What
Is It To a Vet?
She approached the old Vet
to thank him.
As she got near, she
had recognized him as a veteran because of all thebright colored patches
and shiny metal trinkets on his vest.
Like a lot of them,he was bound to show
some pride.
“Thank you for your
service, sir,” she said.
The old Army Veteran
lowered his eyes and said, “It was my honor and pleasure m’am.”
And you know, as he
thought back, he could honestly say he was telling the truth. And he began to think of what it all was to
him and all the other United States Military Veterans. He wanted to share it with her.
You see, it wasn’t
about the service; it wasn’t about the deployment; it wasn’t about the rank he
had attained before he left. It wasn’t
about the exotic and scary places he had been and things he had seen, and it
certainly wasn’t about the money or benefits.
Yes, he was proud of the branch of service he had gone with because of a
lot of reasons. Family tradition, the
uniform it sported, the glory it painted in history and the heroic men who
represented it formed most of the reasons he had joined. He had brothers in his family who served in
the Marines, the Air Force, the Navy. He
had been raised to think joining the military service was but a part of growing
up, a part of doing duty to ones’ country.
He always believed the Army Dress Blue Uniform was the most beautiful of
them all and he daydreamed as a kid of getting married wearing one or being a
part of the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. He still daydreamed of how the seventh
calvary had helped to “tame” the Old West and how George Armstrong Custard
fought bravely ‘til the very last and his favorite, George Washington crossing
the Delaware during the winter at Valley Forge.
He was a patriot.
But, along with this
came the melancholy thoughts. He also knew and had a lot of friends who had not
volunteered to a calling. Who had just
gone and did their jobs and then went back home…….or not. Guys who didn’t ask to go but who would have
and did do anything that was asked of them.
Guys who didn’t bother to pursue a specific jobor desire of
accomplishment. Some of us were drafted
and some of us had no choice but to join and take our licks where they landed. To do our jobs and hope and pray we did them
good and wouldn’t get ourselves killed in the process. To grow up faster than the Good Lord would
have it be. To leave loved ones
behind. Thank the Lord that she would
never have to see the look in her Dad’s eyes while getting in line to leave for
the war and thank the Lord she would never have to worry every single day that
her son or daughter was not in danger.
Thank the Lord for being born in the U.S.A………
His final thought came
abruptly as he saw her ready to go her way.
This is what it is all about and what covers every single base. He
shouted, “Thank a Vet for your freedom.”
