Veterans Blog

Run For Our Veterans 5K Run / Walk - March 23, 2013 (Nashville)

JOIN US on March 23, 2013 for the inaugural “RUN FOR OUR VETERANS” 5K Run/Walk in the Music Row area of Nashville.  Start time is 9 am.

Sponsored by:   Vanderbilt Naval ROTC / NROTC Alumni Association and the  ASMBA (Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association) STAR Foundation

Now, more than ever, our nation’s warriors deserve our thanks, and our help. Whether it’s your first run, you’re training for a marathon, or you just want to join with friends, co-workers or family and have some fun, you can do it AND make a difference in the lives of our military, veterans and their families when you join with a field of over 700 participants in support of our nation’s heroes!  A full 100% of the net proceeds from the run will benefit both the Tennessee Fisher House and the ASMBA STAR Foundation (a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt charity that supports wounded warriors, veterans and their families).

This inaugural event will feature R.A.C.E. chip timing and management services for all runners, special recognition awards for both individual and team competitors, refreshments and a limited edition t-shirt!  Sponsors and local vendors will provide special sports coupons and snacks to all participants, all in support of our heroes, many of whom are battling the physical and mental disabilities that the ravages of war bring. 

Participants can register online at http://www.active.com/running/nashville-tn/vanderbilt-nrotc-and-asmba-star-foundation-run-for-our-veterans-5k-run-walk-2013.  Or, go to Active.com and search "Run For Our Veterans".  Registration fees are:

 

Between 1/2/2013 and 3/20/2013 - $35

• After 3/21/2013 - $40
• Teams of 10 or more runners - $350 per team
• Children - $20


Lets honor those veterans that stepped up! Will you?

On Keeping On

The following article titled “On Keeping On” written about Major General John Borling, USAF (Ret) former prisoner of war (POW) and a 6 ½ year resident of the Hanoi Hilton as it became known to its residents appeared February 25^th in the New York Times authored by Bill Keller. 

I worked for General Borling in the early 90’s while assigned to Strategic Air Command Headquarters outside of Omaha, NE.  I guess you can only know someone as well as they will let you know them.  However, I found him and his wife to be an amazing team.  He was as tough as nails in terms of supporting the mission and taking care of his people.  Quite often the later was not always apparent, but behind the scenes he was patriot and one who knew what a lot of us take for granted... our personal freedom.

The following are excerpts from Bill Keller’s article posted February 25, 2013:

“When I heard the story of John Borling’s poems, I thought of Samuel Johnson’s quip about a dog that walks on its hind legs: it doesn’t matter whether it is done well; the surprising thing is that it is done at all.

Borling’s poems were tapped out in code, letter by letter, on the walls of a wretched cell in Hanoi during his six and a half years as a prisoner of war. Borling and his fellow captives committed the verses to memory and, 40 years after his release, they have been compiled in a book.

It doesn’t matter that “Taps on the Walls: Poems From the Hanoi Hilton” will probably not be taught in Ivy League English lit classes. His poems were spirit-lifters, mental calisthenics, acts of defiance and a way of improving the odds that his memories would make it home to his wife and daughter, even if he did not. That it was done at all says something heartening about the human spirit.

Captives at the Hoa Lo prison, the notorious North Vietnamese prison and torture mill known to its inmates as the Hanoi Hilton, communicated using a popular alphabet grid:

 1. A B C D E

2. F G H I J

3. L M N O P

4. Q R S T U

5. V W X Y Z

You tap the number of the row, then tap the number across to reach the letter you want. So “poem” is (3,5) (3,4) (1,5) (3,2). For the letter K, use C or (2,6). Sometimes the verses were passed along in syncopated coughs; or a captive sweeping the prison corridor would scratch out the code with strokes of his bamboo broom. But mostly they were tapped on the walls. With practice, and using shortcuts, they could rap out up to 40 words a minute, Borling told me. If the inmates were caught tapping — and they were often caught — they were beaten.

