I received the following from Don (Barbarosa) today. [:)]
It is a beautiful work of art and a reminder of a sad “yesterday”.
This is not a joke. Please check it out.
Subject: On a Rock in Rural Iowa
I’m told that there is a huge rock near a gravel pit on Hwy. 25 in
rural Iowa. For generations, kids have painted slogans, names, and
obscenities on this rock, changing it’s character many times.
A few months back, the rock received it’s latest paint job, and since
then it has been left completely undisturbed. It’s quite an impressive
sight. Click on the link below and check for yourself. There are
multiple photos (all angles) of the rock.
Viewing this rock brings up many emotions within me, pride of our country, sadness of 911, the life and death of JFK, tears for my fellow countrymen who have given all for our country, joy, sorrow, grief, all at once, and a big lump in my throat.
It is a piece of art, well done.
It is a memorial for our fallen friends, family, and countrymen.
It is a reminder of the POW-MIA issue that haunts this country.
How can a “rock” stir the soul as this one has?
As emotions grip the body perhaps silence is what is needed.
Thanks, Jim, for posting that… and thanks to whoever painted it in the first place. It’s nice to know that there is somewhere that the Vets are really respected and loved. Sometimes hard to remember hiding here in the liberal and oh so PC east coast.
Jamie (USAF, ret.)
That’s very inspirational. It’s unfortunate that it takes bad things to make folks appreciate how good we got it, what it took to get it, and what it takes to keep it that way.
The pictures on that rock ARE very moving. My twin brother is ex-Air Force from early 70s.
To this day, he will NOT talk about his time in Thailand: and I’m his twin. We usually share all thoughts with each other.
Jim, thank you for posting and sharing this with us all!
As a 22-year veteran of the Navy, I would like to express my gratitude to the people of this country for their support of us who served. I was never involved in combat, never sought to be in combat. I believe that the use of military force is a last resort, and should be used only when no other means of ensuring our freedom is available.
In my 22 years, I was taken to many different countries, exposed to many different cultures, and saw many different wonders in the world. Some of those wonders I had only seen in pictures and never dreamed of getting to see them myself.
There is no denying that military life is not the most glamorous. The soldier in the foxhole under fire, the aircrewman on the flight deck of the carrier in the middle of the night, the aviators flying the missions through AAA fire, all of them know why they are doing what they are doing.
There was a Doonesbury comic back during Desert Storm that made fun of the sailors onboard ships in their air-conditioned spaces. Unfortunately, it didn’t depict the overcrowded berthing areas, the extremely hot engine-room spaces, the incredibly dangerous environment of the flight deck. I did not serve onboard aircraft carriers, I was on cruisers. They’re not built for comfort, they’re built to fight.
My point is that even though the general public doesn’t know what conditions their service men and women live through, the thought that we are appreciated, remembered, and honored makes it all worthwhile.