Some of my thoughts....about Veterans

Veteran's Day. To honor all Veterans.

My immediate family served in the military. My husband was Sgt in the Marines, finished college on the GI BILL  and served 6 more years as a Army officer. Dad and his brother were both Korean War Marine officers. My cousin is a Major on active duty in the Army, another cousin served in the Air Force in the Philippines, patrolling the jungle outside Clark AFB; my father in law was in the Navy and landed troops at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, while another cousin has a chest full of medals for his three tours in Vietnam .

What these people have been through is something most of us have no idea of.

My father in law used to tell me, after much prodding, about manning his position on the ship , shooting at Japanese planes as they shot at the ship;

my uncle has told me about jumping into a foxhole as a MiG strafed the air field they were building;

a cousin telling me about landing a helicopter in a jungle thicket under fire, and running towards the gunfire to evacuate the wounded

another can tell about "mounting up in a up armored HUMVEE, and having the compound gate in Ram-adi thrown open, and receiving fire as soon as they hit the streets..."

My honey, who says they only thing he remembers about coming home in 1973 was some "hippies girl" calling him a baby killer, and him clamming up for th next 30 years unless he was with other vets...

I wrote once about how I went for some lab tests at the hospital, and a young Marine was sitting there in the waiting room, and how utterly shocked he was as I walked up, smiled, stuck out my hand and thanked him for all he has done...

My husband is the only veteran at his work. People now sometimes say thank you to him for his service, but most don't. Yet in our den, his two favorite memento's are a card he got in 2004 from a boss that read, " I know you are one of two veterans here, and I THANK YOU for your service to the country". The other is Certificate of Appreciation he got in the mail, signed by the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff, "For outstanding service to the Nation..."

And now as I reflect on things, I am left wondering how  the men I work with, who are all in their 40's, 50's and early 60's all avoided military service. And what really gets me is when they are proud of "not having to serve". Not having to serve?

 Nobody in my family was ever forced to serve. They all volunteered. From 1775 to present. My family has passed from one generation to the next the apparently novel idea that "of those to whom much is given, much is required."