I am not a "fan" of...

...the late General Douglas MacArthur. But as a military strategist and as a visionary, he was was 'non pareil', without peer. The General gave his last public speech on May 12, 1962 when he accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award and bid farewell to his beloved West Point. The entire speech is worth reading and serious "thinking about". The part of this speech that I quote here is a description of and tribute to the FREEWORLD's SOLDIERS, SAILORS, AIRMEN and MARINES. I quote it here because it DEFINES OUR SOLDIERS, THEN - NOW - FOREVER...

"The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps."

And what sort of soldiers are
those you are to lead? Are they
reliable, are they brave, are they
capable of victory? Their story is
known to all of you; it is the story
of the American man-at-arms. My
estimate of him was formed on the
battlefield many, many years ago,
and has never changed. I regarded
him then as I regard him now - as
one of the world's noblest figures,
not only as one of the finest military
characters but also as one of the most
stainless. His name and fame are the
birthright of every American citizen.
In his youth and strength, his love and
loyalty he gave - all that mortality can
give. He needs no eulogy from me or
from any other man. He has written
his own history and written it in red on
his enemy's breast. But when I think
of his patience under adversity, of his
courage under fire, and of his modesty
in victory, I am filled with an emotion
of admiration I cannot put into words.
He belongs to history as furnishing one
of the greatest examples of successful
patriotism; he belongs to posterity as
the instructor of future generations in
the principles of liberty and freedom;
he belongs to the present, to us, by his
virtues and by his achievements. In 20
campaigns, on a hundred battlefields,
around a thousand campfires, I have
witnessed that enduring fortitude, that
patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible
determination which have carved his statue
in the hearts of his people. From one end of
the world to the other he has drained deep
the chalice of courage.

As just another 'old soldier currently billeted to the fading away battalion' I salute all our troops, at home, abroad or in transit.

Standing at attention in the Bog,

Kermit