Honor, respect those who have served
We are very fortunate as civilians to live in the land that is the United States of America.
I don’t think we have a clue about the price that has been paid for our freedom and way of life. Past and present veterans, the military, have made it possible to go to work, come home, go to the grocery store, go on vacation anywhere in the U.S. of A. without checkpoints, papers, worrying about dying because our beliefs or way of life. We are free.
In many countries in the world, people cannot say the same things.
We as civilians owe a debt to the people that have given us the luxury to go about our daily lives. Love, respect and care is owed to our military, past and present. They have truly paid such a high price for our nation that will never be paid in full. It is hard to imagine what they’ve had to endure. My dad was in the military, in Korea and Vietnam. My older brothers and grandfather paid their due — more than they owed, as have all veterans. I asked my dad to tell me about the wars he’d been in, and he never answered. I asked one last time and he told me, very sternly, about being in a fox hole with one of his best friends, and being charged by the enemy. He asked if I wanted to know anything else; at age 10, all I could say was that I was sorry, and I never asked again.
My grandfather was in WWII, one brother was stationed in Korea in peacetime after a war that was never finished, and my other brother served in the Navy, under water for months at a time to protect our nation and others. I started to join when I was of age, but all three said they didn’t want me to go. I said that they had all fought, why shouldn’t I? Because we have, they replied.
Let us as civilians show and give honor to the people who have fought for us. Voice your opinion; it’s your right.
Carlos Cody,
Kenai