I don’t need a photo album, or a uniform hanging in my closet, to remind me that I served. My aching joints and failing hearing do that quite well.
Lately though, I have needed some help reminding me why. Why did I do it? A man can be forgiven a little bitterness when he looks around and sees the nation that he served appear to commit suicide. And if they don’t care?
Don’t mean nothing. Not a thing.
But then you remember. And it does mean something. You do remember why. You remember that it was your turn to take up the torch that so many before you had carried.
So many, but yet so few. Only a handful of each generation were capable of it, and because you were one of those who could, it was your duty to do so.
Your Duty.
Your Honor.
Your Love.
That’s why we served, and why we would again. That’s why those who serve today do it. And those who will follow them tomorrow will do it.
“Here I am Lord, send me.”
And even if the nation that we served seems to have turned its back on the ideals for which we sacrificed, in what ever way we did sacrifice, we would do it again. Because we know that the real America, the heartland, is still what we have always loved. And always will be. We refuse to be gas-lighted. We see the true America.
And we honor her. And we honor those who who stood on the wall and kept the evil away from her.
To all of my fellow veterans; thank you. Thank you for the love you displayed by giving so much of yourself. Whether “peace time” or shooting war, each of you gave some of the best years of your life. Know that true American’s are grateful.
And yes, it was worth it. Don’t believe me?
Look at your children.
For those of you who did not serve, I want to leave you with a reminder that there are sacrifices our warriors make that many never think of, and will never know. Those of you who have deployed will feel the following only too well.