{"id":7792,"date":"2014-10-10T03:42:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T08:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/?p=7792"},"modified":"2014-10-09T16:26:11","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T21:26:11","slug":"check-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/?p=7792","title":{"rendered":"Check, Please."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I found these videos while trolling a veterans group on Facebook. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WSx11Kmnmrg\" target=\"_blank\">Watch them and we&#8217;ll resume.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_tKqc1Gi0iM\" target=\"_blank\">Video 2<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=35ZUZJNLtfw\" target=\"_blank\">Video 3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t7ZO3as0bTc\" target=\"_blank\">Video 4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fcommotioninthepews.com%2F&amp;screen_name=joecourtemanche&amp;tw_p=followbutton&amp;variant=2.0\">Please follow me on Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/josephcourtemancheauthor\">&#8220;Like&#8221; the Facebook author page<\/a>. Don&#8217;t forget to subscribe (the box is on the right side of the page) to be eligible for free e-books and other benefits! <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WSx11Kmnmrg?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_tKqc1Gi0iM?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/35ZUZJNLtfw?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t7ZO3as0bTc?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I get choked up when I see this kind of thing in the media. I&#8217;m no hero, but I&#8217;ve served with them. I&#8217;m not wounded but I&#8217;m damaged. I&#8217;m proud of my experience and marvel at that of others. Most of all, I&#8217;m part of the family that put on the uniform.<\/p>\n<p>For years I&#8217;ve tried to get the tab when I know it&#8217;s a fellow vet or active duty member. I&#8217;ve also handed out dozens of business cards with my personal cellular number. I tell them, &#8220;If you need to talk, this thing&#8217;s on 24&#215;7. Especially in the dead of night.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Just knowing that you can talk to someone helps immensely. Knowing that you&#8217;re not alone is such a huge part of being a good battle-buddy (a term that evolved long after my time, but I like it in this context.) We all need that connection. It&#8217;s vital to all of us.<\/p>\n<p>I recently made a new friend. Another vet. Another squid (naval type) with a lot in common with me. We sat up in a bar until 0200 talking that first night. And repeated it the next. We&#8217;d not served together. We didn&#8217;t even serve during the same era. But in a twinkling we knew so much about each other. Instantaneous link formed. I talk to them a couple of times a week. Sometimes twice in a day. I marvel at that shared bond.<\/p>\n<p>Today, when you go out and about, keep an eye peeled for veterans. Don&#8217;t just see us on November 11th each year. You don&#8217;t have to pick up the tab, or even say a word. Just a smile. A tip of the hat. Or a business card with your number if you&#8217;re already a member of the tribe.<\/p>\n<p>You are not alone. We are all here to support each other if we&#8217;ll just let it happen. <\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I found these videos while trolling a veterans group on Facebook. Watch them and we&#8217;ll resume. Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 Please follow me on Twitter, and &#8220;Like&#8221; the Facebook author page. Don&#8217;t forget to subscribe (the box is <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/?p=7792\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,184],"tags":[3893,167,162,113,3845,3892,873,3891,4493,305],"class_list":["post-7792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military","category-veterans","tag-battle-buddies","tag-commotion-in-the-pews","tag-joseph-courtemanche","tag-love","tag-november-11","tag-pick-up-the-check","tag-ptsd","tag-reach-out","tag-suicide","tag-veteran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7792"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7795,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7792\/revisions\/7795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commotioninthepews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}