After their first few years of isolated torment, the Hanoi Hilton captives were allowed to mingle, and they kept the verses alive by reciting them together... Of course the tappers also shared intelligence about their captors, reminiscences of family back home, jokes and lots of prayers, but Borling said that for military men — men of “armored heart,” he writes in the introduction to his book — poetry in particular entailed an opening of emotional channels that was painful and bracing. It forged bonds that helped the captives withstand the physical and mental agonies meant to break them...

The poet laureate of the Hanoi Hilton was freed at the end of America’s war in 1973. During his recuperation at Clark Air Base in the Philippines he bought a cassette recorder to get the verses down. He came home to a White House welcome, then settled back into his marriage and a military career that saw him to retirement with the rank of major general.

In 2004 Borling ran as a moderate Republican — by then, already a hopeless task — in the primary race for a vacant Senate seat from Illinois. The election was a spectacular pileup that saw the Republican nominee sidelined by allegations that he had dragged his wife to sex clubs. In search of a replacement, Republican leaders passed over Borling and settled on a right-wing carpetbagger. The ultimate winner was the Democrat, a newcomer named Barack Obama.

For his next act, Borling launched a campaign called SOS America that advocates a year of mandatory military service for all young American men...Borling sees it as a character-builder as much as a public service. He persuaded a congressman to introduce the idea as legislation, but it has gone nowhere...

Borling will be the first to tell you, his life is a series of defeats. Shot down over Vietnam, he dragged his broken body to a road, planning to hijack a ride to freedom — but had the misfortune to flag down a truckload of North Vietnamese troops. Much later he threw himself into that Senate race, only to suffer the political handicap of being too sane for his own party. His attempt to rally Americans under the banner of mandatory service has been, in his words, “a blazing failure.”

He is amiably self-deprecating about his book, published at the urging of former comrades to mark the anniversary of their release... All he asks is that “people will be a little gentle with it...Life is made up of all kinds of approximations...You do the best you can under the circumstances.”

... Borling’s life is a tribute to the underrated virtue of perseverance — of just keeping on, and finding contentment in the effort. Borling told me one of the readings that stuck with him from the humanities courses he took at the Air Force Academy was Camus’s “Myth of Sisyphus.” In it Camus argues that, in an absurd world, the poor hero condemned by the gods to roll a rock up a hill for eternity, always falling just short of the top, was ultimately a happy man...

In the article General Borling concludes:  “My view is that our job is to get the rock up and over the hill... And once you do, the rock rolls down the other side, and what do you see? You see another hill. The essence of life is really just pushing rocks.”

General John Borling thank you for your service! You remind us time and time again that freedom is not always free! We all need to give something back!

 

Veterans Day Quotes – Honoring Veterans

Did you know that the number of military personnel who have deployed overseas since 2001 constitute approximately .05 % of the total U. S. population of 311 Million?

This disproportionate ratio is due in part to the all-volunteer force, and despite the fact that a majority of the population supports the military… there is a lack of understanding as to the challenges faced by military personnel and their families before, during, and after deployment.

At this point you might need to consider that the concerns and the needs of the few that serve are not fully understood by the majority of our citizenry!  Which helps to explain why based on the 2010 US Census that less than 1% of the total U.S. population is currently serving in uniform!

The following are some Veterans Day quotes found on Quotations.About.com, which I believe brings special meaning to this emotional video presented by the Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association (ASMBA) STAR Foundation designed to (VIEW VIDEO) Honor Veterans. 

