Three Free Military Guides

You can download three free military guides at http://www.govamerica.org/military.htm

2009 Military Retirement Guide, Active Military Guide and Veteran & Dependents Guide

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then thesure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the

sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,

"Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.

"My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Authur Unknown

MAVS FANS, AMERICAN SUPPORT INJURED SOLDIERS

From CBS11TV.com

150 soldiers from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio got a break from therapy, for a special Mavericks treat in Dallas. American Airlines donated a chartered flight and employees volunteered their time, while Mavericks season ticketholders donated tickets to the soldiers for a fun-filled night at the American Airlines Center. Many people came together to give these men and women a special night, and to let the soldiers know what they have done for the country will not soon be forgotten.

Drawn by one of AA's Flight Attendants

What a beautiful dedication to our troops! Thank you Lisa!

Thanksgiving Thoughts from a Deployed Hero

"Well, let me start with Happy Thanksgiving.

As has been the routine of my last couple of years... I found myself today eating an MRE for Thanksgiving dinner in between planning for missions. When I was a PFC, before my first tour, I was in California, training in the dead of winter in a high desert for Iraq in OIF 4. It was a chicken and salsa MRE. cold. Then, I actually did get a thanksgiving the following year. I came home in mid October and remember my mom tearing at the dinner table because she was thankful, as well as I, that I had made it home alive. Then, the following yearI was on a boat, and I don’t think that I was able to call or email home for about 60 days because we were running missions in Somalia and Bangladesh. Now here I am. Today I had a lasagna MRE for dinner as I sat in the office alone, letting my guys get some rest before the mission and I was getting the logistics together. My thoughts always drift home. Pumpkin beer, cold winters, fires in the fire place, football, stuffing my face until I can't sit up, family, being in a safe place where I don’t have to be on guard, or worry about if my other marines are ok... are we, ok?

My mother wrote me an email saying that she feels like her emails are boring in comparison to mylife, and doesn’t know what to say.... so she writes of home and the things I described. But what she doesn’t realize is that all those things bring me closer to home. Even an email with one sentence in it saying hello, tells me I am not forgotten and left in this dark worldthat has been the last 4 years of my life. So this thanksgiving I am thankful for that. Thankful that someone out there cares about me enough to remind me of what I love about home and that if I can just keep pushing, I can make it home and experience these things again, without the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Love Ben"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! As we are giving are thanks today, please remember those who cannot be with their families during this holiday season.

http://www.cpmsglife.org/tg/td1.html

SPONSORING FAMILIES FOR THE HOLIDAYS

We have an opportunity to provide a little assistance to several military families in both North Carolina and Texas who are enduring financial hardships. If you would like specific information on how you can contribute, please send an email to vmerg.sero@aa.com Please help bring a ray of sunlight into these families homes during this holiday season.

LETS SAY THANKS!

VMERG would like to make you aware of a great opportunity for employees and their families to show "Thanks", just in time for Thanksgiving! Xerox has partnered with Give2TheTroops, the Boys and Girls Clubs and many printing companies to sponsor this site. The cards have been created by kids all over the country.

If you go to the website, www.LetsSayThanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and send to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be to get this message to everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and really only takes a second.

OFFICIAL VMERG LAUNCH

VMERG officially launched at the SERO on November 13th, 2008. The event began with singing the national anthem and continued with introductions, a poem written by a wounded hero, singing Proud to be an American and ended with words of a veteran. There was an informational table open all day and apple pie and ice cream was served.

More pictures can be found on our online photo album.

FLAGSHIP FREEDOM - IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO SERVE

An American Airlines 757 and an American Eagle ATR take to the sky today carrying the message of freedom and honoring those who have served in the armed forces. The iconic yellow ribbons displayed on the aircraft tails remind anyone who sees them to say thank you to those who have served their country and to pray for the safe return of those on active duty. Employees dedicated the aircraft at a Veteran's Day observance today at DFW airport.

Check out the you tube video of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPfSkzZjGgY

Pictures can be found at: http://www.vmerg.myphotoalbum.com/