Happy 21st Birthday Pokey!

[Fozzy]

Knottie's niche: Happy Birthday Pokey......

[golfhobo]

...On this day I have made the choice to celebrate my son and his life...tomorrow I will go back to mourning him.

I wish every day were Pokey's birthday. So that Angelia would feel obligated to celebrate his life every day that she awakes... and that tomorrow's mourning would never come.

Happy Pokey's birthday to both of you.

Hobo

[mommee]

celebrate him everyday

[Rev.Vassago]

Happy Birthday, and once again thank you.

[ironeagle_2006]

Fozzy I saw this on another board then I saw this thread thought it was perfect for you. It is a performance by Trace Adkins and the West Point Glee Club doing his new song Til the Last Shot is Fired

Here you go.

YouTube - ACM 2009, Til The Last Shot's Fired, Trace Adkins, 1st. Lt. Andrew Kinard, West Point Glee Club

[Fozzy]

Thanks folks. It is and will continue to be a rare event when I post about my son anywhere. I have been scolded for doing so on a couple of other boards so I've about given up doing so. Very special events like this one will get a blurb or two. We went to one of the local watering holes last night and partook in a few rounds and toasts. A smallish crowd. Thanks for the comebacks. We visited with 12 medal of honor recipients last month in Gainesville and I got to speak with a 99 year old Pearl Harbor MOH recipient. He hits the nail on the head and he was one heck of a guy. He spoke about the fallen and being able to only honor and respect them forever. The living wounded warriors are who we need to focus on. My wife and I still do our best to keep up with a support the folks who are deployed and deploying. A friend of my son's who is in the Navy volunteered to go to Iraq and serve their because of my son. To volunteer when you have to get special training outside your MOS to do so say's a lot.

[golfhobo]

I'm not allowed to speak for ALL here, fozzy. But, I don't think you would EVER get scolded here on CAD for posting about Pokey.

MANY of us really MISS you here! We understand your reluctance, but you took a part of this board with you when you left.

Memorial Day is coming soon. I look forward to hearing from you. And I will remember Pokey on that day.

Hobo

[Fozzy]

Three of my son platoon members are coming to stay with us over the memorial day weekend. I look forward to their company. There isn't much to do here, but I'm sure we'll find something for them to do. May is just a pretty bad month for us. Armed Forces day, My son's birthday, memorial day, Graduation of the schools, just lots of things with loads of memories involved.

[golfhobo]

Three of my son platoon members are coming to stay with us over the memorial day weekend. I look forward to their company. There isn't much to do here, but I'm sure we'll find something for them to do. May is just a pretty bad month for us. Armed Forces day, My son's birthday, memorial day, Graduation of the schools, just lots of things with loads of memories involved.

Do you fish?

A story was told this weekend on the dias at Notre Dame about how their president emeritus was involved in the Civil Rights revolution of the 60's, and how he brought it all together by taking men of different beliefs on a fishing trip.

Although the men had differing views on the major political issues of the day, they shared the common love of fishing, and were subjet to the calming effects of such a simple pastime. Great strides were made that weekend.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Jesus, though a carpenter by trade, knew that the way to build a consensus was to engage the average man on HIS level.... that of fishing.

I'm not trying to make any political or religious statement here. I'm just saying that nearly ALL men love to fish, and find it calming and reflective.

I suspect that the three soldiers who will bless you with their presence over the weekend, though they come from different states and maybe cultures, share not only the common memories of battle with your son, but also the common love for life and it's simplest most calming moments.

May is not MY favorite month either. My daughter was born just before the end of this month. I knew her very briefly. I wonder about her nearly every day.

Regardless of the circumstances, it is NEVER easy to live your life missing a child. YOUR experience affords you an HONOR that I can never achieve. I don't deserve it... and never will.

I KNOW you would trade that honor ten days a week to have Poikey back. But honor is not something to be taken lightly. It comes with a price AND a responsibility.

I am not stupid enough to try to tell you how you should feel or act. I have no experience to base it on. I just know that Pokey would want you BOTH to live on with a joy of life! The same joy HE had. The same joy he knew YOU to have.

I think he would LOVE to go fishing this coming weekend!

Hobo

[Fozzy]

Not sure what we will do when the guys get here. I'm sure we will find something to do around here. They will of course want to go out and visit the grave. I am rather ashamed to admit that I do not go there. I have visited the cemetery only twice. The funeral and when the marker was placed. The site of the marker and the unfinished grave was too large a kick in the guts for me. To me, that's not where Micheal is. it is a place of honor so I should go there. But the depression that follows me around after going there is just way to heavy a burden just yet.

