Veteran's Day

I'm going to climb up on my soap box for a little rant so please bear with me.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, it is a day when we remember fellow service members past and present and appreciate the sacrifices they made.  It's also a day to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, who left families behind, who left very small children behind, who left parents and siblings behind.  So on this somber day (now don't get me wrong, I don't expect to see everyone crying all day long) why do some people insist on saying 'HAPPY Veteran's Day???'  What is so happy about remembering the one who lost his life in a training accident and left behind a young wife and infant son?  What is so happy about remembering the four who died in a fiery crash, one of whom left behind a wife and young son, another who left behind 4 beautiful daughters and a beautiful wife?  And there are others, just from the Special Operations community, who gave their life, leaving behind a spouse and often children.

Maybe I'm blowing this way out of portion but there is nothing 'happy' about Veteran's Day.  If you want to do something to make someone happy, find an airman/soldier/squid/grunt and shake their hand, tell them thank you for your service.  The next time you are in an airport and you happen to see a group of men and women in their BDUs, ask them if they are coming or going...if they are coming home, tell them thank you for what they've done...if they are going, wish them the best, tell them you will pray that they are safe and then do it!

Will it matter ten years from now?  I sure hope so.  Some of the lives lost from our community happened ten years ago and they are certainly not forgotten.

 A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America  for an amount of up to and including their life.'

That is why you will not hear me wish anyone a 'happy' Veteran's Day.