Memorial Day

• I'm getting ready to leave work for a long Memorial Day weekend.  I can't help but think of my time in the Army.  I was in the Dental Corps (I like to call it Army Lite), therefore my sacrifice was minimal.  But, I have many memories of soldiers as they we're deploying to war zones and coming back home.  These brave men and women would spend sometimes a year+ away from their family and friends. Imagine having a 3 year old at home and knowing that you've been there for only one year of his life because you've been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan the other two.  Imagine being 18 years old and having perpetual nightmares about pulling the trigger when the "bad guy" was lined up in the cross-hairs of your rifle.  Some lost their innocence, some lost precious time away from their loved ones . . . and of course, some gave the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the freedoms and lifestyle we have as Americans. 
• We all complain about the economy, taxes, and politician antics.  But, in reality, if there was a place that provided us with more opportunity . . . wouldn't we just go?  We lose sight of the abundance and  independence that is provided for us just because we were born on American soil.  As I look at my son, I certainly hope 18 years from now he's living out the American Dream in a world that doesn't need him to be a soldier.  His father served, his Grandfather (Gido) served, his Great-grandfather served (as a medic in WWII . . . can you even imagine the things he saw???) all in hopes that Bennett wouldn't need to. 
• I get this email almost every year about this time.  It's certainly worth sharing: 

Remember ...

It is the VETERAN not the preacher,

Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,

Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN , not the poet,

Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,

Who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN , not the politician,

Who has given us the right to vote. 

It's the Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Marine, who salutes the flag, who serves others with respect for the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the Flag.

And who is the veteran?

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

She is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Danang.

He is the Parris Island drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks, soft suburbanites and even hardened gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career Quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by, but keeps the supply lines full.

He is the three Anonymous Heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

He is your quick-to-anger golf buddy with a Semper Fi bumper sticker on his truck, who cusses a blue streak and throws clubs ... because he has three blown discs and fused vertebrae in his back from combat; one for each of his tours of duty in Vietnam.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known