Veteran appreciation

[Brandon.in.parts]

I'm honestly glad I brought this up. It never occurred to me the fine line between appreciation and pandering. The last thing I am trying to do is make anyone uncomfortable. I guess if I really think about it, am I really trying to honor people for the their service or make everyone else feel better for doing something. That's a tough question. I really appreciate the input and will be scaling back my efforts. Less is more.

 

[Redmt]

If you're old enough to remember, or been part of, soldiers returning from Vietnam being spat on, called baby killers,,,. Those are the memories that don't need to be relived. I remember when they scuttled the Oriskany. I had several friends who served aboard her that either were KIA or died sometime after the war. Every mention of the Oriskany brought back memories both good and bad. I watched the old girl go down on the news and cried. It was a final closure. I wouldn't want to relive it in any manner.
A silent tribute means more than most will ever understand.

 

[rke]

As the Veteran Chairman for the Chico Chapter of the California Waterfowl Association, I am looking for input on what people have seen other banquets do to honor veterans specifically and also ideas on what people would like to see. A tradition I started last year was a missing/fallen soldier table. I set up an empty table at our banquet with full place settings for every branch along with an explanation of the table and it's significance. Each veteran attending our banquet will receive a CWA challenge coin. We also hold a veteran specific raffle and this year we will hold an auction to send one of the veterans at our dinner on a hunt with the veterans program of CWA. I'd like to do more. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

We attended the Quail Forever banquet in Ridgecrest a few months ago and they had a bottle of wine with special labels for each branch of the service. All veterans went up to the front for recognition. Each bottle was given to one person that served in that branch (I don't recall how that was decided). What I do recall, is that the 4 Marines in attendance promptly opened the bottle and down it together on the spot!

Having not served, I felt it was a very special touch. My 3 sons (16, 14 and 10) were with me and all commented on it during the couple hour drive home that night.

 

[mdcrossbow]

I appreciated just the fact of being recognized with 8 others and given a PIN by the NWTF with the date of the event.
Empty table excellent jesters.

 

[Redmt]

The most useless part of a bottle of hooch is the cap.

 

[Scott85]

You want to have a meaningful impact without saying anything. Setup a POW/MIA table, they are the forgotten ones. https://www.history.navy.mil/conten.../infographics/heritage/the-pow-mia-table.html