You could have heard a pin drop.
 

In an email....


When in England, at a fairly large conference, Condi Rice was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of 'empire building' by George Bush. She answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.

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A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it. 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Very nice Fred :tu

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

you must spread some Reputation around before giving it to macms again.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

nice, Fred.
All the hullabaloo about those men and women we hold dear, and should have a place in our thoughts and prayers every day... Wasted on those that do not understand history, or even diplomacy.:usa

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

+1

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Very nice Sir.:usa

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

always good for a laugh.. nice

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Have to agree.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

http://www.thepeoplescube.com/images...gTheWorkOf.jpg

Hope this thread isn't too political for some of the mods here!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Ouch!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Thanks Fred. I think many in this country could do with a bit of this perspective. :usa

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

:r:r:r
:tu

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Excellent excellent stuff

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

"Discussing" the French is a time honored tradition. :D

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

+1

Thanks again, Fred. :usa

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

It's ok ... I did it for you ;)
Fred is one of the great ones.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Great post, Fred!

A quick question though....

Why are the Paris street lined with trees?


































Because the German Army likes to march in the shade. :D

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

American pastime where I'm from.

Nice thread Fred!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

In a (teeny-tiny) touch of fairness, I read somewhere that the French losses in the spring of 1940 were on the order of fifty thousand (in about four weeks), so that's not exactly "rolling over" for the Germans.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Great job Fred. Awesome read.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

nice post, but let us not forget that there would be no good ole USA to save the world if the French didn't save out ass in the 18th century. The US leaves this mostly out of the history books, but the island of Antigua was worth more to England than the colonies, so French activity there gave rise to our 'victory'.

Before we go around pretending to be superior, let's recall that we were once quite lowly. And that's about all I have to say about that.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Since this is a pride thread and being a history buff, even that fact is now debated with a lot of new light being shed on things.

Great thread for sure.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Don't forget the statue of liberty as well. Nice gift and... well she's French you know.. pretty sure she goin commando under that robe. :D

(I wrote and didn't post pretty much what you said here. But ... well it's France :) )

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

I have a soft spot in my heart for France; and not just because they are short-sighted and arrogant.

The French and Americans have a long and glorious history. While we currently are not seeing perfectly eye-to-eye, I'd hate to see people trash them without considering all that they've done for us.

As for the Italians, do you know what they do with their armies?


They put them in their sleevies.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Great reading....thanks Fred.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

I find this picture pretty offending and very arrogant.

How about all the English, Australian, Dutch soldiers and all the other soldiers from different nationinalities fighting and dying in a war the Americans started? Now, normally I would not complain about it, but when an asshole wears an arrogant and very untrue statement like that on his uniform I think he should be severely punished. Behaviour like this makes me sick and if I was a politician I would seriously consider not renewing the Dutch mission in Afghanistan due to statements made by this asshole who should be glad that he is getting all international support at a high price.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

I like there toast

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Pretty sure that those other patches were photo-shopped on there Don... so dont call the Court-Marshall yet!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Thank you Fred. Those strories gave me chills!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Pretty sure that's photo shopped. Don't think the regulations allow for such trivial, jovial statements.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

then the motherphucker who made the chop should be forced to meet with a foreign unit who just lost one of their mates. See how they like the statement the photoshopper made.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Don, see how angry you feel about this?

This is the same way we feel whenever a forigen nation, or its people bash the USA or our military.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Good stuff there!

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Don, IMO you're entitled to feel outrage as I'm sure your countryman and soldiers would if they saw this. The intent of this thread was not to disrespect good men. The intent was to expose the insensitivity and arrogant attitudes of others toward our nation. Notice that I said others and not nations. I think we are wise enough to recognize the ignorant when they speak and know that they do not speak for reasonable people.

These are good and brave men.

PS I think we must always remember there are multi generational and historical experiences on CA.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

I think it's fine to talk about the great things Americans have done and be proud of our country, but let's all try not to expose the insensitivity and arrogant attitudes of our people towards others.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Whoa, Nellie, there! The French, Germans, and Russians did not help us out in Iraq at all, just criticized, and, in fact, aided the enemy. There is nothing here that denigrates the English, Australians, Dutch, or anyone else besides pointing out the lack of help from those three nations.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Thank you again Fred for a Post I can share with my kids so that all the bad they see that there is a twist that makes it important.




While I was in training in Damneck there were a TON of students there from MANY places around the world and many thanked our instructors for the time they put in. They appreciated the ability to learn these systems. I got to know about their military histories and there is a good chance we are all tied together in some way.


Thank you again for the Post and another lil reminder of what some are willing to give up.








Shawn

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Biggest clue that the pic was photoshppoed is the U.S. flag is facing the wrong direction.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

but Fred, doesn't this picture show that it is definately not a one way street? And IMO there is a difference in the stories you posted which are not bashing the army but in:
Story one - The policits of the Bush administration
Story two - The politics of the Bush administration
Story three - The arrogance of a French officer
Story four - An elderly man who didn't have his paperwork ready when going tru customs

but the statement on the picture is disrespect to the non American soldiers that are dying out there. What further fuels my rage about this picture is the fact that yes, thanks to the Americans (and Brits, Canadians, Australians & Maroccan) armed forces WWII ended and there has always been a great deal of respect and appriciation towards those troops. Now foreign troops are helping America out in two wars (I see Iraq and Afghanistan as two seperated wars) and we got shown disrespect in this way (I know not every is disrespecting the allied forces, I am just talking about this picture and the photoshopper who made it).

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

You beat me to it.:D

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

you both are wrong, stars LTW

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Just an observation.....
Hotreds clarified who the three countries listed are.
Are those countries in fact helping out as you state and did we miss something?
Remember, the photo does not illustrate the front of the United Nations with all the flags of the world. It specifically addresses three nations and I believe Hotreds has it right.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

http://www.ushistory.org/BETSY/images/petraeus.jpg
To wear our country's flag properly, the field of stars is worn closest to your heart. Further, when worn on the sleeve of a military uniform, the flag should appear to be advancing and not retreating. Thus, if your patch is to be worn on your LEFT sleeve, use a left flag (normal). For patches worn on your RIGHT sleeve, use a "right" or "reversed field" flag.

http://www.ushistory.org/BETSY/flagetiq.html

(this was copird and pasted everyone else please feel free to do it too}

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Thats what I was thinking:r

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Don, perhaps I missed it, but where on that soldiers uniform was there the flag of a nation that was involved in the middle east wars. I see the French flag, the German flag, and the Russian flag.

No where on this thread have I seen any criticism of our allies in the middle east wars... and certainly not the Dutch.

I intend no disrespect, by why are you so infuriated by this photograph?

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Freedom Fries, anyone?

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

then still "doing the job for" ........... who started the war on Iraq for false reasons? Who trained and armed the mudjahedin/taliban? Indeed: America, so why should other countries clean up the mess that the Reagan/Bush administration and the George W Bush administration made?

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

:rolleyes:

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

Don't get me wrong, I fully support the Dutch mission in Afghanistan and I think it is good that we do everything we can to help out a friendly nation.

Re: You could have heard a pin drop.
 

I would hate to see it deleted because of it turning into a political rant.