“A Few Good Men!” – Slogan of the Week

“A Few Good Men!” – Slogan of the Week

On 20 March 1779 in Boston, Capt. William Jones, USMC, advertised for A Few Good Men to enlist in the Corps for naval duty. The term seemed ideally suited for Marines, mainly because of the implication that a few good men would be enough. This term has survived for over 200 years and has been synonymous with the U.S. Marines to this day.

Our focus this week are the few good men and women of the modern United States Marine Corps. Like our founding heroes mustering up forces to aid the revolution for freedom, our current Marines fighting around the globe are doing no less. From the top brass to the grunt on the front line, these few and proud soldiers signify the spirit, body and mind of the warrior ethos which is ingrained through countless hours of MOS training in the classroom and in the field.

Only a select breed is able to uphold the standards and tradition embodied in today’s Marine Corps. As rigid as ancient Sparta, these troops are put to the test and forged into an effective fighting force for freedom.

If only we held this measure to our elected leaders and officials perhaps we would not be in the socio-economic downspin that we find ourselves beset. If only it were the campaign slogans for the next candidates who wish to take the reigns of government and hard press them to perform no less than our founding fathers did in the diplomatic and financial struggle for independence. Why cant our representatives muster the courage necessary to surmount today’s obstacles? Our guess is that fewer and fewer politicians ever served this great nations military and fewer were Marines. Maybe our returning soldiers will start running for congress and untrench the spineless quagmire of uncompromising partisan rhetoric from those only interested in their dividends rather than their constituency.

Vision-Strike-Wear is dedicated to the fighting forces of the United States Marines and all branches of the military by creating many designs and styles to capture the essence and encompass as many military occupational specialties (MOS) within the Armed Forces.measure to our elected leaders and officials perhaps we would not be in the socio-economic down spin that we find ourselves beset. If only it were the campaign slogans for the next candidates who wish to take the reigns of government and hard press them to perform no less than our founding fathers did in the diplomatic and financial struggle for independence. Why cant our representatives muster the courage necessary to surmount today’s obstacles? Our guess is that fewer and fewer politicians ever served this great nations military and fewer were Marines. Maybe our returning soldiers will start running for congress and untrench the spineless quagmire of uncompromising partisan rhetoric from those only interested in their dividends rather than their constituency.

Our hats off to our military for your bravery. Vision-Strike-Wear.Com commends our men and women of the United States Marine Corps  as well as all the branches of the military serving worldwide.

Vision-Strike-Wear.Com continues to celebrate the Marine Corps birthday during the month of November 2013, offering all its Marine apparel and decals Made in America. No Promo Code needed. Choose from designs like our full print Marine military Rank shirts as well as our other designs like Artillery King of Battle/Guns of Death, Peace through Superior Fire Power and new additions like Know Your Enemy, Double Tap See No Evil, These Colors Wont Run and more.

Additionally, for our Iraqi Veterans, we added a Commemorative United States Military Operation Iraqi Freedom Certificate poster where you can honor your service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Personalize it by adding in your name, your rank, your personal testimony, your citations and awards, tours you’ve served in, etc. You can also get other military posters and even drink ware with your favorite military design.

 

Military Shirts Made in America for ArmyNavyAir ForceMarine and Coast Guard! All Custom Military unit Designs and graphics available on decals,plaquesphone casesposterscoffee mugslighterslicense plates,challenge coinspatches and gifts.

Vision-Strike-Wear.com has your back with custom military designs for units, ships, squadrons, associations and commands. Wear the Military Gets Cover!

Doctor Who in the USA

Doctor Who in the USA

Tomorrow, November 22nd is the 50th Anniversary of the kickoff of the popular SciFi show Doctor Who. Since I am a huge Doctor Who fan, I thought what better to kick it off than with the history of Doctor Who and the USA!

The 50th episode will have both the 10th Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler as well as the 11th Doctor and his companion Clara Oswald and the new “War Doctor” who is rumored to be the Doctor Who incarnation that fought in the fabled Time War.

