what did you see?

[Bourb7892]

while I was travelling the world, from Kuwait to Croatia, to Bosnia, to Afghanistan, and of course more with the acceptation of training, in places like the USA, south America, UK, France and Germany I saw the most beautiful sights, from sunsets, over the clouds while in a HALO, where you can see the curvature of the earth, or the sun setting behind mountains or monuments all over the world, or the midnight sky in Afghanistan, or simply just an AC-130 doing its job,

what im getting at is no matter where I looked, I saw beauty, not only nature but in people too,

so I'm asking, what's the most beautiful thing you saw on your adventures as a warrior, or even a civilian. it can be anything, from a pretty sky, to dark nights, to an A-10 tearing shit up.

what did you see?


(the picture below is Vimy ridge memorial in France, where my heroes lay. true "storm troopers." this is why the Germans fear us.)

[Bourb7892]

for those of you who don't know Canadian history, I would be glad to teach you about the sacrifices my country has made, in the name of freedom, and in the name of liberty!

[KaNtSt0PMeH]

My mother's side is all from Canada so I know they are often times an 'over-looked' group.

The most beautiful thing I saw in my travels was landing in Shannon Ireland on my way to Iraq. I have never seen so much green in my life. It was phenomenal. Kind of ironic on the lack of green you see in theatre.

It's not a beautiful sight per say but when I got off the plane onto the flight line after both my tours I literally smelt freedom as I got off the plane. America just smells like Freedom. I'm sure Canada was the same!

[Bourb7892]

My mother's side is all from Canada so I know they are often times an 'over-looked' group.

The most beautiful thing I saw in my travels was landing in Shannon Ireland on my way to Iraq. I have never seen so much green in my life. It was phenomenal. Kind of ironic on the lack of green you see in theatre.

It's not a beautiful sight per say but when I got off the plane onto the flight line after both my tours I literally smelt freedom as I got off the plane. America just smells like Freedom. I'm sure Canada was the same!

sounds beautiful to me! I know what you mean! the first gulf wasn't exalt full of colour ( and frankly smelt like shit lol) but hey beautiful is beautiful no matter what!

[CrzyChinook]

yeah im mostly Scottish but my mom's mom mom.. is french Canadian from up near maine i think..but i digress from the thread topic

but i too have traveled the globe..several times and yes i have seen wondrous and amazing sites across this globe.. from hati to bosnia to kosovo and most of all of Europe .. very different yet equally pleasing to meet and understand the locals and traditions.. food and party's.. fun fun.. but on the other hand ive also traveled to most of the middle east... at least 10-12 different ME nations from the both ends of the spectrum.. to be honest it just makes me more proud to be from the US and North America.. with all the problems in the world.. we got trees and grass!! i love the color green.. lol im done traveling abroad now i wanna go around and see whats to be seen in our own back yard... the more i traveled in the military and as a civilan abroad the more i jsut want to come ole back to the states.. sooo glad im back..

[Bourb7892]

yeah im mostly Scottish but my mom's mom mom.. is french Canadian from up near maine i think..but i digress from the thread topic

but i too have traveled the globe..several times and yes i have seen wondrous and amazing sites across this globe.. from hati to bosnia to kosovo and most of all of Europe .. very different yet equally pleasing to meet and understand the locals and traditions.. food and party's.. fun fun.. but on the other hand ive also traveled to most of the middle east... at least 10-12 different ME nations from the both ends of the spectrum.. to be honest it just makes me more proud to be from the US and North America.. with all the problems in the world.. we got trees and grass!! i love the color green.. lol im done traveling abroad now i wanna go around and see whats to be seen in our own back yard... the more i traveled in the military and as a civilan abroad the more i jsut want to come ole back to the states.. sooo glad im back..

its always good to have a refresher to remind you what you have in your own backyard

[RogueScot]

its always good to have a refresher to remind you what you have in your own backyard

Indeed. I had a waiter in the Hotel Mildenhall in England tell me all about the reasons he wanted to come to America. Interesting to hear it from someone else's perspective. He was dying to come here. I hope he made it. I've been all around the world too, but for me the most beautiful places are wilderness. Even the deserts during the first gulf war had a stark kind of beauty to them. One of my favorites was from your "neck of the woods," Canada, that is. Quetico Provincial Park. Unbelievable. Peaceful.