[geomon]

Fozzy,

I know that a hearfelt thanks from a US citizen for what your son laid down his life for is not much but it is about all that I can offer you. I honor the fact that I live in not only a FREE country but the BEST country on this planet and that the foundation and protection of that country is paid for by the blood and sacrifice of every soldier from those in the War for Independance to the sacrifices paid to this day by heroes alive and fallen such as your son.

So THANKS and a SALUTE to your son Fozzy!! ....from one of those citizens he paid so dearly to protect!!!!

[Windwalker]

Thanks folks. It is and will continue to be a rare event when I post about my son anywhere. I have been scolded for doing so on a couple of other boards so I've about given up doing so. Very special events like this one will get a blurb or two. We went to one of the local watering holes last night and partook in a few rounds and toasts. A smallish crowd. Thanks for the comebacks. We visited with 12 medal of honor recipients last month in Gainesville and I got to speak with a 99 year old Pearl Harbor MOH recipient. He hits the nail on the head and he was one heck of a guy. He spoke about the fallen and being able to only honor and respect them forever. The living wounded warriors are who we need to focus on. My wife and I still do our best to keep up with a support the folks who are deployed and deploying. A friend of my son's who is in the Navy volunteered to go to Iraq and serve their because of my son. To volunteer when you have to get special training outside your MOS to do so say's a lot.

I could be wrong... BUT I DOUBT IT!!!

I would expect that if anyone on this board had the guts to try to scold you for posting things about your son, they'd get tarred and feathered, and FLAMED. Just like the trucking industry, as a whole, many on this board are Vets. Though, not all, quite a number of those Vets have seen commorades go down under enemy fire. We may all be rebels to one degree or another, and completely unable to agree on the time of day, but we are AMERICANS, and the majority of us will agree when it comes to the cost of our freedom. We do not take that lightly.

I may get misty-eyed and find it very difficult to respond to your posts, but... I WILL NEVER TELL YOU TO STOP.

[Fozzy]

I could be wrong... BUT I DOUBT IT!!!

I would expect that if anyone on this board had the guts to try to scold you for posting things about your son, they'd get tarred and feathered, and FLAMED. Just like the trucking industry, as a whole, many on this board are Vets. Though, not all, quite a number of those Vets have seen commorades go down under enemy fire. We may all be rebels to one degree or another, and completely unable to agree on the time of day, but we are AMERICANS, and the majority of us will agree when it comes to the cost of our freedom. We do not take that lightly.

I may get misty-eyed and find it very difficult to respond to your posts, but... I WILL NEVER TELL YOU TO STOP.

Thanks for the post, I should explain a little. No one has ever told me not to post here or over there at the other boards. it is the public snide or downright hurtful comments that are made that have to be left alone by me that usually cause me to just give up. I posted the link to my new blog and there is a post there explaining some of it in better detail. I'm just not going to get involved in continuing to fight the people making the comments that are designed to drag me into some discussion with some self- serving nitwit. It happened on the other board and soon after my sons death, it happened here. I know that a lot of it is me and my history on these boards. When this first happened it was the leftists and the usual cast of low foreheads who decided to get their licks in.

Lately it has been the evangelical wing of the right wing who have decided that I'm not doing things right and have started their crusade to shut me up. They pretty much won. When a member of the Patriot Guard here calls me an atheist and tells me that he respects the Taliban more than me. and that I'm a black stain on the fabric of the country.. I challenged him on that and he tells me that "since he escorted my dead son's body, that I needed to show him more respect"Then some devout Catholic decides after a discussion about some new saint (who's main claim to fame was slaughtering other Catholics) tells me that she found humor that my son's death didn't teach me anything, and that she would forgive me for my comments. I figure it's about time to just give up. I will from time to time update things that I feel some of the vets and people who do really care may find interesting.. but there is just no way anymore to have a discussion without the ambush posters screwing it up.

[Windwalker]

Thanks for the post, I should explain a little. No one has ever told me not to post here or over there at the other boards. it is the public snide or downright hurtful comments that are made that have to be left alone by me that usually cause me to just give up. I posted the link to my new blog and there is a post there explaining some of it in better detail. I'm just not going to get involved in continuing to fight the people making the comments that are designed to drag me into some discussion with some self- serving nitwit. It happened on the other board and soon after my sons death, it happened here. I know that a lot of it is me and my history on these boards. When this first happened it was the leftists and the usual cast of low foreheads who decided to get their licks in.

In the past. we have exchanged words about a couple of things. I may still have that "tin-foil hat"... But, when it comes to "the price being paid", many of the other things really don't matter. You have to find what works best for you. Your son paid the ultimate price, but you and his mother will be paying installments for the rest of your life. The price of our freedom goes far beyond your son's life. It doesn't stop there. It's not just your son that was taken, but also your grandchildren, and the times that might have been spent with them all. And, those that do not understand that have to be very shallow individuals. Perhaps, "low foreheads" is a very appropriate term for them.

