veteran's day...i honor those before me and after me

there are those who have volunteered to join the military such as myself for reasons that were secondary to the nation... me, i joined for the GI Bill, a way to pay for college...but during the coarse of boot camp...just 2 short months..i was broken down as an individual with solitary selfish concerns and emerged into a greater understanding...i was not the important one....a brotherly bond is built that is virtually impossible to duplicate in its intensity in civilian life, save the bond that i share for my wife...

the impact of my choices 19 years ago are only now beginning congeal into form as i cogitate on the actions of those who served a generation or two before me...

was i willing to die for my comrades, i hope so, i was lucky to have never had the chance to test my character to the fullest extent...i fortunately never had to see the loss of any of my friends either...

but the generation before me and the ones currently serving after me are...

it is to them we owe a great debt to...do yourself a favor..talk to a world war II veteran before they are all gone...

one just died last week.. Marty... he stormed the beaches on d-day and walked through blood red waters and unrecognizable human parts...his stories died with him...

Mack...still living...prayed on an the deck of an airplane to accept Christ into his life when his plane was being bombarded with so much shrapnel, they could have used the hull as a fishers net

Pappy... grandfather on my wife's side...he captured a German tank...no longer with us...

the ones currently serving have the most difficult duty to nation and county...fighting a battle where the enemy wears no uniform...doesn't value life...first respondent medical care has improved so much that now men survive when they have been seriously wounded, but they survive at the cost of missing body parts...others have their souls scarred by the intensity of fighting a faceless enemy....listen to these men...honor these men....support these men...let not the history of Vietnam repeat itself upon the veterans that have served...

yes i am unabashedly grateful for the greatest nation God has given men and i am extremely humbled i was able to serve it, if only for 6 years....