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You can't tell
a vet just by looking:
He is the cop on the beat who spent six
months in Saudi Arabia sweating 2 gallons a day making sure
the armored personnel carrier didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth whose
behavior is outweighed in the cosmic scales by four hours of
unparalleled bravery near the 38th Parallel in Korea.
She is the nurse who fought
against futility in Da Nang and went to sleep sobbing every
night for two solid years.
He is the POW who left one person and
came back another.
He is the drill instructor who has never
been in combat but has saved countless lives by turning
no-accounts into Marines.
He is the parade-riding legionnaire who
pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the white-haired guy bagging
groceries at the supermarket, aggravatingly slow, who helped
liberate a Nazi death camp.
A vet is an ordinary and extraordinary
human being --- someone who offered his life's vital years
in the service of his country.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword
against the darkness, and nothing more than the finest,
greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation
ever known. We will never be able to repay the debt of
gratitude we owe.
It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus
organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin does the flag drape,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
PLEASE REMEMBER OUR VETERANS
NOT ONLY ON VETERANS DAY,
BUT ALSO ALL THROUGH THE YEAR.
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