Did you see the movie "Far and Away"? It was filmed in Ireland, in County Kerry, nearby old Dingle town, an area I love. The movies showed the three brothers fighting for the fun of it. My older brothers stopped fighting me when I was about 13. Brother Ray could no longer whip me and brother Henry got hurt too much trying.
I lived alone when I was in high school and one night, when I didn't know the boys were even in West Virginia, they sneaked into my bedroom in the dark, grabbed me and started to strangle me, all in fun. When they got my attention to let me know who it was, Ray was down and Henry was hurt. The bedroom, it was destroyed. FUN? In fairness, the boys didn't want to hurt me while I desperately wanted to kill them. FUN? Hardly!
I taught my boys to fight, using boxing gloves. At least a couple of times I successfully coached them to defend themselves against larger bullies. But, I had a different opinion on fighting, which I shared with them.
NO ONE WINS IN A FIGHT! EVEN IF YOU COME OUT AHEAD, YOU GET YOUR HANDS ALL BUSTED UP. IF YOU COME OUT BEHIND, YOU GET YOUR NOSE BUSTED AND YOUR EYES CUT DOWN. NO ONE WINS! In Mark's case, in the 1st grade, he got sent to the principal's office. But Big, Bad Freddie never bullied him again!
Still and yet, somethings are worth fighting for, but they are few and far between. It is most important that we decide what that something happens to be, when and where the fight occurs.
Fighting may have been a sport to my dad but my mom quietly told us that if we couldn't win, "TAKE THE DIFFERENCE" and most important, boxing may be sport but fighting is not. The only rule in fighting was DON'T LOSE. Teeth, fingernails, feet, elbows and gouging thumbs have saved my bacon on more than one occasion.
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COMING HOME |
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AMERICAN HEROS! |
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TROOP LOSS 2001 - 2011 |
It is becoming increasingly clear that Afganistan is not becoming a democracy. Even if it was, I question that it is worth such loss of American lives, not to even consider the loss of treasure.
When the troops come home over the next year or so, will America be safer? TO ME THAT IS THE ONLY QUESTION THAT COUNTS!

The question is, in Afganistan, was the fight worth it and did we pick the time and place? I'm not sure our losses in Afganistan can be justifiied. Not for a single troop and we have so far lost 1,931 troops.
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DECEMBER 7, 1941 I was 10 and remember it well |
On February 19, 1945 General Tadamichi Kurbayaishi, Japanese Commandant on Iwo Jima, had his troops deeply entrenced in fortified caves connected by 11 miles of tunnel. This small island, the first of the Japanese homelands to be invaded, had air fields that could be used to bomb Tokoyo and other Japanese cities.
MARINES GO ASHORE |
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JAPANESE WERE IN STEEL REINFORCED CAVES |
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BATTLE OF THE BULGE - WORLD WAR II |
In this period of American history there was not one town or one family that was not effected by these losses. I lost family. I lost close friends of the family. So did every family in town. Sadly, these losses were made necessary by others. We did not have a choice. We did fight to win!
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ATOMIC BOMB "BIG BOY" |
If you should question the use of atomic bombs against Japan, you may have changed your mind after a conversation with my now deceased brother, Ray, who was enroute to the invasion of Japan when the two bombs ended the war. He had no doubt in the fact that we followed our mother's advice and "took the difference".
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250,000 JAPANESE DIED AT HIROSHIMA |
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WE ADVENGED THIS ATTACK IN IRAQ Now To Continue Our Defense Against a Second Attack |
God bless our miltary, on the land, in the air and on the sea.
May He give our leaders wisdom and the courage of their convictions on our behalf.
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