Veterans Day 2019

    I have been sitting here a lot of the day watching all of the posts on Face Book, news commentaries, and many many other stories of veterans, both male and female alike, who have served in our Armed Forces. There are many of my friends and others who have been posting about their loved ones, both past and present who served in the United States Armed Forces, and it occured to me as I wondered, if those non-veterans, family and friends, really know the meaning of Veterans Day, why is it always on November 11th, and why is it so important to our citizens and our Country.

   November 11th is the date of the anniversary of the ending of WWI. They said the war to end all wars. For the young people of today it is hard to fathom actually knowing anyone who served in WWI. But I have and remember these men very well. I remember as a kid in the 1950s actually seeing at a parade in our small little town at a Veterans Day parade, an actual soldier who had served in the Civil war. He had to be about a hundred years old, and he also had to be very very young as he entered the Union Army as he was now 106 years old at that time. He was riding in a horse drawn wagon. Forward of the wagon were veterans of the Spanish American War, followed by WWI veterans and then WWII veterans, and bringing up the rear were the Korean War veterans.

    As each decade passed so did those old soldiers who represented and fought in those conflicts, No more Civil War Veterans, no more Spanish American War vets, and soon they'd be no more WWI veterans. But to this day I still know many WWII, Korean, and many Veterans who are now the oldest followed by Vietnam Vets. Granada Vets, Somalia Vets, Kosovo Vets, Iraq Vets, Afghanistan Vets, Syrian Vets and more. Hopefully you can see the pattern here. The US has been in many wars throughout the years. I am not going to get into the politics of should the US have entered in these conflicts, but my focus is on those military men and women who stepped up to the plate and signed the contract on the bottom line to give a portion of their life for a period of time, if not for eternity.

     But remember what day Veterans Day really represents. It is a day of celebration. November 11th represents the end of a war. A time to celebrate that the war is over. Unlike Memorial Day, which is a day of mourning for those soldiers we have lost, for whatever reason.

     Being in the military, the regimen, the commitment, the discipline, etc. is simply something that non-military honestly cannot understand, unless they lived it. Knowing that if you fall, your comrades will do whatever they can to pick you up, to help you out, to mend you, whether it be body, mind or soul. It is a closeness and a trust that no one will ever understand unless they served. Some may not express their gratitude outwardly, but for them who do not, they know it is in their heart. The ones who served, they fully know that they can count on their fellow vets even though their service commitment is over. Just say the word and we'll come running. Our love of country cannot be toppled, cannot be stopped, and surely cannot be understood by all.

So to ALL of my fellow Veterans, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE on this 2019 Veterans Day!