Pearl Harbor tip of hat to all that was there

 

From that to this...
DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE EXTRA CRAP IN THE VIDEO



The thing about it all that bugs me.....


Is that a fiction book describing the whole process was written by a private author was published before it happenned

TOM CLANCY wrote the whole scenario down for them to follow like the YELLOW BRICK ROAD


~And nobody saw it coming? You gotta be kidding me....



Like you thought no one could be so completely stupid!
Get it straight - nihilists are STUPID!









Momma died one week later.
I think she was thinking of me on active duty in all that.
I have "Survivor Guilt" because of it

I think she had her strokes because of me - and it tears me up inside
She knew I was on active duty in the NAVY at the time, and her world had changed
Beyond all recognition......

May GOD ALLAH and BUDDHA DAMN ALL TERRORISTS! May they be burned inside of PIGSKINS

Prayers and curses are inverse things - one wishes well, the other does not
I pray for JUSTICE of the CREATOR

I should not have written what I did above, but it is what I feel inside. That criminals have gone unpunished


God, Buddha, or Allah will find them and do what is necessary


As far as I know I am still allowed to hate them and wish that bad things come to those like them
AMEN





"If you think a thing - it is a prayer to the creator"
~ Edgar Cayce


I often have trouble thinking of others. Should I ignore them, or do they deserve to be despised?

Who am I

 

NEWS FLASH

Under a recent decision by the FTE/IBI admins, all threads with a political content would be moved to a new forum only accessable by those with three year (GOLD) memberships - which is contrary to what the VETERANS NETWORK forum is about.

In my view - any veteran should be able to speak here.


I do not know at this time how or if vetnet may be affected. I have responded to the announcement, and I know that many of our concerns may at times border on the political reasons as to why or how. The VETERANS NETWORK here at FTE is certainly at risk by this new change of rules, and if it goes against all of us I do not myself know what I will decide to do.


But if military people are no longer welcome here, I myself am no longer welcome here.

It's Occams razor...

"If this is true - this also is true"

I'm looking to see how it all plays out.


~ Dutch

 

I would like to voice my opinions on this as well.

 

I well understand that - and it is a great concern to all of us.

There are many political decisions that impact us, and we should have a place to talk about that kind of stuff.

I do not want to lose our small place off to the side at FTE, and I do not want it to be a place you can only get to if you have a GOLD membership at FTE

This worries me a lot, it could be a game changer


It could render the Veterans Network at FTE completely ineffective

 

It'd be nicer if they had a VetNet sub forum with a couple of full timers to manage it. Then us vets, old and new, could discuss these things away from the sheep.

Maybe it's own chapter?

 

I only see veterans discussing things that are veteran related and nothing political.

What was their reasoning behind the decision? Did we infringe on the political border?

Maybe there is another place we can set up camp in the FTE forum dept?

 

VetNet is not going to be hurt in this. The new forum has been created to be for strictly political threads only.

 

First of all, where did you hear this from?

Second: My thoughts.

This is a support group, why not have a chapter dedicated to veteran support?

I don't have as much time here in this tiny corner of FTE to say much, but as an active servicemember, I think that combat veterans of past and current wars need their own place, with their own dedicated support chapter.

There are a lot of veterans on this website, even if they are not part of this thread. If the powers at be on this site could be convinced we get our own chapter, and then make it only viewable to members of that chapter, by invite. We know better than anyone else the sacrifices we have made to this country, and to have to pay to do that would be despicable.

This would limit the potential fallout of somebody getting upset from the political nature of the military life, I'm sure this could satisfy our political speach and freedoms from leaking into the general forums. If you somehow manage to get in falsifying service, and get upset, it would be their fault for claiming stolen valor.

With this one lonely active thread being in the general section, active threads from VETNET get bumped down pretty quickly, and unless you had a search filter set up to find all the threads from retired/active vets, then getting prompt help to somebody who might need it is lessened.

I'm sure some compromise could be reached, shunning the vets on this site would be a shame, and will leave a sour taste in our mouths, and other who support us.

Making political threads a premium membership perk is a great way to make money, it would appear that somebody has complained about political topics and that is understandable to make everyone happy, you will have to pay to see such things.

