Veterans Day
 

To understand a Military Veteran you must know:

We left home as teenagers or in our early twenties for an unknown adventure.
We loved our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives.
We said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew.
We learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corners of the Earth.
We found new friends and new family.
We became brothers and sisters regardless of color, race or creed.
We had plenty of good times, and plenty of bad times.
We didn’t get enough sleep.
We smoked and drank too much.
We picked up both good and bad habits.
We worked hard and played harder.
We didn’t earn a great wage.
We experienced the happiness of mail call and the sadness of missing important events.
We didn’t know when, or even if, we were ever going to see home again.
We grew up fast, and yet somehow, we never grew up at all.
We fought for our freedom, as well as the freedom of others.
Some of us saw actual combat, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us saw the world, and some of us didn’t.
Some of us dealt with physical warfare, most of us dealt with psychological warfare.
We have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can’t fully describe or explain, as not all of our sacrifices were physical.
We participated in time honored ceremonies and rituals with each other, strengthening our bonds and camaraderie.
We counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all.
We have dealt with victory and tragedy.
We have celebrated and mourned.
We lost a few along the way.
When our adventure was over, some of us went back home, some of us started somewhere new and some of us never came home at all.
We have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures.
We share an unspoken bond with each other, that most people don’t experience, and few will understand.
We speak highly of our own branch of service, and poke fun at the other branches.
We know however, that, if needed, we will be there for our brothers and sisters and stand together as one, in a heartbeat.
Being a Veteran is something that had to be earned, and it can never be taken away.
It has no monetary value, but at the same time it is a priceless gift.
People see a Veteran and they thank them for their service.
When we see each other, we give that little upwards head nod, or a slight smile, knowing that we have shared and experienced things that most people have not.
So, from myself to the rest of the veterans out there, I commend and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for your country.
Try to remember the good times and make peace with the bad times.
Share your stories.
But most importantly, stand tall and proud, for you have earned the right to be called a Veteran.

(copied from unknown author)

Re: Veterans Day
 

So many now don’t have a clue what service meant and means to too few. Thanks to all of you with deep sincerity. Our country is in peril because of the blindness and no understanding of freedom and what it cost.

Re: Veterans Day
 

To all my fellow veterans I wish for you a day of happiness and good memories made. To all of their families as well. To others please pause to honor veterans and the sacrifices put forth by them and their families. If you’ve never visited Arlington National Cemetery and witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier I strongly encourage that you do so. Before the current school year started I took my 13 year old grandson to DC and that was our first stop. What struck me about this time as opposed to my previous visits was looking across the crowd gathered there I recognized the other veterans in attendance. Their countenance was somehow different and hard to describe in words. Perhaps it was some sort of spiritual connection that bound us there because we most of all know what symbolism that one grave holds. God bless you all.

Re: Veterans Day
 

And we thank you all once again. Eddie, thank you for that post.

Re: Veterans Day
 

God Bless AMERICA and a BIG heart felt THANK YOU to ALL who fought for our freedoms.

I know our country is having a difficult time and I PRAY each day for our country to recover and become strong again.

We have come back before and we can do it again. God Bless all of you.

Re: Veterans Day
 

I’m going full Eddie66 on you, I’ve held onto this for quite a while but here on the Eve of Thanksgiving it needs to be brought forward so that perhaps those who didn’t serve for whatever reason can reflect on what many of our Veterans endured and perhaps still do each and every day. The setting could just as well be applied to other wars. But most of all say thanks tomorrow for our Veterans.

From the book Going After Cacciato, by Tim O'Brien

"They did not know even the simple things: a sense of victory, or satisfaction, or necessary sacrifice. They did not know the feeling of taking a place and keeping it, securing a village and then raising the flag and calling it a victory. No sense of order or momentum. No front, no rear, no trenches laid out in neat parallels. No Patton rushing for the Rhine, no beachheads to storm and win and hold for the duration. They did not have targets. They did not have a cause. They did not know if it was a war of ideology or economics or hegemony or spite. On a given day, they did not know where they were in Quang Ngai or how being there might influence larger outcomes. They did not know the names of most villages. They did not know which villages were critical. They did not know strategies. They did not know the terms of the war, its architecture, the rules of fair play. When they took prisoners, which was rare, they did not know the questions to ask, whether to release a suspect or beat on him. They did not know how to feel. Whether, when seeing a dead Vietnamese, to be happy or sad or relieved; whether, in times of quiet, to be apprehensive or content; whether to engage the enemy or elude him. They did not know how to feel when they saw villages burning. Revenge? Loss? Peace of mind or anguish? They did not know.

They knew the old myths about Quang Ngai -- tales passed down from old-timer to newcomer -- but they did not know which stories to believe.
Magic, mystery, ghosts and incense, whispers in the dark, strange tongues and strange smells, uncertainties never articulated in war stories, emotion squandered on ignorance.

They did not know good from evil."

Re: Veterans Day
 

Mostly, you didn't know or care. You usually knew who was in the area, NVA and/or Cong. Beyond that, it didn't matter. Search and destroy did not mean play "Ring around the Rosie"