On 4 November 2013, the BBC released the official synopsis: “The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.” (source: Wikipedia)

So let’s get on with some interesting US-Britain Doctor Who stuff shall we?

kennedy queenThe 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination was today.  In the photo above you can see the Kennedy Family meeting the Queen of England. Their grand-daughter held a memorial service in England today. The memorial service was held at Runnymede Meadow, Berkshire and Caroline Kennedy’s daughter, Tatiana Schlossberg, represented the family.

“An Unearthly Child” was the very first Doctor Who episode and it aired the day after Kennedy’s Assassination. It aired 1 minutes and 30 seconds late because the news show before it went slightly over time relating the latest details known about what happened with Kennedy.  Another little known fact is that they replayed the first episode the following week, fearing people had been paying more attention to the news about Kennedy and the audience they were trying to reach was not there on November 23rd.

In February 1985, “The Mark of the Rani” was aired in which two opposing Time Lords are present and trying to use the disguise of war to hide their evil deeds.  It is during the American Revolutionary War against colonial rule by Britain when Rani is using the cover of the violence to steal soldiers in the war and tap their brains for a chemical fluid to use on her home planet’s population. Also in 2005, the Ninth Doctor claims to have been part of the Boston Tea Party.

In one TV Show, two audio (radio) broadcasts and one book, the Doctor and his companions are in the USA during the American Civil War between 1862 and 1865. About 15 years later, in 1880, is the time frame when the First Doctor was involved with the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and later, the 10th Doctor and his companion Martha landed in Redwater during the 1880’s. There they battled a unique foe who was a weapon that would take over it’s host and had killed their previous civilization which had invented them to help win a war, though the origins are never explained in detail.

cultofskaroLater in the 1930’s (in the show, not the actual 1930’s) the Cult of Skaro was killing citizens of New York City trying to turn them into a new race of Daleks and in 1938 during the broadcast of War of the World, the Eighth Doctor thwarted an attempt to take over the planet starting in the USA using the radio show as cover for it’s alien invasion.  This was a radio broadcast episode also, which made it a little extra creepy!

Area 51 made an appearance on the show with the episode where in 1958 the Doctor is taken to Area 51 to have his mind erased and where he discovers the true alien secret behind area 51.

The 1960s was a popular time for Doctor Who characters to travel to.  6 TV Episodes, a book and a radio show all include the Doctor travelling to some time in the 1960s. In a two part episode, set in 1969, a little girl calls President Richard Nixon somehow, and tells him about a spaceman that was coming to eat her, and warns him about monsters in the oval office. Which of course, turns out to be true.

In the early 1960s, the United States Military confronted the Soviet Union and Cuba in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fear of nuclear war during the crisis “kept Barbara Wright awake at night”. This was from an Audio episode of Doctor Who which was played on the BBC Radio in 1963.

After the 1960’s episodes, the future gets a little confusing.  For example, in the 1990’s and 2000’s episodes, some of them were traveled to “in the future” from episodes actually filmed as long as 30 years earlier.  This causes some strange inconsistencies with what people in 1970 thought 2010 would really look like.  However, if you take it with a grain of time-travelling salt and explain it away with the past having modified the present… well, at least for me, it all works out in the end.

town called mercy

“Despite the franchise’s popularity in the US, since 1963 only a handful of TV episodes have featured scenes set within the US, and to date there have only been seven TV stories set in their entirety in that country: The Gunfighters (the only story of the classic 1963-89 series set entirely in the US), the 1996 TV movie, Dalek, the two-parter Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, the 2009 animated serial Dreamland, the Series 6 two-parter opener, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, and the Series 7 episodes A Town Called Mercy and The Angels Take Manhattan.” (source: TARDIS Data Core)

I hope all you Doctor Who fans out there enjoyed this little throw back on some Doctor Who USA History and I\are as excited as I am to see the 50th anniversary special!

