To all my Soldiers

When you are a soldier, you give up your privacy.  You choose to sleep on a cot, with a sleeping bag.  You leave your wife, or your family and your nice warm bed behind. Your shower is a diaper wipe.

You face danger.  Someone, that someone else loved dearly and deeply was driving this vehicle.  His life forever altered by a click and a boom.

These hunks of twisted metal, sit on the side of the road, as new soldiers arrive and drive by.  Forever a reminder to be watchful, to stay alert, and to say a silent prayer that this doesn't happen to the rig you are riding in.

Thank you. To the man that drove that day, and to your crew that was with you.  I know you must have been frightened when the explosion went off.  I know those images will never leave your mind.  They will wake you in the night, they will cause you to look over your shoulder when you get back home..... This moment in time forever changed you all.  Thank you for your willingness to serve even if it meant your life.

Being a soldier is a camaraderie that I may never understand.  These men that serve together will never forget the names of those they served with. There is honor among them that transcends race or religion.  They had to trust completely, wholly, that the man beside them would work as hard to save their life, as they were willing to work for him. 

Every soldier, is someones son, brother, husband, father, friend.  They are names.  Flesh and blood. They are more than what we hear on the news.  They are not just a Sea bee, Marine, or a service member of the Navy, Army or Air Force.  They all have hopes and dreams.  They all want to stay alive and come home.

Today is Veterans Day.

A day that we as a country pause, and remember and thank those who serve, and have served.

What do we do with every other day that contains the same freedoms?

Do we stop to honor those who serve?

Honor them everyday.  They didn't just fight for you on one day out of the year.  They fight for weeks, months, years.... placing their lives on hold, their dreams on the back burner, to assure a level of freedom for many people all over the world, not just here in the U.S.

In my book that makes everyone of them a person of uncommon character.

I know I will forget some names here, but I want to say thank you to those who have served:

Thanks to:

Earl, Veronica, Ali, Jim, Jim, Eric, Ed, My dear Husband Jody, Corn, Bryan, Brian, Zorgo, Bill, Dave, Dad, Clark, Matt, Ken, and the many more I have forgotten the names of.

Add the names of the people you would like to thank to the comments.