Tag Archives: veteran’s day

Happy Veteran’s Day 2015

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Today is Veteran’s Day and we all took the day off to remember what this day means to Americans. This year we visited Santa Clara University, where they conducted a brief program, wreath laying, and had a special celebration to mark the 240th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps.

My take away from listening to one of the service men, was that the people who choose to serve in the military, choose to serve others. They choose to sacrifice and give up their comforts and freedom to protect our American values and to represent us and to keep us safe. They go off to Afghanistan and Iraq and other places to fight evil and to protect our freedoms. They give of themselves to give to us. Isn’t this an amazing concept?  What are we doing to serve others? We need to continue thinking about what we can do to create a better world vs. thinking about what’s in it for me?  We get to shape and live our American values through our choices.

Tonight at our children’s gathering at church, the kids and kid leaders worked together to fill over 140 lunch bags with healthy food items and love notes and rain ponchos to give out to others who might be less fortunate.



We are living our values. We are loving each other. We are making a difference, one tiny step at a time. Each child took home 1 to 3 bags so that they could give them out to people they meet in the community who may need loving and comfort. They are learning American values to take care of the less fortunate and to be giving. I am so proud.

So many people fight over religion or race or the color of Starbucks cups, but let’s remember that we get to choose because we are free. We can make the world a better place with one bag, one hug, one smile, one tour, one love. You have power. Use it wisely. Love yourself and love others – love is the great equalizer.

nAMaste and thank you, veterans for your service and for churches who bring people together to serve others.

Veteran’s Day – Veterans and Honor

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We had the best conversation with Jeff’s 94 year old Granddad tonight to honor him on Veteran’s Day. The kids and I called him and he shared that he was asked to speak at the Air Force academy because they wanted to talk with someone who knew General Patton.  Colonel Hughes worked with Patton and even had dinner at his house.  I’m sure the cadets were in awe meeting and hearing first hand from a WWII Legend, who is so humble and inspiring.

poppop veterans day from cassie

He told us that he was also asked to share his knowledge about the West Point Honor Code as the cadets at the Air Force Academy also had a code of conduct that they held high and were required to enforce amongst themselves and their peers.  I shared with him that I chose to marry my husband and his grandson for several reasons, and one of these included his sincere regard for the honor code that he believed in and practiced during his days at West Point.  The honor code is like getting a receipt, that you’re marrying an honest and trustworthy person that is honorable to himself, to his peers and to his country. I was hoping that these principles would apply to marriage as well, and I was right.

I think that if we all upheld an honor code and knew that we shared this code of honor in our communities, we would be a much happier lot of people.  Below are the honor codes from the various US Service Academies:

Honor Code from West Point:

“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

Honor Code at the Air Force Academy:

“The bedrock of moral and character education at the United States Air Force Academy begins with a internalization of the cadet honor code. This code was created by cadets and is owned by cadets. They are responsible for maintaining the Code as well as for the process by which those who break it are assessed. The Code is based on a fundamental, positive principles of honesty, respect, fairness, and support.

Understanding the Code

Honor Code: We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.

Honor Oath: We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.  Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, (so help me God).

Spirit of the Code: Do the right thing and live honorably.”

Honor Concept from the US Naval Academy:

“Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right.

They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie.

They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat.

They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from the use of their own property. They do not steal.”

Happy Veteran’s Day to all those who have lead and served and sacrifices for our freedom. Thank you.

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GGG – Day 11 – Sacrifice

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The Presidio, San Francisco. November 11, 2013.

“Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.

But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.

They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness; the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

They give you a temperate will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.

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.”

– General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell Speech
Given to the Corps of Cadets at West Point
May 12, 1962

Today is Veteran’s Day.

It is a time to pause and think about the sacrifices that have been made so that we can be free. It’s a time to honor the soldiers and their families that have been separated by duty and war, sometimes for weeks, months, years and in some cases, life.

Do you ever think about what it would be like to be deployed far away from your home and family, in uncomfortable living situations, and hot temperatures, and away from your comfortable daily routines? Sometimes I try to imagine what that sacrifice feels like. I don’t know if I could do it. I am thankful for those that have chosen and choose to fight for our freedom and to keep us safe. Thank you.

Thank you for your honor and for leading by example and for being role models and pillars of our society. Thank you for making our country safe and protecting the individual liberties that were created by our constitution.

With gratitude, thank you.

Thank you Colonel Algin Hughes, Steve Hughes, Adrian Jansen, Jeff Hartley, Nate Hartley, Steve Maline, Lenny, Joe Garner, Dave Chavez, Mike Bridges, Ben Danner, And all the other service men and women. Thank you.

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