[oman]

I had a buddy in the Navy from Oklahoma.

He used to joke about how the most exciting thing that ever happened in his home town was when they would all gather around to watch them take the flag down at the courthouse in the evening.

Ha, the older I get, the nicer that sounds....

This made me think about something completely unrelated.  My dad just had double bypass heart surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.  It all went fine and he is doing great.  But when I was leaving the hospital the evening of the surgery, they were taking down the flag.  This was a bit more complex than something like a courthouse -- they had a unit of soldiers to take it down, but it was really neat, the sun going down.  The way everyone stopped to stand at attention. 

While I was watching, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a young guy, t-shirt (it wasn't all that cold at thanksgiving) ball cap on backwards.  He came rolling up in a wheelchair, stopped, and stayed at attention.  If he had been walking, he would have looked like any punk kid in a t-shirt and baseball hat on backwards.  When it was over I watched him wheel away, and saw that he had some military t-shirt on, and that he had no legs.  I figure he was there at BAMC from the war. 

[oman]

I had a buddy in the Navy from Oklahoma.

He used to joke about how the most exciting thing that ever happened in his home town was when they would all gather around to watch them take the flag down at the courthouse in the evening.

Ha, the older I get, the nicer that sounds....

This made me think about something completely unrelated.  My dad just had double bypass heart surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.  It all went fine and he is doing great.  But when I was leaving the hospital the evening of the surgery, they were taking down the flag.  This was a bit more complex than something like a courthouse -- they had a unit of soldiers to take it down, but it was really neat, the sun going down.  The way everyone stopped to stand at attention. 

While I was watching, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a young guy, t-shirt (it wasn't all that cold at thanksgiving) ball cap on backwards.  He came rolling up in a wheelchair, stopped, and stayed at attention.  If he had been walking, he would have looked like any punk kid in a t-shirt and baseball hat on backwards.  When it was over I watched him wheel away, and saw that he had some military t-shirt on, and that he had no legs.  I figure he was there at BAMC from the war.