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| Member |
Hello. Just back from a glorious, tiring, (and expensive), 2 weeks in Israel to see our son and daughter. Highlight was joining our son and his fellow soon-to-be-full paratroopers getting their coveted red berets. We walked up with him for the final km of a 55-km, all-night march UP into Jersualem's Ammunition Hill. As his squad's heavy machinegunner, he carried the 25+ lb FN MAG every step of the way, along with 125 rounds of ammo, and gear totaling about 60 lbs. The family and friends and soldiers were joined by honking cars and cheering passerbys. He was utterly smoked, soaked, and happy to be almost done! The ceremony was quite an event and PACKED with family, friends, and photographers. He's got 2 weeks of more langauge training (light duty, and hearing him speak almost-fluent Hebrew is surreal) and then 4 weeks back in States/leave. Then back to Israel for a bit over a year of active duty, advanced training, regular guard duty and ops, and G-d forbid, special ops if things go sideways in Israel... So, a very few pix (sorry for the proud dad smile plastered to my face).    This message has been edited. Last edited by: Batty67, | ||
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Shall Not Be Infringed |
^^^Looking 'BadAss' in that last pic! Congrats to your Paratrooper/son, and you as well...  ____________________________________________________________ If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !! Trump 2024....Make America Great Again! "May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20 Live Free or Die! | |||
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| Member |
Congratulations to your hardcore son and his paratrooper brothers!! | |||
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| Get my pies outta the oven!  |
He looks like a BAMF Interesting that some of them shape their berets into an almost garrison cap shape? | |||
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Legalize the Constitution |
Pretty effin’ cool, dad. I’ll keep him in my thoughts and prayers that he may stay safe throughout his time in the IDF. God Bless him _______________________________________________________ despite them | |||
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Member |
You all are awesome! Thank you for sharing your photos and experience. Cheers! Don't. drink & drive, don't even putt. | |||
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| Member |
My son's beret was brand new so not shaped like he will have it (like his friend to his right/left side of picture). BTW, these three paratroopers are all now dual US/Israeli citizens, called "lone soldiers." About 9% of IDF soldiers are "foreign volunteers" = Jews from around the world. | |||
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| Member |
Congratulations and best wishes for your son from an old paratrooper. My wings are 53 years old now! Retired holster maker. Retired police chief. Formerly Sergeant, US Army Airborne Infantry, Pathfinders | |||
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Member |
Wow. Awesome beyond words. "Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy "A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book | |||
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| Eschew Obfuscation |
Congratulations. You are a deservedly proud Dad! _____________________________________________________________________ “One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.” – Thomas Sowell | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss  |
We had a different name for them.  ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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My Time is Yours |
What a proud moment. Congratulations and thank you for sharing! God, Family, Country. | |||
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| I Am The Walrus |
Awesome! This has to be such a proud dad moment. You raised him to be a fine young man.
That is definitely not for the weak of heart, mind or body! _____________ | |||
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| Freethinker |
That is very heartening to know that such men still exist. Congratulations to everyone. “I don’t want some ‘gun nut’ training my officers [about firearms].” — Unidentified chief of an American police department. “I can’t give you brains, but I can give you a diploma.” — The Wizard of Oz This life is a drill. It is only a drill. If it had been a real life, you would have been given instructions about where to go and what to do. | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
Nothing like signing up for an easy street enlistment. </sarcasm> That takes some balls the likes of which I will never have. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| His Royal Hiney |
That's interesting to know. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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Alea iacta est |
Congratulations! Thank you for sharing that. The “lol” thread | |||
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Member |
In this case, the country is Israel, but I wonder what the perception would be if US dual nationality citizens started serving in the Russian, Chinese, Indian or Mexican army? I have dual nationality myself as the son of immigrants, but would never dream of serving in another country’s armed forces. To each their own. | |||
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| Member |
Israel has a long-standing tradition of lone soldiers given the age-old issue: Is Israel a Nation of Jews or a Jewish Nation? And because of the nature and history of its founding. My son did dream of serving in the IDF after COVID wiped his chance to be an exchange student at Tel Aviv U. in Spring of 2020. | |||
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Fighting the good fight |
Outstanding. Congratulations to you and your son. That well-worn M4 in the last photo looks like it's seen some things. | |||
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