tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27530118.post116296550336959655..comments2023-06-14T06:21:04.163-05:00Comments on Miss Ladybug: What is a vet?Miss Ladybughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05036711338399907180noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27530118.post-1171024757205679072007-02-09T06:39:00.000-06:002007-02-09T06:39:00.000-06:00Except for the stuff in italics, I didn't write th...Except for the stuff in italics, I didn't write this. The "what is a vet?" part is from an unknown author, and then the well-known bit from Father O'Brien. If you want to share it, just cite it appropriately.Miss Ladybughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05036711338399907180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27530118.post-1171013409669355032007-02-09T03:30:00.000-06:002007-02-09T03:30:00.000-06:00I've just come a-visiting via Blackfive, and am en...I've just come a-visiting via Blackfive, and am enjoying your blog.<BR/><BR/>Thank you so much for posting this. As an army brat (both parents), I take the military seriously, and it's always a pleasure to see that others do too.<BR/><BR/>With respect to your piece, the bit about putting ambitions to the side really struck a chord with me.<BR/><BR/>My dad effectively ran away to the army to get away from his mother (she really was a horrid woman), met my mother, got married and had a family.<BR/><BR/>He retired after 21 years as a Warrant Officer, and continued on, as you tend to do.<BR/><BR/>After my mum died in 2001, I was talking with him, and said something along the lines of, "You'll be able to do whatever you want now, go do anything at all."<BR/><BR/>This was after a couple of years nursing mum through cancer.<BR/><BR/>His reply was that he could never be what he always wanted, as his fingers were no longer as nimble and his eyesight was also not what it was.<BR/><BR/>So I asked what he had wanted to be.<BR/><BR/>He had always wanted to be a naturalist.<BR/><BR/>Instead, he spent 21 years as a radio tech in the army, did a tour in Vietnam, and a year on transfer to the USA.<BR/><BR/>He provided for a wife and three children, grumbling about politics and the neighbours, but never about what he could have been.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes he marches in the Anzac Day Parade, sometimes he doesn't. <BR/><BR/>Whether he does or not is irrelevant. <BR/><BR/>He's still my dad, and still a veteran and a hero.<BR/><BR/>Again, thank you for posting this, and I hope you don't mind if I lift it wholesale for my blog.Nilkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13872495050796257177noreply@blogger.com