Military Ring Info

The precedent which eventually morphed into the holiday which we know as memorial day began on May 5th 1868. It began as a day of honoring the Civil War dead by placing flowers on their graves. It was began by the head of the Organization of Union Veterans. A national holiday to honor those who have given their lives in the service of this country is totally appropriate. If there is never another American killed in another military conflict anywhere on this earth we still can not give enough honor those who have given all.

Almost every serviceman or woman killed in the service of this country was a young adult with a full life ahead of them. They did not have the opportunity to live and die a quiet death at an old age. they missed many warm summers, special moments with loved ones, hot home cooked meals, and warm embraces in the arms of loved ones because they gave their lives for you and me.

Those who gave their lives all gave it in some foriegn country in the most jacked up conditions that you can imagine. They were hungry, tired, fearful, and dirty. They died in the worst physical and psychological circumstances that you could possibly imagine. Many of them died while suffering the most excruciating pain that you can imagine. The last image which their eyes saw was not their loved ones and family members but the horror and carnage of combat. We honor you our military ring customers both dead and alive and we want you to know it.

This is my own personal thing today. This is my tribute to all of my military ring customers and to all of those serving in the armed forces of this great nation and every other country in the world.

Operation Enduring Hardship goes out to all of the young military wives whose husband had to be deployed to Iraq two weeks after they arrived at a new duty station. You don’t know anyone in the place or where anything is located. The kids are hungry, sick, angry, and crying because they haven’t adapted to their new environment. The car won’t crank and the military has messed up your husbands pay. To top it off you haven’t heard from your husband since he left and the lights were just turned off.

This operation speaks of the young private who just landed out in the middle of nowhere. You just had all night guard duty and you just found out that you will have to work all day. The temperature is around 140 degrees and a sand storm is raging. Your tent was just blown down and you lost your protective goggles. You have had I MRE a day all week long because hot food and mail has not made it out to your part of the boondocks.

The only uniform that you have now is missing pockets and the leg is ripped open. Your boots are worn out and supply doesn’t have any. You are hot, sweaty, thirsty, hungry, scared, tired, dusty, and lonely because you have not been able to talk to your loved ones since you have been here.

This post goes out to all of those military ring customers and others who have served, or are presently serving in operation enduring hardship. It would be good if the world were allowed to walk just a few steps in your shoes.http://www.militaryringexpress.com

Leslie Sabo who was killed in action in Vietnam on May 10 1970 may finally get his just due. He was recommended to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in a prolonged fire fight that day when he killed many enemy soldiers and saved many of his comrades from death.

Private Sabo was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division but was attached to the 4th ID in Cambodia. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor following the incident but the citation was probably lost due to it being misplaced by one or both of the units. The problem with him receiving the award happened because the recommendation must be submitted within three years of the event. Since his recommendation was lost it took a special act of Congress to get consideration for the award. We are at the point in time now where his award has been approved and it is a matter of time until it is awarded.

Private Sabo distinguished himself on several occassions during the prolonged firefight. In one instance he threw himself on top of a wounded soldier to prorect him from a grenade blast. He himself took much of the schrapnel but was able to eliminate the two enemy soldiers who threw the grenade. In another incident the same day he cleared the way for helicopters to evacuate wounded personnel by providing covering fire. He took a bullet in this incident.

We take off our hats to this Old Warrior and we hope that he receives his just due even though it will be awarded more than forty years after he gave his life saving his comrades. Our Vietnam ring customers are often overlooked in the wake of all of the things going on right now. We salute you all for your service.

The Taliban in Afghanistan has killed more than twenty innocent people in the last few weeks leading up to the US and NATO assault on Kandahar this summer. Its not clear to me exactly what al-Qaeda is trying to prove by killing so many innocents, but it may be that they want to frighten the civilian population before the offensive to prevent them from supporting and providing information to the US and NATO led forces.

Now here is my pet peeve. You don’t hear a thing about anybody making noise because of al-Qaeda’s deliberare killing of innocents do you? Yet the whole world grumbles because we have accidentally killed innocent civilians mainly when they were being used as human shields. The real kicker is that we have a policy of restraint for our soldiers which equates to the servicemember putting himself in more danger so as not to harm innocents. You military ring customers who are there need to write me and straighten me out if I’m wrong.

I feel that we need to do absolutely everything in our power to prevent killing innocent civilians but at the same time al-Qaeda gets away with cold blooded murder. Innocents suffer in both cases but in our case it is not deliberate. Our military has many safeguards in place to prevent such accidents, as I’m sure that all of our custom military ring customers can attest. It seems to me that we are doing all that we can which is not being appreciated. Yet nothing at all is said when the shoe is on the other foot.

Do you remember the 5 Americans who were captured in Pakistan recently? One of them left a farewell video for his family as he didn’t expect to return home alive. They didn’t get an opportunity to commit any deeds before they were captured with incrimminating evidence on them.

The five claim that they have been tortured at the hands of the Pakistanis and shocked with electric prods. Now my venerable military ring customers I’m not saying that they were not tortured because I wasn’t there. But sometimes there is a price to doing business. What I am saying O custom military ring customer of mine is that you pay the cost to be the boss. If you can’t take it don’t dish it out.

