Veteran’s Day has always held a special place for me. Now I admit, when I was younger, it was special because well, it’s my birthday. As a kid I remember how jealous my friends would be that I was always out of school on my birthday so birthday parties never interfered with that pesky and consistent schooling that we all had to contend with on a perpetual basis. It never occurred to me in my younger years that the world did not, in fact, revolve around me and my birthday.
It was as I aged and became more aware of the world that I realized there might be a bigger meaning behind that day, Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day. It was around that time that I also started to realize that I hail from a military family. My grandfather was a proud Navy man that had his eldest son and daughter, my mother, also enter the ranks to serve in the Navy. My grandfather’s youngest son, my uncle broke ranks to serve in the Army where he met his wife, Carol who was also enlisted. My father was a proud Marine-okay IS a Marine because everyone knows, once a Marine always a Marine.
I really didn’t realize how special it was to have a family that so bravely and selflessly decided to pick up the American flag and serve our great country. A family that travelled all over the world experiencing new cultures and foreign traditions that lay in stark contrast to the freedoms we enjoy in America.
A family that spent countless holidays away from their loved ones, sacrificing their own comforts for the security of strangers that called themselves Americans to sleep calmly and soundly at night without the fear of exploding bombs, senseless terrorism and tyrannical rule. My family missed the first steps of their children, the silent tears of their spouses that feared for and missed them dearly. My family were among the ranks willing to stand on the front lines with heads held high and boldly say to foreign threats “Not today. You wil not harm my country today.”
My family was lucky and blessed that they were able to serve their country and come home to hug their loved ones. Not every family is so kindly looked upon by providence. American soil is soaked with the salty fallen tears of the loved ones of our fallen heros.
All of my military family members are retired now except for a cousin that serves in the Air Force keeping our flying steal birds in the air. They have all merged back into society and walk unassuming among us, like so many other veterans of our military branches.
And, like most veterans you meet, they can rattle off all the locations of their deployments, but there is a quietness about them; an earnestness. Most don’t like to discuss the details or sights that they were witness to see.
The truth is, most of us civilians wouldn’t want to know the things that our service men and women have dealt with or seen. We want to casually set aside a day that everyone has off of school or work, post a few American flag memes on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, maybe help give out a hot dog or two at the local VA, but our veteran’s deserve more.
They deserve to have a President that is willing to stand in the rain to honor their service to our nation. They deserve to not have to wait for a month for a much needed doctor appointment at the VA hospital. They deserve to not be rejected by society and forced to live on the streets because they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They deserve to hear the truly heartfelt words “Thank you for your service,” from every American who is content to enjoy the freedoms that veterans paid the price and bought with their sacrifices. They deserve more than a day. They deserve more than a hundred days. They deserve more than all the days that they sacrificed.
So as we move on from Veteran’s Day 2018, don’t wait until Nov.11 2019, to remember our Vets. They deserve more.
