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Some veterans bear signs of their service, a missing limb,
a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece
of shrapnel in the leg- or perhaps another sort of inner steel, the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except
in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by
looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi
Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden
planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred time in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite
bravery near the 38th parallel.
She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and
went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back
another-or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen
combat- but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching
them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade riding Legionnaire who pins on his
ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and
medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb of the
Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose
valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the oceans sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the
supermarket-palsied now and aggravatingly slow- who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife
were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being- a
person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others
would have not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the
darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our
country, just lean over and say "Thank You." That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than
any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, "Thank You".
Author Unknown
Remember-- November 11th is Veterans Day !!
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What is a Vet? |