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May 26, 2003
i'll be (in some) home soon
i'll be dogwatching tonight, tueday wednesday and maybe thursday at the whale.
happy memorial day.
(jumbo shrimp.)
people laid their lives down for you to get off work today, and i'm not talking gulf war II: revenge of the shrub.
think about it.
memorial day and veterans day are the marketing dregs that are left of a bunch of real American holidays. decoration day, which began when a group of southern woman went out to decorate the graves of the confederate dead and decided to decorate the graves of the union dead as well, armistace day, which celebrated the ceasation of fighting in world war 1, the two Victory days (V-Europe and V-Japan) which celebrated the end of world war 2, and believe it or not May Day. generic replacements for specific acts of remembrance and celebration.
i useually morn for coast guard dead on memorial day. no one remembers their service, let alone their losses. and now they've been quitely subsumed by the monster that is homeland defense. they were the only armed force founded to save lives, the only armed force to ever face backruptcy, and the only armed force given juresdiction within the us (the army ariforce and marines have juresdiction within their bases, the coastguard has juresdiction on any american waterway). they also lead the d-day invasion, alone and unarmed. they were the frogmen before the frogmen, the udt before the udt, the seals before the seals, and all the while saved us from drowniing and patrolled against smugglers, and collisions. they're in charge of protecting the marine enviornment, manning the lighthouses and aiding disstressed seaman.
and not just during international mr leather week.
Posted by parody at May 26, 2003 05:03 PM
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Comments
Good point, Ffej. The USCG is often taken for granted.
I remember seeing "The Longest Day" (about D-Day) with my Dad, who had served with the Marines in the Pacific. Afterwards, he told me that D-Day was a HUGE risk, and a testimony to the extraordinary courage of the soldiers.
Not used to hearing compliments to other branches from him, I asked him why. He said only the Marines were trained to do amphibious assaults, and they were all in the Pacific, and it was just amazing they pulled off D-Day without the Marines: "It took real guts for those guys to do that."
Posted by: Jerry at May 27, 2003 11:39 AM
yeah. marines storm beaches with guns.
the coast guard did it unarmed.
BTW, they took part in a lot of the pacific campaigns too, going in first, checking for proper water depth (they called it charting and confirmation), clearingmies and obstacles, and then handling the wounded and standard life guarding. they were also dropped behind enemy lines as "coast watchers," living for years behind the lines, tracking shipping, doing laison work with friendly locals and partisans and aiding in search & rescue operations. as well as the odd prison break.
when they didn't go in first, marines drowned.
i dont' know who first started calling them the frogmen, but the name predates the modern frogman/udt/seals. there wasn't any wetsuits, drysuits, or scuba gear for these guys. cousteau invented scuba during the war, but he was in vichy france. in the pacific they went in naked, in d-day they went in greased in wool clothing.
they carried a minimum of tools. they went in unarmed.
they also piloted the landing craft, and a lot of the naval rescue craft. actual coast guard cutters were used as well.
on a snooty note, they claim to be older then the navy. the marine revenue service does predate the founding of the department of the navy: the revenue cutters were our only armed naval service for many years. (the navy, like the irs, says they actually predate the country, but thats another story).
cops, soldieers, tax collecters, medics, ambulance service, safety inspectors, enviornmental protectors, park guards, underwater archeologists, naturalists, researchers, and maintainers of underwater national historic sites. they have the most diverse agenda of any armed force. and they are our life guards.
Posted by: ffej at May 27, 2003 04:01 PM
i'm sorry.
Posted by: sad girl at May 27, 2003 06:58 PM