Bullies

Bullies

We all know the scenario.  Alone they walk into the path of looming bully like a highwayman ready to toss and tug until  demoralized, dead or at least relieved of the lunch money saved away.  The only nest egg ensuring nourishment during the drudgery of the school day.   The bully encroaches as the subject of tyranny is sized up.  By-standers leer or scurry out of site.   Left all alone to face the horrors and threats of unbearable torture that lie ahead if capitulation isn’t achieved.   The victim having no advocacy, powerless and weak has no options but to submit to the psychopathy of a small minded, one eyed, bully and gives in…and I’m only talking about the cell phone companies.

I hear daily from the schools that my children attend to be on the look out for bully behavior.  Hello!  As usual the microscope is on us and not the authorities that seemed to be the perpetrators of epic bullying across the board.

Sadly in this age of corporations and automatic phone answering systems we are experiencing  similar when trying to deal with any entity that is in charge of some necessary part of our lives.  Whether the cell phone companies, that are clearly colluding to price fix and maintain a terrible filching of wealth system, or any other state run agency, utility or especially the federal government.  Talk about the biggest bullies!  No options, no choices, must submit or else!  This is Bully behavior!  This is what we get every time we deal with any institution, governmental run corporation or organization.  Bullies!

Obamacare is bullying people with their own health!  Wow!  Wake up America!  When you have no options, no choices, no advocacy and no support while another entity administers their will upon you, it is “BULLYING!” Shame on you Federal Govt!  No Bullies! No Bullying!

 Imagine getting health care through a phone answering service. 

Thor/Toilet Humor Pun Tweeted and then Quickly Deleted By Charmin

Thor/Toilet Humor Pun Tweeted and then Quickly Deleted By Charmin

Thor Pun Tweeted by Charmin

Charmin® sent out a message on Twitter on November 8th with this hilarious photo, but almost immediately deleted it.  Why? Charmin has not commented yet,  but you can bet your ASS they removed it because someone thought they had gone too far.  BUTT, have they gone too far? The caption shown below is what adorns the BOTTOM of this image:

“We’ve Always Been An Asgardian”

The full message of the tweet that went along with the image was:

We’ve always been an #Asgardian. #Thor #SeeWhatWeDidTherepic.twitter.com/xmK2qOCReY

— Charmin (@Charmin) November 8, 2013

I think Charmin should GET BEHIND their work on this one.  It’s quite a joke and something that would definitely get people talking.  And who is going to be offended? The fictional character or the stuff people use to clean their back sides? The Charmin Thor Pun is a “no harm – no foul” situation I think.

And just to top it off, here’s a Thor joke…

A woman is visited in the middle of the night by a Norse god. One thing leads to another and they end up doing the dirty all night long.  In the morning he announces to her, “Know it now mortal, that I am Thor.”

“Thor?,” she said. “You’re Thor? I’m tho thore I can barely thit up!”

Vision Strike Wear designs t-shirts and original artwork for the military and veterans and also has a line of Gods and Generals Shirts including Thor, God of Thunder and War.

History of Veterans Day

History of Veterans Day

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” – officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

PHOTO: Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities.  This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

An Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U. S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday—a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first “Veterans Day Proclamation which stated: “In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans’ organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible.”

President Eisenhower signing HR7786, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

President Eisenhower signing HR7786, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day. From left: Alvin J. King, Wayne Richards, Arthur J. Connell, John T. Nation, Edward Rees, Richard L. Trombla, Howard W. Watts

On that same day, President Eisenhower sent a letter to the Honorable Harvey V. Higley, Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), designating him as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee.

In 1958, the White House advised VA’s General Counsel that the 1954 designation of the VA Administrator as Chairman of the Veterans Day National Committee applied to all subsequent VA Administrators. Since March 1989 when VA was elevated to a cabinet level department, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has served as the committee’s chairman.

The Uniform Holiday Bill (Public Law 90-363 (82 Stat. 250)) was signed on June 28, 1968, and was intended to ensure three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. It was thought that these extended weekends would encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities and stimulate greater industrial and commercial production. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holidays on their original dates.

The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Source: US Department of Veteran Affairs

Click here to view the Vision Strike Wear Veterans Day Newsletter.

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