Awesome sight seen on I495

[ebfd11]

Being a truck driver I see a lot of things that make me wonder what people are thinking.

Today traveling down I-495 through Washinton DC. Traffic slowed drastically, in the center lane I saw a long procession of motorcycles. As I approached the procession I could see their four ways were on and every bike had a US flag or Marine corps flag. As I got further up the procession I realized the Patriot Guard Riders were esccorting a fallen hero home.

I just wanna say it was an awesome sight to behold and it gave me mixed emotions. I did give my salute to the fallen hero with a blast of my air horn.

To all the PGR

[Wayout]

 

[eagl]

I got caught in a huge traffic jam about 2 years ago in a little town in TX, and couldn't figure out why everyone was just stopped.  I'm glad I didn't get angry or do something dumb like driving on the shoulder, because then I noticed that the cross street was lined with people holding flags.  About 10 minutes later, the escort arrived and it lasted another 15 minutes after that.  I'm "in the business" and have sees this happen far too often during my career, but it was still an amazing thing to see.

[xbrit]

In England when they are flown home they arrive at RAF Lyneham and drive to a hospital in Oxford. Five miles from the base is a small town that all come together at each passing to show respect, stores stop serving and bars empty for people to line the road. Here is a newspaper article about it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/5771032/Wootton-Bassett-A-very-British-way-of-mourning.html

[Masherbrum]

Good posts!   

[Treize69]

We've held several memorial services for fallen servicemen and women at Ft. Stanwix over the last couple of years. Usually they hold the actual funeral at their denominations nearest church, then the procession comes over to the Fort for the military side of it. It's and honor to be asked to take part in the ceremonies in period uniform and actually quite moving to see lines of both reenactors in uniform (about 1/3 of us are also veterans) and the modern military personnel who attend all rendering honors appropriate to our periods in history- a bit of the old and the new coming together that you don't often see, and a privilege for us to take part in.

[jdbecks]

In England when they are flown home they arrive at RAF Lyneham and drive to a hospital in Oxford. Five miles from the base is a small town that all come together at each passing to show respect, stores stop serving and bars empty for people to line the road. Here is a newspaper article about it
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/5771032/Wootton-Bassett-A-very-British-way-of-mourning.html

when I came back from afghan,  no one knew, a white minibus picked me up, I threw my kit on the back, said hello to the duty driver and drove back to camp, got changed, said good bye to my oc etc, then went on leave.

Its a shame as people in England do not show us as much respect as the American people do to their armed forces, Im out now tho

[xbrit]

when I came back from afghan,  no one knew, a white minibus picked me up, I threw my kit on the back, said hello to the duty driver and drove back to camp, got changed, said good bye to my oc etc, then went on leave.

Its a shame as people in England do not show us as much respect as the American people do to their armed forces, Im out now tho

The marks of respect that are being spoken about are for the dead, England never shows respect to the living servicemen of any era, another big difference is once a serviceman in the US leaves he is still looked after and in certain job places given preferential treatment when applying for jobs, in the UK it is just the reverse if anything it is harder to get a job and nobody provides medical services after discharge.

[texasmom]

I'm sorry to hear that about England's finest people.

[Pigslilspaz]

The marks of respect that are being spoken about are for the dead, England never shows respect to the living servicemen of any era, another big difference is once a serviceman in the US leaves he is still looked after and in certain job places given preferential treatment when applying for jobs, in the UK it is just the reverse if anything it is harder to get a job and nobody provides medical services after discharge.

that's sad to hear.

[Spikes]

This has been posted before but I'll bring it up again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfnmDGk0KM
Rolling Thunder 2010 - it still brings tears to my eyes

[dyna76]

It is an awesome thing to see and do. I myself am a member of the PGR, The Warrior Watch Riders and a proud member of A.B.A.T.E.

It is great to see people respect our men and woman that put their lives on hold, miss out on their own thing in their lives to volunteer for this great nation. Us as Americans take alot for granted in this nation and it is long overdue for us to remember our roots. Our ancestors came to this country for a reason, to start a new beginning and to work hard and get respect for a job well done. Now we as "American citizens" need to get our head out of our RUMPS and get back to "giving a damn". I salute all those men and women that give the greatest sacrifice of all and the men and women who respect the selflessness of others in defending the Red, White and Blue.

 

[Treize69]

The marks of respect that are being spoken about are for the dead, England never shows respect to the living servicemen of any era, another big difference is once a serviceman in the US leaves he is still looked after and in certain job places given preferential treatment when applying for jobs, in the UK it is just the reverse if anything it is harder to get a job and nobody provides medical services after discharge.

I know pretty much the only benefit my Great Uncle has gotten for retiring from the British Army is that he now lives at the soldiers home (which as I understand it from what I can gather this side of the Pond is basically a retirement home for old soldiers with no one else to care for them) instead of having to work odd jobs at the local base to try and make ends meet as he's done for the past twenty years or so. He's happy there, but it's a shame that it's really all the help he's gotten in return for his service.

[xbrit]

I know pretty much the only benefit my Great Uncle has gotten for retiring from the British Army is that he now lives at the soldiers home (which as I understand it from what I can gather this side of the Pond is basically a retirement home for old soldiers with no one else to care for them) instead of having to work odd jobs at the local base to try and make ends meet as he's done for the past twenty years or so. He's happy there, but it's a shame that it's really all the help he's gotten in return for his service.

When I first moved to the US and moved to Quincy,IL I found they had a veterans home with a museum so just had to take a visit. While there I got to talking with some of the residents and they were asking me(after learning I was ex RAF) how the British VA was compared to the American one. I don't think they believed me to begin with that over in England there was no such group to help retired servicemen. As for the retirement homes you have to be fairly lucky to get a place in one of those because there are not many of them around

[Shuffler]

Excellent posts in this thread.

I make it a habit of shaking hands and thanking every current and past military individual I meet. On my vacation this past month I was even able to pick up the meal tab for a gentlman that was on leave and had his family at the nature park we visited. I might add that on that ocassion I had to flip for who would get their tab with friends that were on vacation with us. We all wanted to get the tab. I won the flip!

The least we could do for the folks who make such great sacrifices.