Lately it has been the evangelical wing of the right wing who have decided that I'm not doing things right and have started their crusade to shut me up. They pretty much won. When a member of the Patriot Guard here calls me an atheist and tells me that he respects the Taliban more than me. and that I'm a black stain on the fabric of the country.. I challenged him on that and he tells me that "since he escorted my dead son's body, that I needed to show him more respect"Then some devout Catholic decides after a discussion about some new saint (who's main claim to fame was slaughtering other Catholics) tells me that she found humor that my son's death didn't teach me anything, and that she would forgive me for my comments. I figure it's about time to just give up. I will from time to time update things that I feel some of the vets and people who do really care may find interesting.. but there is just no way anymore to have a discussion without the ambush posters screwing it up.

I would say that "that member of the PATRIOTIC GUARD" seems to have lost sight of his priorities. It really makes no difference what or how a soldier's parents believe or don't believe. It's SUPPOSED to be the sacrafice that is to be concentrated on. I have to wonder how this individual feels about someone who is "WICCAN" giving up his life for this individual's freedom. Is that any less a sacrafice because of the belief? In other areas, personal opinion about beliefs can spark a lively discussion, and it should be kept civil. But for this, my own, and anyone else's opinion about personal beliefs is entirely out of place. It is the price that has been paid, and is still being paid that is the subject at hand, and the proper respect for ALL that have, and are still paying that price. Personal beliefs have absolutely no place is this. It does not change the cost of our freedom. The only thing people of that caliber do is degrade themselves with their comments. We're all individuals, and all different. Each of us has to find what works for us, and no one has the right to make any judgement based on that.

I'm sorry to hear that you're catching flak. I would also suggest that you don't change a thing for their benefit. They are not worth your effort.

[golfhobo]

Fozzy said:

Not sure what we will do when the guys get here. I'm sure we will find something to do around here. They will of course want to go out and visit the grave.

Then LET them. Either you go with them, or not. If you DO, then they will make many deferential comments to you for your sacrifice. But, they don't really understand a father's pain. Out of deference to you, they will probably restrain themselves from "saluting" Pokey with some of the more "colorful" memories they have of him and THEIR time together. They loved him TOO. IF you go with them, take your leave at some point so they can be alone with him. [just a suggestion.]

I am rather ashamed to admit that I do not go there. I have visited the cemetery only twice. The funeral and when the marker was placed. The site of the marker and the unfinished grave was too large a kick in the guts for me.

There's no shame in that... although I'm sure the "finished" product is much less raw and "unfinished" than it was during the burial.

My (preacher) father has specifically designated that he wants to be cremated. He doesn't want us going to some "plot" to mourn his "passing" instead of remembering his life, and honoring it by living ours.

To me, that's not where Micheal is. it is a place of honor so I should go there. But the depression that follows me around after going there is just way to heavy a burden just yet.

He's NOT. His "earthly remains" in all their glory and imperfections are. And some find comfort in being near what they "knew" of a person. Others find comfort in knowing they are ALWAYS near the heart and soul of that person.

You do what YOU need to do. Depression IS something I know about... and you don't want it to become teminal. There is nothing but time. YOU have all that you need of it, (there are no regs pertaining) and HE will always be there for you. [I didn't mean that the way it sounded.]

Yes, it IS a "place of honor." I dare say hallowed ground. But, so is the wall. I ran into a "gaggle" of bikers this week going to the wall. They seem strangely "uplifted" by the newfound honor of our fallen soldiers. I couldn't help but feel that they had lived their LIVES since Nam in the not yet born "shadow" of the monumental wall that they rode towards.

Your son, Pokey, and his comrades both fallen and living, have restored a sense of "honor" to this nation. They have salved the wounds of my generation's vets, and they have raised the consiousness of the country.

They have, in fact, taught us what it MEANS to be an American. As have you.

On this Memorial weekend, let us never forget the MANY fallen Americans, memorialized by white crosses throughout the World! Though we may not be able to visit EACH gravesite, let us not forget that each and every one, represented by the monuments raised in their memory, are the BEST of our society... the hope of our future, and the proof of our glorious past.

To you, Fozzy. This is your weekend.

Hobo

[golfhobo]

Thanks for the post, I should explain a little. No one has ever told me not to post here or over there at the other boards. it is the public snide or downright hurtful comments that are made that have to be left alone by me that usually cause me to just give up. I posted the link to my new blog and there is a post there explaining some of it in better detail. I'm just not going to get involved in continuing to fight the people making the comments that are designed to drag me into some discussion with some self- serving nitwit. It happened on the other board and soon after my sons death, it happened here. I know that a lot of it is me and my history on these boards. When this first happened it was the leftists and the usual cast of low foreheads who decided to get their licks in.

