Speech my friend gave to a school on Veterans Day.

Joined Mar 2004
763 Posts | 0+
I thought you would all like to read this.

I have one opportunity to get my message across to you today
-Now I am aware that some of you are here only because it’s an assembly
-Some of you are listening, but thinking of what you are going to do right after this
-And some are here truly listening to what I have to share

-My message to you today is simple say, but challenging to achieve, and if my words reach only one of you, I have accomplished my goal.
-That is to appreciate what we have been offered here in the States.

- Before activation I was asked “Do you believe in the War?”
-Tell you the same thing I told him.
-We do not choose where to fight, or when, or what country we go to.
-We fight because the leaders of this country have called upon us
-And we go proudly,
-just as if we were called to defend the homeland
-I will not entertain the ideas of refusing to go.
-and I didn’t sign up for the Marines to go to Iraq, or to Afghanistan.
-I signed up to protect this country, and to bring a sense of purpose to my life.
-More importantly if our country, as privileged as it is, can help another country that has nothing, and I mean nothing,
-I would be proud to serve, and I am proud what we are about to do.
-Looking back at it, I feel more passionately about what I said that day

-Once I got into country my perspective on life changed.
-Obviously the luxuries were gone
-But so were the comforts of drinking cold water, eating something other than an MRE, and air conditioning (139 and single digits)
-When the first insurgent rockets impacted on our base the first week.
-I wasn’t thinking of my Xbox or car back home
-I was thinking of human life, my Marines, my fellow troops
-I was thinking of my wife and my family.

-Throughout the deployment I had numerous conversations with Marines on an intellectual level
-We talked about the things we were going to do back home
-We talked of goals
-We talked of relationships
-We talked of our families
-While there I can recall only remember the good aspects OF everything, really.
-I didn’t remember the fights I may have had with my parents,
-Or the arguments with my wife about how much money she has spent on clothes.
-No, I remembered and dreamt of the day I would be able to eat a tuna fish sandwich again with her.

-I thought I never took my family for granted.
-I thought I never took the opportunities we have here in the states for granted
-I thought I was doing everything possible to have an accomplished and fulfilled life

-But Iraq taught me that I wasn’t.

-It wasn’t until we got home and had the conversation with my Marines about our families again that I realized that what this situation reminded me of
-We were all talking in past tense, using words like “I wished I would have”
-It was the same way people talk about someone who has past away

-We were given a second chance on life.

-Now if you weren’t listening to a word that I have said up to this point, I ask you to listen to what I have to say here:
-Before I left, rarely did I take the advice or life lessons from someone else.
-I wanted to experience life for myself
-learn my lessons through my mistakes
-But the times I did listen, they changed my life
-Now I am asking you to do the same
-Of the one time in your life where you listen to another’s life lesson
-Let this be it.
-Unless you plan on going off to war, do not let an experience like going to Iraq happen before you truly appreciate your life here in the states

-Do not “what if” yourself.
-“What if I would have done this better”
-“Does she or he know how much I love them”

-If you have dreams and goals; follow them
-pursue them until you know that you cannot go no further.
-If you have a poor relationship with your family, now is the time to strengthen it
-If you have a strong one, make it stronger.
-Take it from me, everything in your life is worth doing. (legally of course)
-Do not wait until your opportunity is gone, because you will never know if you will have another.

-Lastly, about the war:
-I don’t care if you are for it
-I don’t care that you’re not
-I hope you are for the troops like myself that are here in the states and abroad in countries around the world, but if you’re not that’s okay too.
-What I care about is that you have an opinion, preferably educated,
-and whatever that might be it’s important
-it’s what this country is founded upon
-it’s what makes this country strong
-and it’s the same thing that Marines like me and the ones before me have fought for to ensure your right of having one.

-And right now, we are fighting in the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan trying to ensure that they have one too.

Live your life to the fullest

Semper Fidelis

-Thanks for your time.

Written by Jess Carmichael

here is a link to a news paper article that was written about him. What he doesn't mention is he was 3 months away from completing his IRR.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/11/11/100loc_carmiachael.cfm