Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A few things to think about this week:
The 2016 presidential campaign is over. The election was held Tuesday, and for better or worse, we have a new president.
Rube Render
God Bless America.
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Once again it’s time to celebrate the anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday and to honor all veterans on Veterans Day on Friday.
So on Saturday, we will turn out for the annual Veterans Day parade.
If you haven’t done this before, take time on Saturday to find John Montano and thank him for the work he does in organizing this parade.
He is a retired member of the New Mexico National Guard and on most parade days in Clovis, you can find him going slowly crazy getting everything organized and running smoothly.
Thanks, John.
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The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the secretary of defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and “in conducting the commemorative program, the secretary shall coordinate, support, and facilitate other programs and activities of the federal government, state and local governments, and other persons and organizations in commemoration of the Vietnam War.”
The commemoration objectives include:
To thank and honor veterans of the Vietnam War and to thank and honor the families of these veterans.
Many Vietnam veterans believe the thanks come 49 1/2 too late.
If you see an older guy with a Vietnam veteran hat on, it’s not too late to tell him, “Welcome home.”
Depending on where you go on the ’net, you can find some sobering statistics for the Vietnam War.
Of the 9,087,000 military personnel on active duty during the Vietnam era, 2,709,918 Americans served in Vietnam.
Almost 7,500 of these folk were women, most of them nurses (6,250).
Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s age approximated to be 60.
It is estimated that 390 Vietnam vets die a day, so in another six to 10 years we’ll all be gone.
It should give us all pause, considering that the above information is the kind of stats we are used to reading about World War II and Korean War vets.
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Jim Cowman once asked me why we continue to get into blues and march in parades.
I told him, “Major, we do it for the old guys.”
He said, “Gunny, we are the old guys.”
Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at: