• Member Since 12th Dec, 2011
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Jake The Army Guy


Be excellent to each other, and PARTY ON, DUDES! ~ Abraham Lincoln

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Nov
11th
2014

Happy Free Pancake Day · 6:48pm Nov 11th, 2014

By the by, I went to Derpiborru and just searched for "pancakes..." and the first thing that popped up was clop. The hell, fandom?

So, yeah. For those of you who live elsewhere, today is Veteran's Day for all us 'Muricans. A day where we celebrate and render honor to all veterans, past and present. And when I can go to IHOP and get a free pancake dinner.

Funny story about that today: I was in line with my bill(still had to pay for the orange juice, natch) and this old lady walked up and tried to take my bill out of my hand. I smiled and told her that wasn't necessary. She smiled and tried to pull again. I tried to further protest when her husband, a salty-as-fuck-looking old man in a WWII hat, gave me a cold glare and shook his fist, saying, "Son, she's gonna pay that ticket whether you give it to her or I pry it from your unconscious hand."

So as I walked out having not paid, I thought about how uncomfortable this makes me. I do my job... and people try to buy stuff for me, or they flag me down and thank me for my service, or they write my friggin' OC into their story along with Black Gryphon and Fiery Joker.

Look, I understand why people want to do it. Hell, anytime I go to eat somewhere and I see a WWII or Vietnam hat, I'll be damned if that person pays their bill. But what bothers me is not that they are thanking a service member for their service... but that they're thanking me. What the fuck did I do? Sure, I won't lie, I saw some combat during my two deployments, but for the most part I sat in a tank and stared at nothing for two years of my life. I came back from my first deployment not even having fired my weapon. Others came back missing a leg, or an arm, an eye, or 90% of their skin, and still others didn't come back at all. How does me sitting in arguably the safest possible vehicle on the street and watching heat waves rise off the concrete compare to people who paid the ultimate sacrifice?

So that's why I refer to this as National Free Pancake Day, because I feel there are others who so desperately deserve the praise ahead of me. Instead of thanking me, thank Cold in Gardez, who probably has had much more an impact on the fight than I ever did. Or Corporal John Mayer, a man who helped me survive both Basic Training and my first deployment without losing my mind, and is now confined to a wheelchair after an IED took both his legs. Or the family of Specialist Yoe Aneiros, a man I wish so deeply that I had known better, because the greatest pain I felt from his death was feeling bad for my other friend who had known him.

I have no doubt that people are still going to thank me, and I truly thank you for that. I'm not rebuking your thanks or anything,l and honestly, I do understand why people do it. I'm merely reminding you of that old axiom, "All gave some, but some gave all."

Stay safe, stay free, and stay metal! Jake The Army Guy out!

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Comments ( 21 )

That was probably the best thing I read this Veterans Day. I am so thankful to those in service and those who who are now veterans. Without them I don't think I would be here today, or at least be the same person I am. There are no words I can say that will measure up with how much those brave men and women gave to make sure we are all free, and that we don't have to be the ones to fight. I wish I could serve with them, but fate likes to make some dreams impossible.

Thank you Jake for severing, and thank you tall who make sure America is still the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

They also have free lunch for Vets at Texas Roadhouse if you are interested.

"Son, she's gonna pay that ticket whether you give it to her or I pry it from your unconscious hand."

Get rekt :trollestia:

Also, Jake, thank you.

“We” pick up your tab not for what you did or for what you lost or did not lose. We do it because you took everything you were, are or could be and put it on the line. Not to gain fame, fortune or any thing of that type, it was done because of something inside of you and for everyone else.
For that we thank you and pick up your tab.

BD

I got yelled at by a veteran once for bumping someone's fender in a parking lot. Pretty sure it was because I was young or Asian, or both. That's pretty much my experience with the armed forces outside my grandpa, who flew rescue and reconnaissance in the Pacific Theater of WWII.

He was a great guy.

>Not leaving a sfw filter on on Derpibooru
You totally deserved it :rainbowlaugh:

I didn't realize you had an OC :rainbowhuh:

>tfw tank
Wait really? You were in a tank? :rainbowderp:

I have a cousin who gave his life out in Iraq several years ago. I never knew him that well, I was pretty young when he died, but my aunt still visits his grave every year on his birthday. Always makes me wish I could've known him better.

As a civvie son of two military parents, I think it's something like this. It isn't what you did or didn't do while you were there; what you gave, or lost, or some demonstrable measure of sacrifice in X pounds of flesh. Those that have such wounds, that certainly has its weight, but it's above and beyond the basic truth that makes all people in uniform worthy of that same respect and honor.

You went in and, at least to some degree aware of the consequences, willingly signed your name on the dotted line and put on a uniform that essentially equates to stating to the world "I am knowingly designating myself as a legitimate target so as that those civilians over there are not."

That, Jake, is what the fuck you did. So you're gonna have that orange juice bought for you, son, and you're gonna like it.

And insofar as a filthy civvie is allowed to use such words,

Semper Fi, for the damn few.

Thank you Jake for what you done for us.

I feel the same way that you do, I have only been in the Air Force for nine months, and I'm barely out of my training. And yet people have come up to me in airports and restaurants thanking me, and trying to pay for my stuff. It's always nice to see someone who is willing to show support, but it always made me uncomfortable too. I haven't been deployed, and I'm a POG, chances are that I'll never even have to hold a weapon outside of qualifications.

So all that I can think about when people try to buy me stuff is about my grandfather who tipped the spear in Italy, or my uncles who came back from Vietnam, or my brother who still can't talk about his time in Iraq. Or my friend's brother, Jake Yelner, who didn't come back from Afghanistan.

So I agree with you 125%, Jake, there are others far more deserving of thanks (Though you're still farther ahead on the list than me). But it's also a comforting thing for me, because I know that those people making a grab for my check would have done the same for all those people who didn't come back. So while I don't think that they should pay for me, the least I can do is thank them for their support.

Enjoy your National Free Pancake Day!





Sir

/salute
I served 4yrs USAF, and while I certainly agree others are more deserving of the thanks given out this day, I'm not about to pass up free food.

I don't have much interesting to say about Veteran's Day.

Free Pancake Day, on the other hand, raises dozens of questions. What are those red snake-tongue-looking things on AJ's pancakes in the pic you posted? Bacon? Why would a horse eat bacon? How did clop incorporate pancakes? Isn't maple syrup hard to wash out of fur? Does syrup count as tree sap, and were the CMC involved? Why do people eat pancakes when waffles exist?

Also, re: thanking the wrong people: the other day I posted a comment on one of Zaponator's blog posts about joining the military saying how thankful I am for civilian life, and he responded thanking me for the expression of gratitude. I didn't point out that he's Canadian and I'm American, and I meant my comment in a more general way. Anyways, Canadians are cool, they all have my gratitude for being a great neighbor.

EDIT: I went to Derpibooru and answered at least a few of my questions. Honestly the second image posted (SFW) is arguably weirder -- why Batmare?

DOUBLE EDIT: There are over a hundred images tagged "pancake" on Derpibooru, many of them pornographic and at least one featuring a nude President Obama. It's not how I thought I would spend my Veteran's Day, but it's... fun.

2588414 already nailed what I was going to reply with, so instead I'll go with something a bit more lighthearted (if entirely traumatizing)

Open challenge for everyone. Go on Derpibooru with filters disabled. Your mission is to find a tag X, such that:
+ Searching for "X, NOT explicit, NOT questionable" returns at least 100 results, and
+ Searching for "X, (explicit OR questionable)" returns exactly 0 results

While I have not yet found a tag that satisfies these conditions, I sure as hell have lost faith in humanity. :trollestia:

2588656 See, that sort of thing is what maintains my faith in humanity. I have faith that we will always be a little weirder and more depraved than you might have expected. Obama-pancake-unicorn porn is exactly what I hoped for.

Thanks for being awesome Jake.

I still feel the need to thank you, Jake. You still had the balls to sign up for a dangerous job, and you still served in the military and risked your life, no matter what state you came back in.

Well, if nothing else, happy Free Pancake Day, Jake. Thank you for your service.

Thank you for your service. Here's some pancakes.

Some people are like that, him Britain we have our "British Legion Day" that's similar, and we all wear poppies





... I'm not ashamed to say I find that Black Gryphon attrtive, no way in hell he's single. Hepraderp from Karma

Grandpa's ex-Navy, I've got a friend that's ex-Army, I know you and I know Gardez... and I couldn't be more honored to know you guys.

Hoo rah, buddy.

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