Veterans' Day

Veteran's day is a little bit of a strange holiday for me. Soldiers are a little different than the rest of the population.  We do what we do and we know it is in defense of our country, our constitution, and most importantly our citizens. Having said that, we aren't big on attention. We don't expect anything from our fellow citizens other than hoping they fulfill their full potential as Americans. Even if it means they use that potential to hate us as soldiers.

Today I'm reminded of the experience of Corporal Dave Stevenson. Corporal Stevenson left for Vietnam when I was a baby. He left the summer of 1970. During his tour in Vietnam he was hit four times. He fought for 24 months straight. No idea if he would even return alive. His fourth "hit", the damage to his body was so significant, that he was finally sent home. He came home to a country that hated him and a population which blamed him for the "war". I remember hearing this motivational speaker tell us how he arrived at Dulles Airport in Virginia. He tried to hail a cab for over an hour and when one stopped, he opened the door and the cab driver spit on his uniform and called him a baby-killer. Dave was confused and bewildered by the America he came home to. He had no play in politics. He had no wicked plan. He was just an American soldier doing what his country asked of him. It took him more than 20 years to get over the damage done to him not by the insidious enemy he faced in Vietnam, but by the very citizens he thought he was protecting. He was a stronger man than I.

I have been lucky. I grew up in a generation that saw the definite "wins" of Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I saw ticker-tape parades for our troops like back in World War II. I experienced "thank you's" from our citizens as I returned from long and painful tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was lucky.

I often wonder how I would have felt had I been a soldier during the Vietnam era and I don't know that I would have been strong enough to deal with the hate our heroes dealt with after returning from such a horrible war. I do know this though, our Soldiers cannot win without our civilian citizens' support. We cannot succeed in any campaign when our citizens are against us. We are a reflection of you, the people we work for and the people we strive to defend. 

I'm a political conservative and I know 21 years of military service will do that to you, even if you're from the liberal capital of the country, Massachusetts. I have a lot of VERY liberal friends who may or may not see eye to eye with me on so many topics and issues. Yet I am never ever concerned about whether they love and support me and my brothers and sisters in arms. I love them and my friends have shown me over and over again that they support me, whether or not they support the actions I am taking per the orders I must obey.

I am so thankful to be part of this generation and so proud of the prior generations of soldiers, especially those who never truly got the respect they deserved. God bless every single man and woman who has ever donned a military uniform. God bless every man or woman who has ever raised their right hand and pledged to support and defend the constitution of the United States against any enemy, foreign or domestic. And God bless our citizens today, who know the difference between politics and service and support us who are lucky enough and honored, to serve our fellow Americans.