Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day, so I thought a simple post would be best.

These are the veterans in my life:

*My great uncle, who gave his life on the beaches of Normandy.

*My grandmother, although not in any branch of the service, she worked as a riveter and so I count her anyway.

*My father, named after that late great uncle, who served in the Army and would have been sent to Vietnam had the war not ended when it did.

*My brother, whose service in the Coast Guard meant such things as boarding drug smuggling boats, rescuing sinking ships full of Haitian refugees and transporting other military special forces on ops.

* My twin cousins - both retired after 20+ years given to the Navy and Air Force.

*My husband - nearly 22 years of service to the Air Force creating and building technology that meant sending fewer soldiers into actual combat.

Who are the veterans in your life?

Thank Them For Serving

This week, Tuesday to be exact, we will be celebrating Veteran's Day. I think a lot of people let the holiday pass without giving it a great deal of thought. It's an awkward day-- falling between Halloween and Thanksgiving at a busy time of year for students and parents. But it marks a quiet tip of the hat to those who have served all of us, with all they had to give. Our men and women in the armed services risk their lives every day. Even those not on the front lines know they can be called at any time. They leave children and wives and husbands behind, travel when and where we send them, and for little reward.

They keep us safe.

And the thing that blows me away is how infrequent they get any thanks for it. I ALWAYS stop to thank service people. It takes five seconds. Just say "thank you for serving." That's it.

What will amaze you is how often an elderly gentleman with liver-spots on his hands will fill up a little. Or a young man, handsome in his fatigues, will grin from ear to ear. You may just get a blush or a quiet thanks. You may get a first-hand account of the Battle of Midway at the Stop and Shop while you wait in line. We are losing our World War II vets to age, and their stories go with them. They saved the world. Surely they have earned a quiet thanks.

Whatever the response to your gratitude I can say from personal experience that you won't regret it. Thank them for serving. These brothers in arms have given you so very much.