Whatever is admirable...

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philipians 4:8

In a recent turn of events, the "World's Strongest Army" has kind of decreased on my awe factor. I went to bed last night troubled by a few things regarding the Army, and instead of writing a hateful blog directed toward the Armed Forces, I shall look at some of the positives of our army.

1) Cpt. Thompson: This man told my brother if he ever got deployed, he would go with him. When Bryan was given orders to complete a year in Iraq, Cpt. Thompson kept his word. In fact, he sent back his own orders of going somewhere in the U.S. and asked to be deployed to Camp Victory, Iraq. He had to do this twice before he was given orders to be deployed to Iraq. This was his 5th tour overseas. I don't think I could have the strength to do this. It makes me think two things: 1) Integrity and honor still exist in the world and 2) It is good to know people out there like this are serving our country. Someone who would risk their lives to join their "brother" in a foreign place and keep their word.

2) My brother: OK, so I realize I am completely biased on this one, but when he actually decides to talk about the army, he only has good things to say. Some of his last words to Tim when he left to go to Basic was "it will be fun." Ha...really? And, yes that is basically what came out of my mouth the second after Bryan said it was fun. And, to my surprise, Bryan really meant it. In fact, the only album on his Facebook is titled "Good times" and it is of his days in Iraq. I also asked him why he didn't want to become a drill sergeant and he said cause they can't get deployed and he wouldn't want to put himself in a situation where he couldn't get deployed. Once again...seriously? But, he is serious. Like Cpt. Thompson, I am thankful for soldiers like these who fight for our freedom...and this really is life and death.

3) OK ADT: This stands for the Agribusiness Development Team and it is through the Oklahoma National Guard. I recently received an e-mail from someone who is in the 1-45th OK ADT. We had sent them a ton of crayons earlier in the year and was wondering if they needed more or if the new group would be continuing the project. Here is an insert of what I received.

"Not only does it give them something to color but it helps improve their language skills. The children also always ask for writing utensils for school. They always want to show us their notebooks that they practice writing English in. Most ask for anything to write with crayon, pen, pencil, anything so they can do their homework and practice English because the can't take their utensils home from school."

This is real life of what is happening outside of our country. We take for granted the choice of things as silly as which pen color to use when these children are hungry for anything they can get. We live in such luxury.

These are the first thoughts that popped in my head. I am thankful for the troops and people out there like this, and I know there are many more than what I just mentioned. Hoorah!

Photo attribution