On the military side, on the same trip I met the waiter, I once took a little side trip to the countryside around RAF Mildenhall. Ran across a church that was hundreds of years old. Large stones covered in moss and lichen in a small English village with thatched roofs whose name I don't remember. There was a quiet stillness about this place. It was a place you could truly imagine God dwelled in. Untold hundreds, or hundreds of thousands of people had knelt and prayed in that very place. In a corner, or knave, I came across an American flag hanging from the wall with a plaque thanking the members of a bomber group who had been stationed nearby during WWII. I wish I could remember the unit they were with.

[BigFreeze99]

After being deployed 33 months out of 36 near the end of my of tour, the most beautiful thing I saw, was my Family when I finally got home.

Mike

[Bourb7892]

Indeed. I had a waiter in the Hotel Mildenhall in England tell me all about the reasons he wanted to come to America. Interesting to hear it from someone else's perspective. He was dying to come here. I hope he made it. I've been all around the world too, but for me the most beautiful places are wilderness. Even the deserts during the first gulf war had a stark kind of beauty to them. One of my favorites was from your "neck of the woods," Canada, that is. Quetico Provincial Park. Unbelievable. Peaceful.

On the military side, on the same trip I met the waiter, I once took a little side trip to the countryside around RAF Mildenhall. Ran across a church that was hundreds of years old. Large stones covered in moss and lichen in a small English village with thatched roofs whose name I don't remember. There was a quiet stillness about this place. It was a place you could truly imagine God dwelled in. Untold hundreds, or hundreds of thousands of people had knelt and prayed in that very place. In a corner, or knave, I came across an American flag hanging from the wall with a plaque thanking the members of a bomber group who had been stationed nearby during WWII. I wish I could remember the unit they were with.

that sounds extraordinary, I love hearing other peoples stories, on places ive been or even haven't been! thanks

[Bourb7892]

After being deployed 33 months out of 36 near the end of my of tour, the most beautiful thing I saw, was my Family when I finally got home.

Mike

that is truly inspiring, I would of said the same, but do not have much family. besides this new family, glad to hear the beauty in your life brother, thanks for the share.

[RogueScot]

that sounds extraordinary, I love hearing other peoples stories, on places ive been or even haven't been! thanks

You're welcome. It was extraordinary. That memory has stuck with me for quite a while. This was during the bombing of Libya. I was on a classified temporary assignment for command and control. Luckily we had some downtime to get around the countryside, but not too far. :)

[eightyduecejmpr]

It may not be beautiful, but it's an image so burned into my memory, that it often pops into my head when I've got some downtime in life to just sit back and breathe.
I grew up a punk in the rough and tumble south side of Chicago, a lot of my childhood friends are dead or in jail. My saving grace? The 82nd. Bottom line, no bullshit. After my initial contract was up, I decided to come home and take care of family matters after finding out my mother had gotten pretty sick. After I'd been home awhile, a buddy of mine who was like an older brother to me, noticed some very significant changes in what was once his partner in crime. He asked me how I changed my mindset. The 82nd. Bottom line, no bullshit. Being someone who was battling his own demons, some of those same demons that once haunted me, he flew out to basic within a couple of months with a ticket to airborne school if he completed basic.
He completed basic and flew off to the ME to fight as a paratrooper in the 82nd.
When he came back he had also changed, .....but not like me. His demons had changed, and he lost his battle. He took his own life in a VA hospital.
His family wasn't like my family in the sense that they werent a military family. I can trace soldiers in my family all the way back to before WWII, his family maybe had a cop or two. Still, his father was one of the strongest men I ever knew, mentally and physically. But when the honor guard handed him that folded American flag, and those rifles cracked for that salute, I've never seen pain so singularly personified as I did that day on that man's face.
That image, the flag, the casket, the rain, the bagpipes wailing out amazing grace,...... As painful as it was and is to this day to think about, was in all it's purest form, beautiful.
I miss my friend, my brother, my crime partner, and my fellow paratrooper dearly.

[UH1FE]

The most beautiful thing I ever saw was finding out how truly small the world is. Went to junior high with a girl in a military town. Her family pcsed over the summer no idea where. Joined the Air Force and went to Germany as I walking in the shoppette there she is working. A couple months later she joins the AF and she is off to boot. A year later I deploy and am walking through the chow hall in the desert and there she is again. Another year later I pcsed back to the states and am working for a couple months. One day I walk into the shop and there she is again. We were not close and never kept in contact each time we moved but kept running into each other.

