Friday, November 10, 2017

This is another side to Veterans Day...

Happy Veterans Day to all the men and women who have put their lives on the line to serve and protect us. I couldn't even begin to imagine the feeling of leaving your family behind, to be on foreign soil and participate in situations that wouldn't be the standard back home.

Veterans Day is very dear to me, because I have two family members who were so courageous enough to be part of America's military...

My poppy was a child of the 20s and a teen of the 30s. He never graduated high school because, he worked in the coal mines to help bring money home for his family. He quickly enlisted in the military on his 18th birthday, as the majority did during that era. They say the men of WWII were from a different mold and I'm sure they were. As my poppy lived in a fox hole, walked the front lines, and stormed Omaha beach in Normandy. As a child, I rarely heard him speak of the War. But when he did, he constantly spoke of the fear he had when he ran across that sand, his boots sinking into the earth, as bullets whizzed by his head. He often questioned why he made it to safety, when so many others did not.

My dad was drafted at 18 years old into Vietnam. He was a child of the 50s and a teen of the 60s. He proudly went to war to serve, as so many of his fellow brothers had done before him. He smiled as he waved goodbye to his loved ones, setting off to an adventure of the unknown. The stories I've heard from my dad, would make the biggest, baddest, man cry. And at almost 70 years old, all these years later, he sometimes is like that 18 year old boy who was drafted... He wears his emotional scars on the outside of his body and hasn't ever been able to shake the memories of those years.

My poppy and dad may have served decades apart, but what they both had in common, were the scars they brought back home with them... Not the visual scars you can see on their bodies, however, I'm sure they have them too. But, scars on their souls. Those smiling boys left the states as naive, trusting people, only to return as someone else.

Sadly, that's the problem with War... You never come back the same. Every man and woman who ever interacted in some form of combat will always be changed forever.

And for my dad, and I'm sure many other Veterans too, this day is a tough day for them. It's a day that brings those suppressed memories back to the forefront of the brain. It's a day that must have emotional anguish of being proud and sad at the same moment...

Something that none of us who haven't served, can ever imagine...

With that, I'll always appreciate every soldier (past and present) for their eternal sacrifice to keep us safe. Every solider will always hold a special place in my heart... And I'll never stop thanking a soldier when I see them out in front of me, or praying for their safe return... And I'll never stop praying for a Veteran soldier to overcome their emotional scars and get the help they need to be the person everyone knows they truly are inside...

So, happy Veterans Day soliders! This honorable day is for you!

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