Here's a little experiment in thanksgiving to our current men and women.  Go down to your local firing range (they're everywhere these days) then see if you can get your hands on an AK-47.  Throw in a ten round clip, aim the weapon and then squeeze the trigger as fast as you possibly can. Then, while your shoulder's aching and your ears are ringing, just try to imagine yourself at the other end of that.

Then try to imagine that the rounds (bullets) are coming at you about 50 times faster out of a clip with four times as much ammo. Then keep in mind that this is what's known as 'small arms fire' (as in not 'large' or 'heavy').

So hats off to all the men and women a long, long way from home doing dangerous things. Hats off as well to other parents, spouses, children and relatives. If I could put into words how uniformly alienating, yet sweetly nostalgic, days like today feel in places like Afghanistan or Korea or Viet Nam, I would. 

Semper fi, all! And a huge shout-out to all the overworked guys in the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, NY. These guys are really amazing.  People should know a lot more about what they've done.