Happy Veteran's Day
Message posted by: Dan S.
Forgive me for being a little personal in my thoughts.
As I sit at my computer in my office in uniform as usual, I ponder the irony of the holiday. This Veteran's Day is a bit different then most as today we're pushing out another company. In a short time they'll be saying their last goodbyes to loved ones, hugging, kissing, crying and laughing all at the same time. The little ones don't understand where their moms or dads are going and it won't even sink in for another month or so that they're really gone; at least for now. Maybe they'll do like my daughter did and conclude that "daddy is dead" since they can't rationalize it any other way and that's okay as long as they're okay with it.
I look at the Soldiers milling around during their last hours here in the States before they board the plane and consider some other things. Politics have no place here. Arguments about right and wrong are totally out of place. Here is where some of the finer virtues and qualitities of humanity are displayed. Here is where love comes to the surface on the faces of all I see. Parents are here seeing their sons and daughters off. Friends, family, everybody seems to be filled with some deeper emotion than anger; something deeper than anything seen on TV. Here differences are set aside. Wrongs are forgiven and only the best wishes and prayers are thought and spoken.
I'm not going with them this time although my time will come soon enough; probably next year but not that I care. It's just the nature of the beast and all around here accept it as such. Families will cope and often cope together. Sure, there will be those that fall apart from it but far more will be strengthened. Yes, it's hard to bear but you know, just like those on this site who have pushed their bodies to their limits have found out: the limits keep giving way to new limits, further out and less "impossible" to reach. Thus it is with our families through the deployments.
Although it's Veteran's Day here in the States, my prayers and thoughts go out to all of those in harm's way. Australians, Brits, Canadians, Spaniards, Estonians, Georgians, French, Germans, Dutch, Portugese, Koreans, and Danish, just to name a few I've seen downrange.
So today, if you can, please remember those in harm's way and say a prayer for us all so we all can have brighter and more peaceful days; ALL of us throughout the world.
Georgia Rule Dan
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