So how about it?

 

#1. I am one of the staff that is working on the new forum, and also a Vet (VietNam 66,67,68...) We will never shun our Vets on FTE. A separate chapter might be viable, and I will take it up with Admin.


#2. Making any such chapter with restricted membership would be hard to do without making a whole new class of member. VetNet has been safe here for years, and there are no plans to change it.

 

Congrats to all the Sailors. Navy 17 - Army 10

 

This information came to me as a complete surprise - I was looking in at the members only section of the forum, one of the bennies of having a paid membership, and I think I last re-upped for three years, but that was done to ensure my subscription to it did not lapse for unexpected reasons (like the maple tree that almost fell on my home last winter).

We have tried in the past to create a "CHAPTER" at FTE, and it just was not happening at the time, and I don't expect a lot of support for the idea now except that looking at the firestorm generated by the notion of:

"Well, I'm a paying member, and I don't see why all of a sudden I have to pay out for a longer contract now..."

~ and similar comments. To put it mildly, people are unceremoniously HOWLING about the change, as well as a number of thread topics that have been MOVED OUT to the new forum area (and are no longer available for the people who wrote them to rant on).

What I HAVE done is to start a new "VETNET" thread each year (previously I did that only as the length of the thread really needed it in order to keep it running smooth, and make it easier to find old posts) and at the beginning and end of each thread add a link to the previous thread, and the follow on thread at the end of the year. I also took advantage of the forums "SOCIAL GROUP" sub-forum asset to create a group within a group, so to put it. Certain moderators had their gunsights on me, but this they could not complain about or interfere with. And it caught on like wildfire, even though one moderator predicted I would not keep up with it.

So we really can find a continuous run of connected vetnet threads from the start to the finish. If you look at the first page and post of this years thread - there you will find not only the Mission Statement that I put together, but also a link to the year before.

I was told that it was not possible to create a "CHAPTER" of Veterans at FTE, because then the next thing would be people wanting to start a Ford Truck Enthusiasts Chapter for people who only shop on mondays, or those who have opaque belly buttons, or Professional Drivers Only, and so on, and so on...


Once the door was opened, everybody would want a chapter of their very own, even for silly reasons.

I think that in the event, requests for a "SPECIALIZED CHAPTER" could conceivably be done - but strictly on a case by case basis, and if the justification did not warrant such a unique designation such requests could be denied. End of story - they would have to have a damned good reason to ask for a special chapter, and it had better show a following in fact, or it would eventually be voted on by the admins on a thumbs up/thumbs down basis.

An additional chapter that proved to have no traffic would not be a blessing - but a burden, and I can see that.

At the same time there is some reservation on my part as to how to promote, but I really see no problems there.

Originally what I did was to form "VETNET" as what is called a "SOCIAL GROUP" at FTE, and that is where it stands today.

If you look around and find the links to "Social Groups" here at FTE, guess what?

WE ARE the biggest one of all of them. SEE THIS LINK if you doubt me...

Go to the top bar, click on "QUICKLINKS", then "SOCIAL GROUPS" and then on "UNCATEGORIZED"
*It is evident from what I saw there that the social groups are no longer well supported

-I had posted it as a direct link - but it failed for unknown reasons. I CHECK what I post


But the day will come when 'Social Groups' as a sub-app of FTE will be outmoded, so there is good reason to start at least looking into a Veterans Chapter at FTE/IBI against the time when social groups on forums are all sent to the digital scrap heap as an idea that was good at the time but perhaps no longer cutting edge.

~And really, I don't think much of anyone actually pays any attention to the social groups anymore.


*Sure enough - no sooner did I post this message than I found a broken link at the end of the 2013 thread. I have corrected that.



On a positive note: Both IB Tim and Fabmandelux (one of the very FIRST members at VETNET) have responded in the affirmative that VETNET will not be hiked to some inaccessable area if a matter of politics has a bearing on those of us who serve at the pleasure of elected representatives, and we need to discuss it.

But it doesn't mean that random hot political potatos can be bandied about at leisure. We need to stay focused...


