If You Are A Veteran, and Are Suffering. Get Help, Just dial 988.

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Military news…

Free Lifetime Pass to National Parks, Other Public Lands

Last week on Veterans Day, Veterans of the U.S. Armed Services and Gold Star Families started obtaining a free lifetime pass to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites spread out across more than 400 million acres of public lands, including national parks, wildlife refuges and forest’s.

Are you eligible?

For purposes of this program, a Veteran is identified as an individual who has served in the United States Armed Forces, including the National Guard and Reserve, and is able to present one of the following forms of valid (unexpired) identification:

Gold Star Families are next of kin of a member of the United States Armed Forces who lost his or her life in a “qualifying situation,” such as a war, an international terrorist attack, or a military operation outside of the United States while serving with the United States Armed Forces.

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Ukraine claims a sniper killed a Russian soldier from 1.68 miles away
The shot would make it the second longest ever recorded on a battlefield.

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Milley warns China: An invasion of Taiwan would be as disastrous as Russia’s war against Ukraine
China would be walking into a strategic debacle if it tried to invade Taiwan, Gen. Mark Milley said.

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Ukrainian commandos infiltrated deep inside Russia to destroy Russian attack aircraft

Ukraine isn’t content to let its suicide drones strike Russian airbases. Nor are the Ukrainian Armed Forces content with hitting targets in the Crimean Peninsula. Ukrainian commandos have struck a Russian airbase far from the fighting in Kherson. This time, the attack came to one of Russia’s northern bases, near the Russian borders with Estonia and Latvia.

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US, Japan, South Korea vow unified response to North Korea threat
“We face real challenges, but our countries are more aligned than ever, more prepared to take on those challenges than ever,” Joe Biden said. “So I look forward to deepening the bonds of cooperation between our three countries.”

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It has been a hard path to walk for this old warrior. So many physical problems. None life threatening, but painful. Have you been facing that your self? Does it drag you down like a huge magnate? Be strong, and find help, which I have for you further down.

Never hid your hurts. It is OK to seek help when you need it. I know that soldiers are supposed to be tough and not complain, but just do it for me. GET HELP!

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Update…I know you are getting tired of these updates, plus the book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, is still not finished. I am now thinking I will be done the first week of the new year. Keep coming back to check. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do, all future posts will go directly into your inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories?
FEAR NOT!
There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back.
If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!
Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up.

+Now there is an easier way to get help. Just dial 988, and you will have help ready for you.

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

Teacher Blasts the Military; Rebuttal Here

Thanks to all of you who have been joining me here. We help bring change to lives. The response has been wonderful.  We just past 4,000 new subscribers. That was a huge increase in 2017. We only had 1,000 two years ago. The year 2017 helped us to make it to 4,000.

We have reached our goal.  We will now be giving a prize to the person who is our 4,500th person to subscribe. We just passed 4,270.

Help us make it to 4,500 by subscribing today if you haven’t already. This shows you care for veterans. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post and click on FEEDBLITZ , and the posts will come straight to your inbox.                            ____________________________________________________________

Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It reaches out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides every day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics.  

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This is a new social network just for veterans. I joined it and made instant friendships with veterans who want to talk about what I want to talk about. Please check it out. You will be glad you did. 

https://www.rallypoint.com/join/spc-douglas-bolton

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Recently a school teacher went on a rant on how horrible the military people were. His blast on the military has a strong rebuttal by Mark Johnson a California Superior Judge, a retired Army Colonel and a Iraq veteran.

+Sorry about the empty frames, couldn’t get them to download.

+Warning! Strong language is used. 

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“Think about the people you know who are over there. Your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whatever. They’re dumb shits. They’re not high-level bankers. They’re not academic people. They’re not intellectual people. … They’re the frickin’ lowest of the low.”

These are the deeply misinformed words of Greg Salcido, a local California city councilman and high-school teacher speaking to a student in a video that has now gone viral.

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I am one of those dumbshits. On Oct.1, 2013, I retired from the Army after 28 years of active and reserve service.

To Salcido, I have this to say: I had teachers like you, blowhards who spout unchallenged opinions to captive high-school kids. There was one teacher in particular, Mr. Raymore. Like you, he taught history. It was 1974, and I was a sophomore at Westminster High School.

