As the pungent odor of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’s stank still permeates the air of our great nation, I dedicate this blog post to the often forgotten or discarded – our gay brothers and sisters in arms.

But I  didn’t want Veterans Day to pass without the acknowledgment of ALL our service members – I wish and hope for ALL our veterans – our straight ones and gay ones, the men and the women, the fallen and the living – a content life of peace and harmony. You define bravery…intestinal fortitude…and, most of all, hero.

*****

(Photos link to original)

When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one… ~ Leonard Matlovich

Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals.  Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons.  ~ Letter to the editor, The Advocate

 

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude… ~ Cynthia Ozick

Brave rifles, veterans, you have been baptized in fire and blood and have come out steel! ~ Winfield Scott

 

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave… ~ Elmer Davis

Older men declare war. But it’s the youth who must fight and die… ~ Herbert Hoover

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, “Mother, what was war?” ~ Eve Merriam

In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot ~ Mark Twain

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake ~ Jeannette Rankin

The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war ~ Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers ~ José Narosky