~AT1/AW Jake USN/RET out


* and I'm glad I took a night off from the net to think about it seriously


POINT: We have demonstrated a significant and ongoing presence among our fellow FTE friends.

POINT: Far from declining, the ranks of VETNET continue to grow

POINT: We have been of great help to many of our fellow FTE Vets above and beyond what could be done by a regular FTE member

POINT: I can recall no discussion within the threads of VETNET that have ever gotten 'out of hand'. If I am mistaken in that - go find it and show it to me.

POINT: WE (the veterans at FTE) REALLY DO have knowlege and means that a civilian absolutely doesn't have at all.

POINT: Supporting one another in this way is much further reaching than any program offered by either the DOD or FTE, it is a synergy of available means of contact.

PS: I do not know that it would be advisable to make it "UNSEEN", as we have also had talks with young people considering military service as a potential lifestyle and future. I DO know that we can add signature content to our posts that would pass the message, and finally I am a strong believer in word of mouth.

SO I dunno - it's a coinflip. But I did not want you to think I had disregarded a part of your post above. There are many possibilities - one that has been suggested is to pass a discount to service members who want to become paying members. I think membership to such a forum without additional dues could be another.

It would rely on strength of credentials, but a fake would be easy to spot over time.

Since this all began in about 2010, we have for the most part been our own moderators. You either know your stuff or you obviously don't! But we also welcome families of service members - and this I think is necessary in case one of our own is in a situation while the significant other is deployed.

The obvious check on that, is that when you meet them they either have a valid ID card or they don't, and that by itself is a layer of security. If the contact meeting is held on a military base - the likelyhood of a scam or threat to a family member is even further reduced. Anyone scared off by a direct meeting at the local Auto Hobby Shop, or in the Security Department parking lot, is a good thing.




Funny, all of this reminds me of something one of my 'Sea Daddies' once said when I was a lowly E-3:
"Politicians! Can't stand 'em - can't get paid without 'em. Son of a BITCH..."

 

HOORAH!!!

Butt heads with a GOAT and see what happens

 

The "MISSION STATEMENT" of the VETERANS NETWORK at FTE is this - briefly:

What it is:
The Veterans Network, or "VET NET" at FTE is a Social Group for Veterans here at FTE.
*NOTE that I do not say "OF" FTE, because we were always here, and always will be

A "VETERAN" is a current or prior member of the military services to include Coast Guard and National Guards and for our purposes I would like to expand that to also include Police, Fire, and Rescue personnel.

We also welcome members of their immediate family.

WHAT IT IS NOT:
VET NET is not a Chapter at FTE although VET NET members are also FTE members, and usually members of one of the Chapters of FTE

The reason for this is that first of all such a Chapter can not exist at FTE, nor is it necessary to create such a thing. The fellowship of veterans is a thing that is inherent by the very nature of our members and transcends everything that we do.

PURPOSE:
The reason for such a group within FTE is because Veterans are different at a fundamental level. We take care of our own, recognise one another no matter where we are, and have a mutual respect for our people that goes right to the core.

In addition - we have resources and options that an average citizen just does not have; tax free shopping, recreational facilities, and other onbase facilities as well as Veterans Administration options being only the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to the knowlege base at FTE, we have many skilled professions available (even free legal advice) that can be called upon at need. We are a group with a wealth of experience like few others - and these abilities we share as needed for those of us who need whatever we can offer in support.

We are the Brother and Sisterhood you joined when you took the oath at the MEP station.


The foregoing is the vision I had of going beyond just ordinary FTE people helping one another out. And it has done many things I had not even thought of at the time I posted it up.

It has resulted in REAL HELP in resolving Veterans Administration issues.

It has lead to people seeking benefits they did not realize they were entitled to

It has resulted in at least one contact I know of and personally saw to of a service member with a project at an auto hobby shop that had to be finished - I jumped in with all of my skills and knowlege

* In more recent time I have done the same for a former navy/marine corps member who needed help, who was right next door and came to me offline.

It has resulted in many things, all helpful...

 

I'm pleased to see this thread show up again, Dutch. I wasn't sure if my absence had caused me to miss out on the conversations, or if VetNet had somehow gone away for some reason. I will do my best to check in more often.