Here’s to all the veterans out there from all branches of service, past and present. It’s an honor to serve alongside you and in your footsteps.
-Staff Sgt. Austin “Farva” May, USAF
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that scene … I love the smell of napalm in the morning
It smells like… Victory
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
-LTC John McCrae, Canadian Army Medical Corps, 1918
Thank you Farva. Knowing folks like you are in our Air Force today, makes us old “birdmen” feel good , for we know our beloved Air Force is in good hands.
Thank You Farva.
Dang Farva, that’s a good one. Thanks to you too buddy!
Amen
Thanks and nack ya farva. And i think we are down to 0.5% now
Thanks, Farva. Even though we may be 1%, I’m pretty sure most if not all the remaining 99% in one way or another appreciate what we’ve sacrificed.
“Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.” –Anonymous
And thank you to all that serve, past and present!
Thanks – all of you – for your service.
Thank you Marco and Farva for the tributes you give on days like these and the work you put into this strip that has helped my deployement go by just that much faster. Its an honor to serve with you as well. AND thank you to all the Veterans past and present.
Excellent job again Farva! You have a way with these memorial strips.
Thanks to all vets past and present, at home and in our allied nations. It is a honor to serve in your footsteps.
Thank you all for defending our freedoms abroad.
From the muddy fields of Europe through the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, the steaming jungles of South-East Asia and the craggy hills of a Falkland Autumn, as well as on the great seas and the wild blue yonder, brave men of Britain and her Commonwealth did their duty and in some cases gave their tomorrows for our today. On this day we shall honour them.
Amen.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” -George Orwell
A poem by a Herc guy, but…
ODE TO THE HERCULES AVIATOR
by Bob Woods
Do not stand at my Tomb and weep for me
I am not there for I do not sleep you see
I am the thousands of Hercs that fly
I am the roar of the wind on high
I am the rush of a Herc in powered flight
I am the beacons that shine in the night
I am the odor of jet fuel and the starter whine
I am the tire squeal on a landing, that was mine
I am the stars that shine at night
I am the sun you see at first light
I am the jeweled glints on rime covered wings
Think of me kindly for I am all these things
At my graveside you should not have cried
For so long as Hercs fly, I have not died.
Interesting selection of the UH-1 Huey – the US Army finally decommissioned it’s last one (at Yakima Training Center in Washington) a few months ago, and as I was driving past the Oregon National Guard’s aviation facility in Salem, OR today, I noticed they now have one on static display – the ground it is on is angled so it looks like it’s leaning forward to gain speed.
The Air Force and I think the Marines still operate the Hueys, or at least the UH-1N “Twin Hueys”. I guess they find them to be useful (and cheaper than buying more Blackhawks) in a few roles.
The Corps has recently updated to the new UH-1Y “Venom” which is a stupid name if you ask me, but everyone I know just knows them as “Yankee Hueys”
Id like to thank the present and past service members. Especially my Grandfathers, Father, and Cousins and Friends who I have got to meet in my life and times of service in the US Air Force. Thank You!
Farva, Thank You for your service. It is a gift to make us laugh every week. We who served appreciate it. And God Bless of the the women and men serving today in 135 Countries around the globe.
I’m guessing you used Apocalypse Now as the inspiration for this drawing?
Truth is I just used pictures from Vietnam, but after a quick Google Images search for “Apocalypse Now” I can absolutely see why one would think that.
hence the Napalm quote lolz
To the soldier, “Tommy” the quintesential soldier by Rudard Kipling
December 30, 1865, Died January 18, 1936
I went into a public-’ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-’alls,
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”;
But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide,
The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.
Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”,
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind.
You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!
Let us never forget.
Nice job hun
Was the lack of a crew chief in the back of the third bird a sort of Missing Man thing? That was my first thought when I saw this spectacular strip
Farva, I hopr you don’t mind, but I copied the picture and Kipling’s “Tommy” and will be posting it to a few of the other forums I frequent to provoke some thought and give you some exposure.
I was reading somewhere that the actual percentage of American citizens who have volunteered since 9/11 is only at 0.45% whereas the percentage of American males in prison is 1%. Makes you realize that the uniformed American is truly the American elite.