I grew up in a small town in Oregon. I have an older brother that served proudly in the United States Coast Guard in the Vietnam Era. And I am at an age now, early 40s, where the chances of my being called to Active Duty service for my country is nil to none. Despite this, I have had the chance to serve in a minor way, and I am thankful for that opportunity.
I served as a Reservist in the Coast Guard, and advanced to the rank of Petty Officer Third class, a Boatswains Mate at a Marine Safety Office doing once a month duty on the Columbia River. So my personal knowledge of military life is restricted to boot camp, back when there was a boot camp in Alameda California for the Coast Guard (Its in Camp May New Jersey now) and a summer spent at Class A school in Yorktown Virginia.
I visit the web sites for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Multi-National Force Iraq, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Joint Task Force 82 (Afghanistan) and all the sites that I can find online that talk about the War against Terror.
I marvel at the amount of positive information that is just not getting out. Schools rebuilt, supplies distributed, bridges reconstructed, weapons seized, terrorists arrested, medical assistance given to villagers and citizens of countries I find hard to spell, much less able to find on the map.
And I realized something.
My whole world is based on the behavior, actions and service of people that I have never met. People doing their duty in lonely duty stations in places far from home, in acts of bravery and unselfishness, in service to their country.
And that every day that I live here in my home, in Maine, that I stand and go about my daily life because of the sacrifice of brave men and women, doing their duty, much of the time without fanfare. And I cant relate exactly what it means to be a veteran, despite my service in the Reserves I never did 180 days or more TDY so never achieved Veterans status. And, I was in the reserves from 1981 to 1987, during a time of calm and Reserve Activations or deployment was not even thought of.
So I cant relate to your service. I cant relate to what its like to be on deployment. Or to serve and fight the enemy. But I can say- Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do. Thank you for counting the cost, doing your duty, and standing in the gap.
Because if it wasn’t for your service, and the service of your fellow military brethren, both current and past, then the freedom that one slightly rumpled transplanted Oregonian middle aged redneck might not be.
Freedom is not free, and I just wanted to take a chance to say, Thank you.
If you have a son or daughter in the service, or if you have a husband or wife, or brother or other relative, or if you serve yourself, please let them know, there are those of us out here that are grateful for your service. And your sacrifice.
Even if vast numbers of people don’t get it.
There are some of us that do.