When I think of this war on terror, I think about the thousands of innocents killed by terrorists. I think of the people who I saw beheaded on TV. I think about the innocents that the Taliban is using for shields. Then I think so what is a little torture compared to all of that? Now I will not tell you that my thinking is right on this one because its not, but its just thought and not action. I may say some things that are kind of out there but I don’t really advocate torture.

Let me say it to you like this my beloved military ring customers. If you decide to play the game, don’t get upset when the game decides to play you.   

I came up with the idea of doing this post this morning after I ran into one of my customers from waaay back. Sergeant Major Kaiser came to me after he had returned from the first Operation Iraqi Freedom to have a military ring made. He, his wife, and I worked on the custom military ring for awhile and I got to know them during the process of us putting it together. He needed his custom military ring to be his military retirement ring also because he was in the process of putting in his retirement papers.

We worked until we got him exactly what he wanted and his wife presented it to him at his retirement that next month. That was back in 2001 if I remember correctly. I just happened to run into him this morning at a convenience store and asked him how the ring was holding up. I was happy as a lark when I found out that his ring was just fine. He had no complaints whatsoever. Now my beloved military ring customers that is what I’m talking about.

This is a true story. We want you to rest assured that when you get your ring from us you will never have a problem that we can’t resolve.

Operation Enduring Seperation has been an ongoing operation which effects every branch of the Armed Forces and touches every family member regardless of age, race, sex, religion, or ethnicity.

Operation Enduring Seperation touches each and every one of my military ring customers, whether they are Army ring customers, Navy ring customers, Air Force ring customers, Marine ring customers, Coast Guard ring customers, etc. It doesn’t matter if they are Navy SEAL ring, customers, Special Forces ring customers, Delta Force, Army Rangers, Force Recon or what have you.

Operation Enduring Seperation speaks for the time when troops are seperated from their loved ones while discharging their sworn duties to their country. It speaks for the time that they have spent sleeping on the ground on top of ice and snow. It speaks for each and every wet and miserable experience that they have ever gone through while serving their country. It speaks for the times they have been caught in dust storms, rainstorms, blizzards, and heat waves.

This operation speaks especially for the times that they have been seperated from their husbands, wives, and children for months at a time. It speaks of the father of that new born who is now a year old and doesn’t even recognize him when he sees him.

It speaks for the mother who has just been moved to a place that she knows nothing about when her husband had to leave as soon as they got there. It speaks of her survival with several small children, a salary too small to even feed them, and a husband who is too far away to be of any help. It speaks further of the time that that husband finds that he will have to stay deployed for an extra six months, he only found out a few days before he was to return back home.

We need the support of every American man, woman, and child for those who have to participate in operation enduring seperation. Support our troops. 

The remains of a Navy Pilot who has been missing since 1967 have finally been found. Maj Russell C Goodman and Lt Gary Thornton were shot down in February 1967 when the F4- Phantom that they were flying was hit by fire from an enemy jet while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. The F-4 was launched from the USS Enterprise.

Lt Gary was able to eject from the burning jet but Maj Thornton was not able to escape from the aircraft. Lt Gary was subsequently captured by the North Vietnamese and held as a POW for about six years.

Maj Thornton’s remains were ultimately identified by his DNA and he will be laid to rest in Alaska after being honored in Nellis AFB Nevada.

We are always happy to hear about the remains of our old Vietnam warriors being returned home from that war. We are also hoping for the final accounting of all POW’s of that war. We realize that there are still many missing servicemen and unaccounted for POW’s. We also honor them through the creation of Pilot’s rings, and rings for POW/MIA’s. We send our best wishes and regards to all of their family members.  

Retirement is a very special time for the person who has made the military a career and should be commemorated with a special piece of military jewelry. Many of the military ring customers that I get are retirees who want to design a custom military retirement ring.

It normally takes them a while to figure out exactly what they want since they have done so much during their time in service. The person in the picture above is one such customer. You can see the joy on his face. He is joyful to be retiring and glad to have his new ring.

There are so many ways that you can design your military ring that I like to listen to the customer tell the parts of the story that he or she wants to tell. Then I like to figure out a way to piece all of it together onto a custom military ring.

Most  of the customers that you see in these pictuers are army ring customers because we were located on an army base. We can design marine corps rings, air force rings, and navy rings also.  

Most of the military ring customers that we have choose celestrium as their metal for very good reason. First of all if you are a younger soldier like the gentleman and his family pictured here you may be on a tight budget. If this is so you can design a celestrium military ring because it looks almost exactly like the gold ring. I know how to tell the difference because I have dealt with all of the metals for quite a while but most people can’t.

The celestrium military ring is more durable than gold and it is a good choice when you plan to wear your military ring every day. Jewelers love this metal because it is so easy to mold and work with, yet it is exceptionally strong. It is good to purchase early in your military career because you may want to design a gold military ring later on. Most of my older customers who are about to make their last military ring purchase will want either the 10 or 14kt gold military ring.