It's days like these that are made for reflection. A time to stop...close the eyes...and think about all those fellow Americans who served this country, and those that are still active military, and how they protected and still strive to protect our freedoms. The freedoms we too often take for granted.
I think back to the first time I could really comprehend what it meant to be a veteran. What it meant to enlist. And the consequences of that decision. It was 1967. My mother received the call. Her nephew, my cousin, had been killed in Vietnam. She was heartbroken. But she didn't let her grief show. Instead she chose to let her support and love of the men and women serving in America's military shine.
Four years later, we said a tearful goodbye to my brother who graduated high school and immediately enlisted in the Marine Corps. We followed every news story, every headline...yearned for phone calls from my brother...waiting for the announcement that the war was over. I feared that he would face the same outcome as our cousin. I had nightmares. Fortunately, my brother never saw combat. However, he did go on to serve 30 years and retired from the military as the highest ranking enlisted Marine.
