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Veterans Day - Blog Posts
It was a movie about American bombers in World War II and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers , and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans though and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new. When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again. The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby.
Kurt Vonnegut -- Slaughterhouse Five
I made a post for veterans day, but it got flagged. So I want to say again, thank you for your service!
I had a 25 year career in the USN. I spent most of my time with the USMC as a Hospital Corpsman. I’m a full bred gravel agitator. I thank the Marines for helping me become a man and to understand sacrifice for my brothers and sisters.
NASA and Veterans
November 11 each year is a day we honor those who have served in our nation’s armed forces.
Discover how we have close ties to the military, even to this day, and see who has traded in their camouflage uniform for an astronaut flight suit.
There have been veterans working for us since the beginning, even when it was still called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
Additionally, there are several active duty military members working at NASA facilities through special government programs.
Today, there are more than 1500 veterans currently employed with us. Their experiences in the military make their expertise invaluable around the agency. We value the unique leadership style they bring to the work place. Above and below are some astronaut veterans.
A Partnership for the Space Age
Since the early days of NASA, we’ve partnered with all branches of the military. We still work closely with the military today and rely on the expertise of our service members to support our missions both while in active duty and in the civilian workforce. Here are some examples of this close partnership:
The Marines helped with recovery efforts of Astronaut Alan Shepard at the end of his sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961...a task performed across several of our missions.
Today, the Navy helps us recover spacecraft, just like the Orion space capsule...which will one day carry astronauts into deep space and eventually on our journey to Mars.
. . .and the Air Force has traditionally and continues to help us transport sensitive and critical space hardware around the globe.
The Coast Guard has even helped us access remote locations to collect oceanographic data as part of our efforts to study and learn more about the Earth.
We’ve partnered with the Army to use their unique capabilities at the Yuma Proving Ground to test the entry, descent and landing of our spacecraft systems.
To all the Veteran’s out there, we thank you for your service to America and your continued support of America’s space program.
Happy Veteran’s Day!
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com
Blessings and good wishes to all on this day, Veterans Day. May we forever honor those who served our country and fought for it’s ideals. Let us support their families and know that we are here today because of their time and service. God bless.
In time for Veterans Day, I take a look at some African American military veterans in comics and animation.
Confederate Veterans are US veterans by Act of Congress. Happy Veterans Day!
Library of Congress
poem from before the election was decided
Your Bloodied Flag
“Red, white, and blue,”
you holler,
“Stand for America!”
But you must understand,
while you shout and scream
your patriotic lies,
I will not.
I will stand
for the idea of liberty.
I will stand
for the idea of freedom.
I will stand
for the men and women who brought us here.
I will not stand
for America.
I will not stand
for the Rohingya genocide America aided,
for the genocide happening in Palestine that America is funding,
for the Japanese internment camps that America built.
America is not the “superior country.”
It is not the dream that our ancestors worked for,
Nor is it the dream that we are told to follow.
It is a flawed country,
in need of revision,
reconstruction,
and learning.
We need to learn from our past,
our mistakes,
and we need to rectify them.
We need to work as a community,
to erase laws that suppress,
and to build new laws that lift people up
to be the best version of themselves they can be.
This is not an impossible fever dream.
It is the dream our ancestors held.
They dreamt of growth,
of learning,
of kindness,
of liberty,
of understanding.
It is the American dream that I hold in my heart.
No, I will not stand for America.
Not yet.
It's a poem for English class. I'm wondering if I should rewrite it considering recent events bc I'm pretty hopeless rn lol. Hopefully i feel better in the morning and finally get around to writing.