[CrzyChinook]

The most beautiful thing I ever saw was finding out how truly small the world is. Went to junior high with a girl in a military town. Her family pcsed over the summer no idea where. Joined the Air Force and went to Germany as I walking in the shoppette there she is working. A couple months later she joins the AF and she is off to boot. A year later I deploy and am walking through the chow hall in the desert and there she is again. Another year later I pcsed back to the states and am working for a couple months. One day I walk into the shop and there she is again. We were not close and never kept in contact each time we moved but kept running into each other.

dude the world was trying to tell you two something!! you weren't listening!! 3 times come one thats a great pick up line!! LMAO!!

[MikaelTyson]

dude the world was trying to tell you two something!! you weren't listening!! 3 times come one thats a great pick up line!! LMAO!!

Couldn't agree more!




Sent from the Batcave

[Timmy_2_Tones]

I have a list of things that I would consider awesome, beautiful, awe inspiring, amazing etc.

I do have one thing that comes to mind so I will share.

While I was in Iraq, I was at FOB Melody in Baghdad, named after our Battalion Commanders wife. Anyway, it was located 33°22'21.08"N, 44°24'43.73"E Northwest of the Martyr's Monument. While I was there I was witness to one of the most amazing thunderstorms I have ever seen. The storm lasted for close to a week and one night it seemed like every lightning bolt on the face of the Earth was striking within a half mile of our location. I saw lightning hitting power-lines, fence posts, light poles, buildings, vehicles it was striking everything. It was funny, we were told not to touch the showers for two days after that because so many of the poorly rigged electrical grounding systems were run through the buildings plumbing, guess they wanted us alive and not clean. Anyway, I stepped outside to have a smoke with a buddy of mine and we were just talking and watching the lightning all around us when a bolt landed no more than 50 feet from where we were standing, in the middle of our Motor Pool. The light was so powerful and it seemed like the bolt was moving in slow motion, I remember seeing the actual bolt and then just this blinding flash. We had a laugh and looked around to see if anyone else had seen it, I remember feeling this faint buzz in my arms and looking down to see the hair standing on end, my heart was racing, and the air just felt so crisp and clean for a few minutes after. It was an amazing experience, one that I would love to see again, but I am afraid that I never will and probably if it happened again I would be zapped.

[jack]

I can't say I've seen anything, really all that beautiful. I've been around the block just like anyone else and from it I've seen a lot of strife. Everyday people... lost and just trying to find their way. Linked together through a conceptual framework of under laying synchronicity and acausal events. Always blind/numb to one another due to parallel events of social, emotional or spiritual experiences of their own making. Instead of heeding the governing dynamic that underlies the whole of human history and experience. But what the fuck do I know. After it's all said and done, I'm just a schmuck holding his dick in his hand. Like everybody else lol.

[WHIT3C3LL]

I gotta say having an Irish heritage landing in Ireland and even flying over after leaving Shannon I have to agree with Jared Ireland is just gorgeous makes me wish I was actually born and raised there to be honest lol


Hiding in a corner waiting for Watsons tags

[Timmy_2_Tones]

I can't say I've seen anything, really all that beautiful. I've been around the block just like anyone else and from it I've seen a lot of strife. Everyday people... lost and just trying to find their way. Linked together through a conceptual framework of under laying synchronicity and acausal events. Always blind/numb to one another due to parallel events of social, emotional or spiritual experiences of their own making. Instead of heeding the governing dynamic that underlies the whole of human history and experience. But what the fuck do I know. After it's all said and done, I'm just a schmuck holding his dick in his hand. Like everybody else lol.

Why do you always have to ruin the fun train we have going..... Jerk... :D

[Bourb7892]

I have to say guys, all of those stories are so beautiful and touching, sorry for those of you who have lost comrades and im happy for all of you who remember the good times!

[jack]

Why do you always have to ruin the fun train we have going..... Jerk... :D Lol, you know... you bang, zoom straight to the moon lol!!!!

[Rickety Rob]

The most beautiful thing I ever saw was when I was attending A.I.T before I was shipped to my first duty assignment.

I was lucky enough to witness a time of the year where shooting stars entered earths atmosphere at a constant rate.

Sometimes you would see one a minute or you would see up to 15 a minute.

It was the last exercise before I graduated and I got assigned to the night shift.

By the way, this all happened out in some training facility in the desert at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona.

No lights from buildings, street lights, cars, or from people.

Just pure darkness and the stars and moon from above that light up the sky.

I would def take another trip somewhere to witness a night light that again.