Veterans Day is Sunday. There will be ceremonies Sunday but many will observe it on Monday. October 30th, we noted the Clinton Township's Mall at Partridge Creek was a good stopping point for veterans on the Sunday and Monday because the mall's California Pizza Kitchen was offering "a complimentary pizza and non-alcoholic beverage" for veterans and active duty military service members on those two days."
As the screen snap above notes, this is no longer just the one location. California Pizza Kitchen is doing it nationwide. You'll need to be in uniform or have military ID or some proof of service.
Good for California Pizza Kitchen and good for Applebees which will offer veterans and active duty military a free entree on Sunday November 11th (choose from three-cheese chicken penne, a bacon cheddar cheeseburger, oriental chicken salad, 7 ounce sirloin, chicken tenders platter, fiesta lime chicken or double crunch shrimp).
Saturday in Los Angeles is "A Day For Heroes" which is free for veterans, active duty military, and family members and includes a barbeque and a concert. In the state of Washington, parades will take place Saturday in Auburn, West Richland, Vancouver, Port Angeles and Spokane -- while there will be a Veterans Breakfast in Rainer. Saturday will also see the Atlanta Veterans Day Parade in Georgia. Shreveport, LA will see a Veterans Day Biker Event hosted by Veterans For Veterans -- with a motorcycle parade, a bike show, a car show and a silent auction with proceeds going to support veterans.
Nashville will hold a Veterans Day Parade on Sunday. Columbia, South Carolina will also hold a Veterans Day parade. In Berkeley, you can attend a benefit performance of Soldier Stories (tickets $20.50 in advance, $22.50 at the door) with the proceeds going to help homeless veterans. In Kihei, Hawaii, there will be a Luau at the VFW Hall. That's at 2110 Uluniu Road and it starts at 5:00 pm. I don't have a link so I'm noting time and location. (A friend asked me to note the event.) Albuquerque, New Mexico will host a Veterans Day Parade on Sunday. Delaware will host a Veterans Day Ceremony in New Castle. Miami will host a Veterans Day Parade on Sunday. Tampa will host a Central Florida Military Resource Fair open to all veterans and active duty military which will include job info, benefits and health care opportunities, flu shots and medical screenings.
Monday, Montgomery, Alabama will host the Third Annual River Region Veterans Day Parade. In Pueblo, Colorado, there will be a Veterans Day Commemoration at Colorado State University.
With the exception of one item above, all the above were noted in an e-mail. I'd stated here on October 30th to let me know if there was an event you wanted noted. In addition to the above and the one from a friend, I also made a point to check Rick Perry's homepage. You may remember, he's the Governor of Texas. You may remember he stomped his feet when running for the GOP presidential nomination, insisting that there should be a veterans parade following the drawdown in Iraq.
As we pointed out then, the Congress spent that money years ago -- money allocated for a parade -- and the country was now in an economic crunch. The White House was defended here on this issue. And I also noted that Big Bad Rick Perry was a state governor and if he wanted to parade so badly, nothing prevented him -- even while campaigning -- from staging a parade in Texas -- or throughout Texas.
Texas will hold many events to note Veterans Day. I'm not implying anything negative about the state or its citizens. A huge number of Texans are members of The Common Ills community. I love to visit Texas, it's a wonderful state. But I am saying that Rick Perry is an idiot.
If I'd thrown a hissy fit for months saying the White House should have held a parade, I think I'd be noting Veterans Day events on my homepage. I think I would even have a Veterans Day Proclamation at the top of my "RECENT NEWS."
I often felt like I was beating up on Rick Perry in ways I wouldn't have others and I didn't want to take part in a public stoning but I felt he was using veterans and mouthing empty words. I was so hoping to be proven wrong today. I wasn't. In fact, where I was wrong was in not calling him out louder and stronger. Because if you give a damn about veterans issues, you don't need prompting to discuss or note them.
He hasn't.
You're judged by what you do. If that's still not sunk in for Rick Perry, maybe that explains how he became a national joke while pursuing the Republican Party's presidential nomination.
CBS News has posted a video of Iraq War veteran Alex Horton explaining what he would say to himself, if he could go back and speak to the 21-year-old on the verge of deploying to Iraq:
You're going to be in Iraq for 15 long months, but it's going to take the rest of your life to come home. Remember mom talking about grandpa having issues 40 years after the Korean War? He had it much worse than you, but you will see many of the same things he did. That's a strange thing about war. It never changes, and it will never leave the air.
Nothing I can say will prepare you for life back in the states. Running water and supermarkets will feel like decadent luxuries. The warm touch of a woman will feel so good that it'll be almost unbearable. But your heightened senses will also betray you. Crowded bars will suffocate you. Loud noises in the night will launch you out of bed and into the embrace of a pistol. But it's up to you if it's going to be a point of strength or a point of weakness. But every night gets easier, and after a while, you'll sleep like a rock most nights.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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