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy
  As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
• Sidney Sheldon
  My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place -- police, firefighters, and members of our armed forces.
• Jim Ramstad
  America's veterans deserve the very best health care because they've earned it.
• Steve Buyer
  America's veterans embody the ideals upon which America was founded more than 229 years ago.
• John Doolittle
  America's Veterans have served their country with the belief that democracy and freedom are ideals to be upheld around the world.
• Mark Twain
  Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
• General Douglas
  We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
• Napoleon Bonaparte
  Valor is a gift. Those having it never know for sure whether they have it till the test comes. And those having it in one test never know for sure if they will have it when the next test comes.
• Ronald Reagan
  Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem.
• Adapted from Henry G. Bohn
  A soldier is he whose blood makes the glory of the general.
• Ernest Miller Hemmingway
  Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.
• Charles Edward Montague
  The number of medals on an officer's breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line.
• George Orwell
  People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
• Allen West
  I understand both the gravity of giving the order, and the challenge of carrying it out.
• Elmer Davis
  This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
• Dick Cheney
  It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
• Karl von Clausewitz
  War should never be thought of as something autonomous, but always as an instrument of policy.

Please support the ASMBA STAR Foundation (CFC # 57446)!  Learn more by visiting us at www.asmbastar.com Thank you in advance for your generous donation which can be securely processed online, or you may send in your contribution to the ASMBA STAR Foundation Inc. at P.O. Box 160384, Nashville TN 37216 where 100% of your charitable donation goes directly in support of active duty military, wounded warriors, veterans, their families and the military community.

To our Veterans everywhere…Thank you for your service! 

New Tax Credits Available for Employers Hiring Veterans!

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a Federal tax credit available to private-sector businesses and certain non-profit organizations for hiring certain individuals, including Veterans, who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment. The WOTC program enables the targeted employees to gradually move from economic dependency into self-sufficiency as they earn a steady income, while participating employers are able to reduce their federal income tax liability. The VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 expanded the tax credits available for employers that hire Veterans before January 1, 2013. For more information, visit the WOTC program website at http://www.doleta.gov/wotc

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Military Retirees: DFAS Warns Service Members of Scam Emails

This story appeared 4/20/2012 in the Air Force Retiree News Service authored by Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Rojek out of Fort George G. Meade, MD. The following link will allow you to read the complete story under DFAS Warns Service Members of Scam Emails.

Tech Sgt Rojek writes, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service ...recently released a statement warning of email scams targeting military members, military retirees, and civilian employees.

According to the statement, the most recent email scam indicates that individuals who are receiving disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs may be able to obtain additional funds from the Internal Revenue Service, but only if they send copies of their income tax information.

Scammers have even gone so far as to "spoof" DFAS email addresses so that the recipients would think it was actually coming from DFAS personnel. In a spoofing email, the scammer makes it appear that the message is coming from a legitimate source. This is to try to lure the reader into believing it's genuine.

"(Scammers) manage to find a way to appear legitimate when they're not," said Edward Peace, the senior cyberwarfare instructor for the 39th Information Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, FL..."In some cases, it looks like it's from a legitimate source, but in other cases if you inspect it just a little bit deeper, just looking at where the email came from you would be tipped off right way. But most people don't look at it; they just look at the content, it looks legitimate and they go from there."

...Though these scam artists have found ways to spoof the DFAS email address, this does not mean that customer accounts were compromised.

"We have not had an incident that has threatened our security or the accounts of our customers," said Steve Burghardt, a DFAS media relations officer. "We are always on the lookout. And we're taking steps to (educate) folks."

"That's our biggest concern," he said. "As long as you keep your login credentials private and to yourself, then your account is pretty much assured a fairly decent amount of security. But if you give that away or give out that information that people can use to get new credentials ... I can always impersonate you and say, 'I lost my login credentials, get me a new one.'"

For more information on the DFAS email policy, click here.

For more retiree news and information, please visit www.retirees.af.mil.

To all of our veterans thank you for your service!

Veterans Day Quotes That Stay With Us!

You’ve probably heard them before but you might not remember who said them.  The following quotes were borrowed from the website Motivational and Inspirational Corner.

• Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• If a man does his best, what else is there? --General George S. Patton
• There is no victory at bargain basement prices. --Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. --Colin Powell 
• Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. -- Norman Schwarzkopf 
• A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. -- George Washington 
• My responsibility, our responsibility as lucky Americans, is to try to give back to this country as much as it has given us, as we continue our American journey together. --Colin Powell 
• When placed in command -- take charge. -- Norman Schwarzkopf 
• I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. -- Sir Winston Churchill 
• Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. -- George Patton 
• Live for something rather than die for nothing. -- George Patton 
• Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy. -- Norman Schwarzkopf 
• When you are in any contest you should work as if there were - to the very last minute - a chance to lose it. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Experts often possess more data than judgment. -- Colin Powell 
• The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear it it's usually lousy. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. -- Colin Powell 
• No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair. -- George S. Patton 
• Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. -- George S. Patton 
• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -- Thomas Jefferson 
• If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking. -- George S. Patton 
• What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• To dilute the will to win is to destroy the purpose of the game. There is no substitute for victory. -- Douglas MacArthur

 Happy Veterans Day!  Please consider supporting the ASMBA STAR Foundation (CFC #: 57446) by visiting us online at www.asmbastar.com.

Veterans Day Discounts and Freebies …11-11-11

Look what many companies are doing for veterans on Veterans’ Day 11-11-11.  In addition, do not be bashful about asking any local business if they offer any discounts for veterans.  Also, many large retail stores such as Lowes and Home Depot offer 10% discounts everyday!  Not bad!  But you have to ask!

Restaurants

Abuelo’s Mexican Food - Abuelo’s offerings vary by region, be sure to call ahead to see what the discounts or freebies are included.

Applebees - All veterans and active duty military eat free from a limited menu at Applebee’s on Veterans Day.

Chili’s — Veterans and active duty dine for free from a special limited six item menu on Veterans Day.

Golden Corral — Golden Corral Restaurants’ Military Appreciation Monday free dinner will be available on November 15, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Military retirees, veterans, active duty, National Guard and Reserves are all welcome.

Hooters — All Veterans and active duty eat free. The free entrees must be selected from a special Veterans Day menu.

Krispy Kreme – All active-duty, retirees & veterans get a free doughnut on Veterans Day. Be sure to call ahead to verify your local Krispy Kreme is par-ticipating.

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants — Participating McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants offer a complimentary entree to vets from a special menu on a space available basis, online reservations are highly recommended.

Outback Steakhouse — Veterans and active-duty military get a complimen-tary Bloomin’ Onion and non-alcoholic beverage on Veterans Day.

UNO Chicago Grill — UNO is offering a Buy One Get One free offer to Service members or Veterans with a military or veteran I.D. or in uniform or with a photo of themselves in uniform. The Veterans Day BOGO offer includes a free entree or individual pizza, with the purchase of an entree or pizza of equal or greater value.

Texas Roadhouse – Free meal from opening until 4pm. on Veterans Day. Call ahead to your local restaurant for more information.

T.G.I. Friday’s – Veterans and Service members Buy one get one free from Nov 11–14. Contact your nearest location for more details on their Veterans Day BOGO offer.

Retail

The Dollar General — Veterans, Service members (Active, Guard, and Reserve), and their immediate families will receive a 10-percent discount with a Veterans Day coupon. The coupon may be found in store circular ads or by asking a sales associate.

Home Depot — Offers a 10 percent discount to all Veterans during Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day.

Lowe’s — All veterans receive the 10-percent discount on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. The offer is available in stores only and is limited to in-stock and special-order purchases of up to $5,000.

Sam’s Club — Sam’s give away 36,000 collapsible Hugo Canes on Veterans Day to military veterans in need of mobility assistance. Sam’s Club will require membership for this offer, but proof of service may be necessary.

Amazon.com – Free ―Veterans Day Honor‖ MP3 album download. The album includes 12 songs by The Bands and Ensembles of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Cabela’s Outdoor Store – Offers their employee discount to all veterans, active-duty military and reserves, law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel November 11-12. Discounts vary from 5% to 50%, depending on the item.

