Veteran’s Corner 

Jason Hicks | Commander United Patriotic bodies

Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

As Commander of the United Patriotic bodies of Fargo-Moorhead it never ceases to amaze me the area support for our nations Veterans.

Coming up on November 11th we will be hosting our annual Veterans Day program. As per tradition the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is what is always the sacred time. The place is the Fargo Air Museum. The venue may have changed over the years but the time and date never changes. For many years us Veterans used to march downtown Fargo in parade fashion. But as time wears on fewer and fewer of our members can march. So we have stopped that tradition.

Now after the ceremony is when things pick up. Every Post/organization will host a meal type event. By far and wide the most popular item on the menu is beef stew. I’ve tried to nail down the origin to no avail. That being said there are exceptions to every rule and the Fargo AMVETs serves their “World Famous” SOS— can’t put in a public paper what it really says. But we all know. In addition to great food, the Red River Valley Veterans concert band will be stopping at the main Veterans clubs for a performance of their wonderful patriotic music. There will be a complete list of events released as we get a little closer.

I have been advised that Sam Brown, the undersecretary of Veterans’ affairs will be in Fargo for the ground breaking at the National Cemetery. There are some unknowns as of now, because of the Government shutdown.

Funny Army times:

Let’s talk about tents or lack thereof. I used to enjoy camping, however the Army ruined that fun for me, lol. You see I was a career Infantryman and let’s just say more often than not tents were optional. That being said, everybody had a poncho so you could always rig up a structure to have a small if leaky roof over your head. However there were at times tents to be had. GP stood for general purpose. Tents came in three size GP Small, GP Medium and GP Large. These were canvass and wood monstrosities that often took a large amount of people to set up. The one I spent the most time with was the GP medium. It would hold about a platoon worth of soldiers. That being said it was extremely challenging to put up and take down. It had a giant main wooden beam that ran the length of the tent. Then side poles for the sides (duh). Setting up one of these you could tell the veteran troops from the newbies. You see there were no instructions, if there were they were lost years ago. So setting one up with the fewest casualties took a bit of finesse and skill. Once set up it had to be secured properly or a strong wind would take it down. I saw in my travels the GP smalls and GP larges but they were often set up for officers and support staff, so not your basic grunt. I avoid camping these days, lol.