Lately it has been the evangelical wing of the right wing who have decided that I'm not doing things right and have started their crusade to shut me up. They pretty much won. When a member of the Patriot Guard here calls me an atheist and tells me that he respects the Taliban more than me. and that I'm a black stain on the fabric of the country.. I challenged him on that and he tells me that "since he escorted my dead son's body, that I needed to show him more respect"Then some devout Catholic decides after a discussion about some new saint (who's main claim to fame was slaughtering other Catholics) tells me that she found humor that my son's death didn't teach me anything, and that she would forgive me for my comments. I figure it's about time to just give up. I will from time to time update things that I feel some of the vets and people who do really care may find interesting.. but there is just no way anymore to have a discussion without the ambush posters screwing it up.

Fozzy, I remember many discussions about religious fanaticixm and how they promulgate the wars that plague our world, and cost the lives of our citizens. I challenged you, at times, to explain yourself further. But, I mostly did so just to hear your viewpoints which I found extremely intelligent.

I remember, clearly, a post in which I questioned the "duty" of one American soldier escorting another to a trial, and the safety of that soldier given the environment he was in. I specifically remember that, although I may have been graphic, my concern was for your son's safety.

I HOPE with ALL MY HEART, that you do not count me among those who have disparaged your beliefs or loss as things changed suddenly shortly after that.

I told a friend of mine that your announcement hit me like a brick in the chest! I don't think I even totally understood your pride until I heard of your loss, and realized how much a part of my heart was with you.

The Rev accused me, on the open forum, of driving you off CAD. If I had ANYTHING to do with that, I apologize clearly and completely.

I've read your blog, and I find the SAME Fozzy I always knew on here. I KNOW these times have been tough on you, but I don't see that they have changed your inner beliefs. The fact that you have stood up against those with stupid viewpoints, tells me that you are still in control. And THAT is what I want to see.

Your viewpoint has gone unmatched since you left. And many have chalked it up to a lack of spirit due to your loss. I don't believe you have lost THAT! I've read your blog, and I still see it. Your principles shine through your pain.

There are many who need to hear what you have to say. And ALL here on CAD want to know about Pokey. Any left-wing liberal insults will be dealt with by me.

You are at home here on CAD, Fozzy. We're here for you.

Hobo

[geomon]

Hey Fozzy,

I just read just a bit of your blog and one sentance grabbed me.....you wrote: "I have the shared opinion that we are not a country at war. We are a country with a military at war."

I cannot agree with you more...those were powerful words that sums up our country at this time. You look around you at a stop light or in a store and wonder...are these people that understand that we are a "country at war"? No way...they are worried about their jobs and what will happen to interest rates. I have to say that those words are very powerful Fozzy. I will be thinking about them.

Fozzy, I know that you and I have debated theology and what happens on the other side of the curtain in the past. The main thing is that I firmly respect your beliefs no matter what I believe...I also believe that whatever intelligent form-force...or what ever is behind this grand life we live....that that supreme being will recognize the sacrifice of those who willingly put themselves in harms way to protect others such as your son and the all will be rewarded; and that each one of us will see that in our own times.

[Fozzy]

Thanks Guys. I'm not sure where I go or what I do. I just get tired of defending things that I shouldn't have too. It seems to me that any and every topic gives some people the license to go on the offensive using Pokey as the tip of the spear. Wouldn't you guys get tired of trying to discuss something and having your son brought up and tossed into the mix? I guess I just am tired of it.
My wife found this picture in one of Pokey's internet spots. She shared it with me. I'll share it with you.



This is another picture that I found in some of the emails that we got from Micheal's friends and team mates. This was from the remembrance ceremony in Iraq.



Three of Micheal's platoon members are here with us for the weekend. One of them was my son's squad leader. A few days after my son was killed. He and three other guys were "blown up". He was acting as the gunner in the HMMV and took the blast to his body and head. He is dealing with a brain injury. The Army is working with him and have him in a ground breaking program to get the part of his damaged brain to wake up and start working fully. This fine young man reminds me of the general rule that I and all other Americans should strive to live by. My son and those who went before him can only be honored and respected and on special days like tomorrow.. REMEMBERED! That's ALL we can do! The real work and the real effort needs to go to those who are wounded and have to live the rest of their days in pain or dealing with things that they should never EVER have to any longer.

Take time to remember the fallen. take the rest of your life to do whatever you can for those who return.

[Ridge Runner]

All I can say is thank you. Because of people like Pokey I ( and my children ) may never have to experience what you have had to go through. That is a true THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.


May you find peace,

Ridge ( aka: Jeff )