Build-a-Bear Workshop – Members of the armed services including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Reserve Officer Training Corps, will receive a 20% discount November 11-15 on any one transaction at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Fashion Bug – 20% off all plus-size and misses clothing purchases with a copy of military ID or spouse’s military ID.

Sports Clips Haircuts - The men’s hair salon chain is offering a free haircut to active military and veterans on Veterans Day.

Foot Locker — Veterans, Service members (Active, Guard, and Reserve), and their immediate families with a Foot Locker Veterans Advantage Card receive a 20 percent discount every day of the year. That offer is good both online and at any store location, including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Footaction and Champs Sports — even on sale items.

From all of us at the Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association and the ASMBA STAR Foundation to our soldiers stationed around the world and to those who have served before them…Thank You for your service!

White House Proposes Military Benefit Cuts

Today I received a disturbing message from the President of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), VADM Norb Ryan, USN (Ret).  I was shocked to find out that some clueless bureaucrat within the administration is proposing cuts in military benefits.  My immediate gut response was not something which my mother would be proud or something one should say in mixed company. Ok…deep breath!

Needless to say, I like many of my fellow veterans some of whom have served honorably for over 20, 25, even 30 years are having to once again defend their military retirement benefits against a bureaucrat system that ostensibly punishes duty, honor, country and seemingly rewards illegal aliens, entrenched welfare recipients, and wasteful spending.

Now is not the time to punish those that now serve or the estimated 23 million veterans that have served in defense of freedom.  Soldiers past and present have relied on the promises made to them.  We cannot expect future soldiers to serve if our civilian leadership reneges on their promises. Soldiers formed their own union and have paid their dues; some with their lives, while others suffer through life enduring the challenges brought on by mental and physical disabilities.

Did you know that military personnel who have deployed overseas since 2001 constitute approximately .05 % of the total U. S. population of 311 Million.  This disproportionate ratio between those who have served and those who have not is a product of the all-volunteer force, and despite the fact that a majority of the population supports the military there is a lack of understanding as to the challenges faced by military personnel and their families before, during, and after deployment. 

Yes, that’s right .05%!  I have had the pleasure of commanding organizations comprised of the brightest, most educated, and highly motivated young men and women this great country has to offer.  As veterans and the family members of veterans, not to mention as a concerned citizenry we need to stand up now and voice our disapproval of any plan that would seriously impact military benefits, discourage future generations from military service, and adversely impact our nation’s security.

Here was Admiral Ryan’s letter to MOAA Members:

Yesterday, the Administration put out its plan to cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years, including specific proposals for $27 billion in cuts in the military retirement and health care package.

The Administration plan envisions:

• Establishing an annual enrollment fee for TRICARE For Life
• Another (unspecified) retail pharmacy co-pay hike
• Establishing a BRAC-style commission to recommend "modernizing" the military retirement system

Most upsetting, the stated intent of the proposals is to "align government programs with those in the private sector" and address the "measurable disparity between the fees most retired private sector workers pay...and what retired military personnel pay."

Those words show a shocking insensitivity to the extraordinary demands and sacrifices imposed on career servicemembers and families.

Our strong stance has attracted a major media blitz. Our staff experts have been quoted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Lou Dobbs Show in the last two days alone. We anticipate a great deal of media attention over the next few weeks due to MOAA's reputation as a reliable source…

This isn't just about equity. It's about an attack on the core elements that sustain the quality career force that protects our national security.

Any who continue to sit on the sidelines jeopardize their own interests, the military community's, and the nation's future capability to sustain a strong national defense.

Please let your elected representatives in Congress know how you feel.  To all of our active duty soldiers around the world and to the 23 million military veterans who have defended freedom…Thank you for your service!

The American 3rd Army – Rolls Into Pilsen, Czech Republic

   
Every 5 years, Pilsen conducts the Liberation Celebration of the City of Pilsen in the Czech Republic.   May 6th, 2010, marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Pilsen by General George Patton's 3rd Army. Pilsen is the town that every American should visit. Because they love America and the American Soldier...

