I kind of felt like a whiner this morning...

John Pollman

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Rochester Hills, MI
Got up and got going this morning. Had a job to go finish but also had something to do before that. My neighbor who I just finished a deck for was having a concrete crew come over and pour a patio slab underneath the deck that I just completed. I kind of wanted to be there while they did the job. He called me last night and told me that they were going to be there today to do it. Knowing how hot it was going to be today I figured that they may have put it off for a few days. But he said that they were planning on getting an early start and they should be done before the heat got too bad. Well they showed up and were working by about 7:00.

I went over there at about 7:20 and they were busy with shovels and such while they prepped the area and formed it up. I kept thinking how uncomfortable it already was outside at 7:30 a.m. As the hour got later, the heat was already rising. I kept thinking how miserable it was getting to be and it wasn't even 10:00 yet. They started the pour by about 9:15 and they were completely done and finishing by 10:30. They busted their butts, did a GREAT job and were cleaned up and out of there by 11:30.

I headed home, hooked up the trailer and headed over to do that job. While hooking up the trailer I started griping again about how hot and miserable it was getting to be and it wasn't even noon yet. I was just about to the job when I stopped to pick up something to drink to stay hydrated. It was nice and cool in the truck with the A/C blasting but when I shut the truck off and stepped out to go into the store, the oppressive heat smacked me in the face immediately when I opened the door. Here we go again, another miserable walk from the truck to the nice air conditioned convenience store to pick up refreshments.

Right at that moment, for some reason a thought popped into my head. I thought about my nephew who is stationed in Iraq. I thought about how he's been there for a while and he deals with this crap EVERY DAY and he's got to deal with people shooting at him and trying to kill him at every chance they get.

At that point I decided to QUIT WHINING and just DEAL WITH IT. I've got it MUCH easier here than he and all of the other service men and women have over there in Iraq! It is uncomfortably hot right now and it's supposed to continue for a little while longer, but I feel LUCKY to only have to deal with a little bit of heat and how I can fairly easily escape it for a while and cool off. I wish it were so easy for our military people.


Thank you again to all of you who put yourself in harms way to protect us!

John
 
Could not agree more John. I hear my generation whine and i think of the life my Dads generation had. We aint had bombs raining down on us destroying and burning everything in sight. Never mind robbing youngsters of their youth.
Puts it all into persective, dont it. Cheers.:)

sent from my Atrix
 
Very well put John.

Being an eye man, I don't see a lot of the other injuries. However, I get a sick feeling every time I do see a guy or gal with an arm or leg or whatever missing.

Most of us civilians really don't have much to gripe about.

I cannot remember the exact statistics and the exact hierarchy of items, however this was presented at a meeting.

If you have two pairs of shoes, you are in the top 10% of the world population.
If you live in a free country, you are in the top 10% of the above group.
If you live in the USA, you are in the top 10% of the above group.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

I cannot remember much of the presentation. However, just being in the top two on the list is really a fantastic advantage. There were at least another dozen items on the list. By the time you read it all you begin to think that you live in Heaven.

Remember and bless the members of our armed forces.

Jim
 
Right at that moment, for some reason a thought popped into my head. I thought about my nephew who is stationed in Iraq. I thought about how he's been there for a while and he deals with this crap EVERY DAY and he's got to deal with people shooting at him and trying to kill him at every chance they get.

At that point I decided to QUIT WHINING and just DEAL WITH IT. I've got it MUCH easier here than he and all of the other service men and women have over there in Iraq! It is uncomfortably hot right now and it's supposed to continue for a little while longer, but I feel LUCKY to only have to deal with a little bit of heat and how I can fairly easily escape it for a while and cool off. I wish it were so easy for our military people.


Thank you again to all of you who put yourself in harms way to protect us!

John

Worse yet, you've seen all that gear they have to wear... I would think that would be warm even in a cold climate.... thank you to you and your nephew for his service... I'm just glad both of my boys are beyond the age of the military and have already finished their service.
 
my son would send me pictures and videos of he and his buddies wearing 40-60 pounds of body armor, weapons, and all the other required equipment while on patrol in Iraq. It was 120 degrees:eek::eek::eek:

Since getting those I don't really complain much about the heat anymore. :D
 
The IBA (vest) is about 60 pounds alone. Add a weapon at 15 pounds, ammo, kevlar helmet, canteen, assorted things required for personal use, pack and gear it can weigh over 100 pounds. The uniform sleeves are always down, boots bloused and the blouse (shirt) is always zipped and velcored so there is no air circulating to keep the body cool. One trick is to stick mini pads to the sweat band in the helmet and try to keep it wet. The vest even is real effective at sealing the sweat in so the body doesn't get any cooling to the torso. Those folks don't have it easy. 120 is an average day there in the summer. It can get in the 130s on hot days.
 
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Kind of a sobering thread isn't it? These points are all appropriate. Special thanks to those who are serving us wherever they may be, and to those who have served, whenever that was.
 
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