He accused our Vietnam veterans of the oft-repeated atrocities. They were all “murderers” and “baby killers.” If challenged, I suppose Mr. Raymore would have wrapped himself in the flag and said, as you have, that his comments were “free speech.”

But he wasn’t exercising free speech. Neither were you. The constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech allows people to speak freely so others can decide to accept or reject their words. The founders did not draft it so a teacher could mock a student without repercussions, particularly one dependent on that teacher for a grade. Freedom of speech never gave you the right to call that student’s father and uncle — Iraq War and Desert Storm veterans — the “lowest of the low.”

The students laughed. The student you insulted sat there and said nothing.

I did the same thing in 1974.

Vietnam War Author and retired Army Col. Harry Summers, speaking at a college campus in the post-Vietnam era, was once accused of atrocities in Vietnam by a man in the audience claiming to be a veteran. David Zabecki, a friend of Summers, recounted his response. “Shame on you, you rotten son of a bitch!” Summers said. “I didn’t do those things, and I don’t know anyone who did. I didn’t need the Army to teach me right from wrong — my mother taught me that much.”

I wish I had said that to Mr. Raymore. I wish that student said those words to you.

Today I have a second chance.

I have served with those dumbshits who cannot win a war. They are the men and women who fight and die to allow you the luxury of spouting opinions. You are talking about Americans who died in places most people only read about: Normandy, Omaha Beach, Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Our military is not comprised of the “lowest of the low,” however you define that term. The military screens applicants for intellectual ability using the Armed Forces Qualification Test and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Test. The military also evaluates candidates on a variety of areas including physical and mental fitness.

The data does not support what you said.

According to October 2017 findings of the Washington D.C. based Heritage Foundation and the Army Times, only 9.7 of the 33 million Americans between 17 and 24 meet the Army’s enlistment standards. Less than one-third, or 31%, are eligible to enlist. The vast majority of candidates are rejected for reasons such as low test scores, failure to meet weight and fitness standards, mental health and medical issues and substance abuse.

But even if the military was accepting those you judge unworthy, so what? Willingness to serve says a great deal about a man or woman. It speaks of character and a willingness to belong to an organization built on selfless sacrifice.

Your comments imply people of your caliber could do better.

I do not want you. I’ll take a private who scores in the lowest percentile any day to an arrogant councilman who thinks he is better than the rest of us. I would never trust a man like you guarding my flank.

The men and women you callously dismiss are the best of America. I know. I am alive today because of the courage of the young men and women of our military. You do not seem to understand that.

And do you really think the United States military cannot win a war? You said our military has not defeated “guys wearing frickin robes and chaklas” and lost to Vietnamese “throwing rice.”

What you miss is that wars are not won on the battlefield. They are won at home, politically. If the national will is ambivalent, our military personnel find themselves dying to take the same turf over and over depending on the current mood of the civilian leadership. And eventually the politicians and the public lose interest in the fight and most of our soldiers return home. Some do not.

Evan Wright nailed it in Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War: “Five years into this war, I am not always confident most Americans fully appreciate the caliber of the people fighting for them, the sacrifices they have made, and the sacrifices they continue to make. The young troops I profiled in Generation Kill, as well as the other men and women in uniform I’ve encountered in combat zones throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, are among the finest people of their generation. We misuse them at our own peril.”

Councilman Salcido, I certainly hope you will educate yourself then apologize to the student and the public. Somehow I think you won’t. Guys like you never do.

As for Mr. Raymore?

You are a rotten son of a bitch.

M. E. (Mark) Johnson (Mark) Johnson is a California Superior Court Judge. He presided over the Riverside County Veterans Court for five years supervised the recovery of combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other military related mental health issues. He is a retired colonel of the United States Army Reserve, an Iraq War veteran, and a graduate of the United States Army War College.

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I am a veteran, but I am also a retired teacher. This blast of the military by this teacher imbarrases me. Please know he is not the typical teacher. He is a sick and very wrong teacher.

If you are a veteran, and are struggling with PTSD, war wounds, depression, etc. Please know we have your six. If you need immediate help call:

1-800-273-8255

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

Doug Bolton