital the acting platoon Sergeant illegally made appointments for me knowing I couldn't make them due to being inpatient. When I saw the acting Commander he threatened me with a bat and acts, as well as another Soldier to shoot him when we go to the range next time. a short time later my wife who was pregnant with her second child and was having a complicated pregnancy was in the emergency medical care unit on base. I was told to return to my unit and I replied with "I cannot as my wife is here with serious issues". They then sent other NCO's to escort me back. I said under my breath if he threatens me again I will throw them out the window. At the time I was so medicated that I was literally drooling on myself. I was then given uniform code of military Justice punishment. they stripped me of my rank and placed me on extra Duty and as soon as that was finished I was discharged on a personality disorder. I have spent the last seven and a half years fighting the VA to receive treatment and care that was appropriate and to receive my disability. I am still fighting with the Army to receive my medical retirement and that is where I currently stand. I was approved for Social Security disability and now currently waiting on my back pay and check but they have yet to make a decision on how much it should be. Hopefully it is what it should be as this will bring us out of the hole as I support a family of 5 solely on VA disability and a small caregiver check that my wife receives to take care of me. I personally think this is a ridiculous hell veterans! We can provide all sorts of things to illegal immigrants Etc but yet we cannot help homeless veterans and we make it extremely difficult for injured veterans to receive benefits. And that is just a brief summary of what happened during my Enlistment in the army.