Giving thanks to veterans

RW Balzer

On November 11th we celebrate Veterans Day and give thanks to all the living veterans that have served our country both in time of war and in blessed peace.
I, as a Viet Nam veteran, wish to thank all the vets from WW II to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for their service and what they have sacrificed for our country.
When soldiers return from war, they don’t necessarily “come home.” They still carry the burden of what they were asked to do and what they endured to preserve our way of life.
With the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq …although those left behind are still in harms way…we have a whole new crop of veterans waiting to “come home,” waiting for the time when they can accept what they had to do and when they realize that the life that they are living is real and they are not going to wake up and find that it was all a dream; when the stressful dreams and anxiety of combat are a thing of the past or at least manageable.
Help the new batch of combat veterans home; help the vets from all the wars that haven’t yet so “come home.”
Viet Nam vets greet each other with an honest look in the eye, a firm hand shake and a hopeful “Welcome home.” My personal request of you this Veterans Day is to give this greeting to every veteran you encounter and add “Thank you for your service.” And then make every day Veterans Day and give this greeting to every vet you see proudly wearing a baseball cap proudly claiming the war or wars they served in.

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