I am very thankful for the many international followers of GymJunkies.com. Today in the United States we celebrate Memorial Day – a holiday in honor of our military men and women who have died for their country.
Being a United States Army veteran myself, this is a holiday that I take very seriously.
In November of 2000 I went to Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea is arguably the most isolated nation in the world, and I’ve been there – for about ten minutes.
Memorial Day…
My final year in the Army was spent in Seoul, South Korea as part of the United Nations Command Honor Guard. We served as armed guards for several high-level intelligence facilities as well as the home of a four-star general. We also raised and lowered the post flag each day and performed various ceremonies while wearing the sharp “dress blue” uniforms.
The most memorable ceremony I was part of was a repatriation ceremony. We got on board a C-130 aircraft in our dress blues and flew from Seoul to Tokyo to Pyongyang, to pick up remains of American servicemen from the Korean War. Hitting the runway in Pyongyang was eerie… there was a huge mural of their leader, Kim Jong Il, and we were under strict orders to not take any photographs.
The ramp dropped and we exited the plane to be met by a semi-circle of North Korean soldiers. They stayed in their vehicles for the most part and I remember wondering if they had rifles with them – as we were unarmed. A moment later a truck with a trailer full of aluminum caskets pulled up to the ramp of the plane. We took a deliberate moment to honor the fallen with solemn salutes, and then swiftly loaded the caskets onto the plane. The ramp closed, the engines started, and I was happy to end my ten minutes in Pyongyang.
So what does this post have to do with health and fitness?
Nothing. Or everything. It really depends on how you think about it.
Maybe you train at a gym, whether a behemoth corporate facility or a mom and pop dungeon, because capitalism allows us to operate our own businesses.
Maybe you vote for elected officials that will shape health care policies, pharmaceutical standards, and what your kids eat during school lunches.
Or maybe you take for granted that tonight your sleep will be uninterrupted by foreign invaders.
In the United States we are blessed with the ability to choose healthy nutrition, a variety of fitness options, and perhaps a too plentiful array of leisure and entertainment distractions. And all of these choices can be traced back to the sacrifices that our service men and women have made at various points in history.
Please join me today in taking a moment to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
How are you celebrating Memorial Day?
What are you doing to honor our fallen servicemen and women?
If you live in a country other than the United States, what are your traditions and holidays to honor your fallen servicemen and women? Let us know in the comments below.
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Nice post, Vic. Thank you for your service, and have a great Memorial Day.
Word up Vic! Props to you, my cousins, and many close friends for serving and sacrificing for the good of all! As you know, I’m living in Vietnam now and can say first hand that Democracy is the way to go..hands down better than anything out there! Hope to see you sometime in July on my yearly pilgrimage home to the Buckeye state! Happy Memorial Day!
Well said, Vic. Thank you for your service, and here’s to all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. May they remain in our hearts as we celebrate this Memorial Day.
I used your words as an inspirational post to my Facebook page. Thank you for your service Vic.
Our Way of Thinking
Our Beliefs
Our Freedom
Our Conscious Efforts to take care of Ourselves
We might be free to buy a Big Mac, but our service men and women died for us to be a healthy nation.
Blessings and DEEPEST regards,
Jesus
Oooaah Vic! I am remembering our fallen brothers and sisters in arms by praying for them and their families. I am also in the Armed Services so I take this holiday seriously as well. Thank you to everyone supporting our troops; past,present, and future.
Totally agree and thank you. Let us remember those who have fallen, but also what they did it for: Freedom. We honor them by protecting our freedom.
As an activist and watchdog for several issues I hold close to me, it’s easy to forget that I have it pretty damn good, and become jaded. Thanks for putting things into perspective.
Thanks for your service.
Dave
Its nice post to honor the people who have sacrificed their lives for nation.
Good thing I don’t live there.
In fact, many countries lack democracy, they deny it for nothing, because democracy is a real good for everyone. I recently read some essays about Andrew Jackson https://studydriver.com/andrew-jackson-essay/ , he is one of the ideologists of democracy and I want to say that this is exactly what we should be guided by right now. I, for one, share his views. Read it for yourself, maybe you’ll feel the same way.
What Memorial Day is to me is a day set aside to pay tribute to those men and women, many with whom I served, who died (often horrifically) while giving part of their life something larger than themselves. It is a time to reflect on how lucky I personally am because I was often mere feet away from being in their shoes but for some reason the Good Lord saw fit to get me through my time and bless me with an amazing family and life. The very, very least I can do I spend a day to give them thanks, and recommit myself to honorably embrace the blessings that have been bestowed on me, in part by their sacrifice…whether they were an American who died in the blistering sand of Iraq in an IED or a Brit who died in training mission 100 years ago in a WWI air field down across town from me in Fort Worth, TX. It is a day I get to teach honor, reverence, and history to my kids so they can be better citizens of the country they will inherit.
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