Thank You Veterans

I never had the opportunity to serve. I did have to sign up for the Vietnam draft just as the conflict was ending, but never got called.

I had friends that were in the ROTC program during college, and went on to fly F-4’s out of Rammstein AFB in Germany. They tried to convince me to join, and I would have loved to fly planes, but I also wanted to be an electronics design engineer. In fact, I wanted to be an engineer more.

I’ve often thought about whether the prevailing image of the military soldier of the time had anything to do with my decision. I would hope not, but I can’t say for sure.

During that time, Vietnam soldiers were persecuted by a public that didn’t want to be in that war. A soldier was not someone to look up to, but someone to look down upon. It was truly a sorry time to be a soldier. Could I have endured the ridicule and shame thrown on them? Probably, but I’ll never know for sure. I’ve never kept up with my friends, who had to live through that time, but someday, I would like to. I’d like to see how they feel about their decision now.

I’m just glad that the prevailing opinion of our military is a positive one once again, as it should be. These are the people that are putting their lives on the line every day for our freedom, and to me that is the ultimate sacrifice. Nothing gets me hot under the collar faster than a liberal minded individual who blasts a soldier on the street for the problems in Afghanistan, or Iraq, who proclaims that young men should be doing other things than volunteering for military service, who smugly decries the military while not realizing the very reason that he has the freedom to say what he feels is because his father, uncle, or someone their parents knew died in a war to protect them.

Veterans, I thank you for your service.