Mail Call for Commander Valenta

--> NEW INFO:  the Honor Flight team asked me to get the letters to them by November 7th!  so, you have a week to get it to me at MY ADDRESS so i can give it to them.  sure, any stragglers i'll just bring to the airport, but try to get any letters to him via my address this week - THANKS!<--

--> ALSO - the veterans will return to Lambert that night around 7:45pm, if you want to be there, bring the kids, make up signs, and come along - be aware that parking is the WORST, so target getting there at 6:45<--


my father has been invited to go on the Veteran's Day 2015 Honor Flight, which is a trip donated to veterans sending them to Washington DC, that focuses primarily on veterans from World War II, then those from Korea, and so on.

(my father served in both WW2 and Korea)

some information on it can be found here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Flight

the flight leaves early in the morning, arrives in DC, and shuttles them around to the various sites in a fashion that honors their service and those who they lost.  the vets are there all day - then on the flight back they are treated to something called MAIL CALL.

while in the service, especially in combat or after a long time at sea, getting mail from home was a treat for the vets - so keeping with that, this last effort is made for them.  on the flight back, each veteran is handed letters from their local politicians thanking them for their service - and with that (and more importantly) from people they know, friends of their family, and their families, thanking them for their service.

many consider it the best part of the trip.

with that in mind, I'm asking all of you to write a letter to my dad - something short and simple - thanking him for his service and the service of the veterans of his generation.

i didn't know how to ask for this, so i looked online.

- some people got thank you cards from the grocery store
- some people just wrote thank you on post cards
- some people sent pictures of their kids (one person thanked the vets for being the reason their kids speak english and not german, ha).
- some thanked vets because they never got to thank the ones they already lost
- some organized their kids' classroom (some kids just write 'Dear Veteran')
- some sent a corporate thank you
- one was the hand prints of someone, their spouse, their kids, and the dog, with a note that said, 'thank you for giving our family a free home'
- some younger vets sent pics of themselves in the service with messages like 'thank you for leading the way'
- some people remembered other members of the family already passed
- some people made plaques so the vet could hang the thanks on their walls
- some people thanked them for their own kids
- some people just marveled at the sacrifices made by vets 60 years ago vs now
- and you can write whatever you want.

so here is how this will work:

since my father is 89 (and considered one of the young ones), they prefer a 'guardian' go with each vet.  it has been decided that should be me (i wanted it to be my niece, but apparently they need someone who can pick the veterans up and so on in the event of a crisis).  so i'll be there to see to his needs.

i can collect anything you would like to send, and will give it to the organizers when we get on the flight.  so, if you would like to send him anything, send it him at my address:

Commander Richard R. Valenta
814 Dickson Street
Saint Louis,  MO 63122

to give you an idea of the impact it will have:

and if you're not familiar with Honor Flight:

why i'm not going all rainbow...

people are rejoicing everywhere... yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States decided that marriage is between two people, not two genders, and that it was a right, not a legally regulated privilege.  congrats to gays and lesbians, you can now suffer through angry divorce like the rest of us.

yesterday, even Fox News spent all day celebrating this grand success, no news channel could ignore it, the hype could not be avoided because we as a nation have decided this is the issue we want to focus on.

while i understand that this is a huge step forward for civil rights in our country, here's why i'm not going to spend a week celebrating:

-on the same day which started with this ruling, 3 terrorist attacks were made, one was even a suicide bombing in a mosque, and ISIS has instructed radicals worldwide to do their best to unite and cause synchronized efforts of terror.  terrorism experts believe this was the first such effort.
-one of the two murderers on the run in New York was killed, the other is still loose, and he's just as willing to get in a gunfight with whoever he comes across.
-Homeland Security announced a spike in terrorist traffic, and expects attacks on US soil during the next few weeks.
-Clementa Pinckney was laid to rest, POTUS sang amazing grace, and instead of blaming a zealot, we blame a flag, which will lead to endless debate and posturing instead of progress.
-we all owe Japan and China a combined $3TRILLION

...and most importantly (and probably most ignored)...

-the United States and it's NATO allies continued to increased their forces along the border with Russia, as the Russian economy plunges and their point the finger at the United States.  THIS IS IMPORTANT, remember the 80s??  if you don't understand why this is important, go watch the movie 'The Day After'.


yes people, while we all celebrate and brace ourselves against the tree of love hoping to crush the crazy Christian zealots we have annoying us here, there are armies of armed zealots overseas organizing and hoping to put us all under 'sharia law'.  if you don't know what it is, Google it.

they are so crazy, they have turned on their own people.

murderers are running around shooting at federal officers, and we're calling for gun control because of a flag, and we have no idea what to expect from these mid-level news stories, because we are ignoring the only other major superpower that is threatening to start the next major global war.

yes - understand this - if the Russian economy continues to plummet, and we continue to increase our military presence along it's border, that is what is looming.

and before we all start posturing about oil companies and rich white men - this is because we agreed to defend NATO, and it wasn't long ago that our current president, Barrack Obama, went to the NATO summit and pledged to continue to move our people in and help them as needed.

so this is looming.  it's a definite possibility, and if we get Russia to calm down, we still owe China, and we still have armed radicals killing people all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, hoping soon to move over the pond and start problems here.

it's time for a short and joyous celebration, gays and lesbians are people - they are human beings, and morons like Westboro need to sit down and accept it.  but our problems aren't the cry babies at Westboro, and they aren't the lone gunman who shot up a church - our problem is the looming world war, the horrific debt, and the real religious zealots who are working every day toward us.

even now, you're reading this and some of you are thinking i'm an ass for taking the wind out of the sails of this glorious moment.  no, that's not my point.  i'd like to think even those who worked hardest on this landmark decision would agree that avoiding global war and the oppression of sharia law is more important.

so celebrate on some level, be happy for those who can now make their love legally official... but, let's make sure we don't misunderstand what other problems are looming and need to be addressed, problems that can not be solved without the loss of countless lives.