TAPS......

Good Afternoon all. I suppose you've all noticed by now my week long absence from this blog. The truth is, I decided to take a week off and gain some fresh perspective. Today I'd like to tell all of you about something that stays with me undiminished. I've decided to write this as it comes to my heart, simply letting the words flow from my mind to the screen.
Many years ago as I served in the Navy it was my distinct honor and unpleasant duty to serve on what we called a "firing squad". Let me quickly clarify at this point that this wasn't exactly as it sounds. It wasn't to execute someone, but to be on the picked squad to take part in the firing of the twenty one gun salute at the funeral of a veteran. It was always a bitter/sweet experience and never failed to fill me with admiration for the veteran that had passed away and great sadness that America had lost one of it's finest and bravest. I've had the honor and privilege of serving in that capacity for veterans from the first world war through the worst of the Viet Nam war. I could never describe the pain and difficulty that were a part of standing in full dress uniform, firing the three times required of the seven man squad, then listening to the sound of "TAPS", the most mournful sound on this planet. I also had the misfortune too many times to hear the same mournful tune played on the ship on which I was serving, commemorating
the loss of a shipmate. It was a sound that brought tears to the eyes of many hardened sailors that had been through long and weary hours at sea engaged in activities best left unremembered. It's also a sound that brought dread to the hearts of tough men and women that never failed to fight when fighting was required, yet a sound that brought dread to the hearts and minds of those same men and women. To so many of us the sound of TAPS signals the passing of an honored friend, or at the least, someone we didn't know personally but could relate to on a level that can't be described with words At the most, it was someone with whom we've shared our everything. That everything included our food, watching over each other as we took turns sleeping, our dreams, our pasts as we shared words with each other and the ambitions we had that included the sweethearts of which we bragged so much.
This is my small way of giving honor to those that have faced so valiantly the struggles required of freedom and given so willingly the very lives with which they were blest with by the Almighty God. And so, I stand with hat in hand and my right hand over my heart, giving a thank you to that same Almighty God for the courage and stalwart spirits with which these men and women were so greatly endowed. A thank you to God and a thank you to those that fought and a thank you to those that gave the ultimate gift for liberty. Liberty not only for those of us in the United States, but for peoples around the world that long to live in freedom and yearn for liberty. ......and so it goes.......