Even 65 years later... by the thousands, The citizens of Pilsen came to say thank you. Lining the streets of Pilsen for miles - From the large crowds, to quiet reflective moments, including this American family's private time to honor and remember their American hero.

Near Pilsen was the crash site of  Lt. Virgil P. Kirkham the last recorded American USAAF pilot killed in  Europe during WWII. It was Lt. Kirkham's 82nd mission and one that he volunteered to go on. At the time, this 20-year-old pilot's P-47 Thunderbolt plane was shot down, a young 14-year-old Czech girl, Zdenka Sladkova, was so moved by his sacrifice she made a vow to care for him and his memory. For 65 straight years, Zdenka, now 79-years-old, took on the responsibility to care for Virgil's crash site and memorial near her home.

On May 4th, she was recognized by the Mayor of Zdenka's home town of Trhanova, CzechRepublic, for her sacrifice and extraordinary effort to honor this American hero.

Another chapter in this important story... the Czech people are teaching their children about America's sacrifice for their freedom. American Soldiers, young and old, are the ''Rock Stars'' these children and their parents want autographs from…Amazing!

The Brian LaViolette Foundation established The Scholarship of Honor in tribute to General George S. Patton and the American Soldier, past and present.

Each year, a different military hero will be honored in tribute to General Patton's memory and their mission to liberate Europe . This award will be presented to a graduating senior who will be entering the military or a form of community service such as fireman, policeman, teaching or nursing -- a cause greater than self. The student will be from 1 of the 5 high schools in Pilsen.

The first award will be presented in May 2011 in honor of Lt. Virgil Kirkham, that young 20-year-old P-47 pilot killed 65 years ago in the final days of WWII.

Presenting Virgil's award will be someone who knows the true meaning of service and sacrifice... someone who looks a lot like Virgil. Marion Kirkham, Virgil's brother, who himself served during WWII in the United States Army Air Corps!!!

Guess what!  It's front page news over there, not buried in the middle of the social section…True “Rock Stars”!

 

A Few Quotes for this 4th of July

As our Nation’s Birthday approaches it seems only fitting to remember what freedom really means, and direct it at those that have never experienced a day without freedom.  The following few quotes were compiled by The Quote Garden. Happy Fourth of July!

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.  ~Author unknown, sometimes attributed to M. Grundler

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  ~Thomas Paine

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  ~Elmer Davis

The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation.  ~Woodrow Wilson

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.  ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

Let freedom never perish in your hands.  ~Joseph Addison

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.  ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.  ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

This, then, is the state of the union:  free and restless, growing and full of hope.  So it was in the beginning.  So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith.  ~Lyndon B. Johnson

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.  ~Louis D. Brandeis

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.  ~Albert Camus

America is much more than a geographical fact.  It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality.  ~Adlai Stevenson

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.  ~Robert J. McCracken

If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace.  ~Hamilton Fish

Where liberty dwells, there is my country.  ~Benjamin Franklin

Liberty means responsibility.  That is why most men dread it.  ~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, "Maxims: Liberty and Equality," 1905

The United States is the only country with a known birthday.  ~James G. Blaine

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.  ~William Faulkner

My God!  How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!  ~Thomas Jefferson

What is the essence of America?  Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from."  ~Marilyn vos Savant, in Parade

We need an America with the wisdom of experience.  But we must not let America grow old in spirit.  ~Hubert H. Humphrey

It is sweet to serve one's country by deeds, and it is not absurd to serve her by words.  ~Sallust

My patriotic heart beats red, white, and blue.  ~Author Unknown

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.  ~William J. Clinton
Freedom is never free.  ~Author Unknown

Happy 4^th and to all of our soldiers currently serving at home and around the world, and to our approximately 24 million veterans…Thank you for your service!

Please support the ASMBA STAR Foundation and view how we are making a difference in the lives of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors, and their families by visiting us at www.asmbastarfoundation.com.