Veteran’s Corner 

Jason Hicks | Commander United Patriotic bodies

Fargo Memorial Honor Guard

Its been a little slow in the Veteran community. As summer draws to a close things will pick up again. There is currently a large event for Veterans on September 11th at Broadway square (Right across the street from the Fargo VFW). There will be lots of available information and opportunities for Veterans.

We are still in negotiations with the National Cemetery administration regarding the final floor plan of the building. We are doing our best to maintain the friendly atmosphere that we had envisioned for the project. But of course when dealing with a Government entity it can be a challenge, that being said, we are moving forward at a pretty good clip.

In other good news Sam Brown has been confirmed as the under secretary of Veterans affairs. As some may know he was wounded in Afghanistan and had run for US Senate. He was also a US Army Infantryman. So we have a powerful Allie at the VA. In totality there is a small number of Infantrymen compared to other jobs and services (During Vietnam the number was about 10 support type jobs for everything ground pounder). And holders of the coveted Combat Infantryman’s badge is an even smaller number. Sam has both of those designations. So a very positive gain for our project at the Fargo National Cemetery.

Now for something fun. Over the next few months I plan to share something fun or funny about military life. The quirky little things that some of us had endured.

Have you ever had green eggs and ham? Why yes I have, back in the day, the Army used to serve meals (sometimes even hot) in what were called marmite cans. They were heavy, super insulated containers, designed to maintain heat and keep hot food hot. They almost always worked as advertised. One of the quirky things that happened with your scrambled eggs for breakfast (Not made to order in the field) was they would be placed not quite fully cooked into the marmite, but the constant heat would finish the cooking process. What resulted was a nice light shade of green in the eggs. Not the yellow fluffiness we are used too. Often ham was the meat of choice for breakfast (easy to make and store).

Have you eaten green eggs and ham? Why yes, yes I have (with tabasco sauce) curtesy of Uncle Sam.