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. ~Author Unknown~ 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. ~"Veterans Day" by Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC~ PLEASE REMEMBER OUR VETERANS
NOT ONLY ON VETERANS DAY,
BUT ALSO ALL THROUGH THE YEAR. Poem & essay submitted by Harry Updegraff, Jr. | 
I remember the veterans every day. My dad was one of them and died way too early after suffering obscenely, gradually loosing little bits of his body over the span of 20 years because of it. I can't forget. I won't allow myself to forget. I honor the veteran but I no longer think that any war is right, just, or a reasonable path to freedom for modern man, any more than he did. By working to make war an obsolete method of dealing with our so-called enemies is how I honor his memory in the best way I can. Not one war in more than a century has served the purpose we were led to believe it would. After all they told those who came before us that the "Great War" would be the one to end all wars. As evident over the last 90 years, they were wrong.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 10:27:00 AM
Every generation of my family has served in one war or conflict or another since the Indian Wars. I HATE war but I support our military personnel 100%, even those who have been brainwashed about "protecting our freedom" and believe they are sacrificing for their country and folks back home. I despise those who deceive these brave men and women but I admire and respect our servicmen-women who are willing to be maimed or die for us (even though they are deluded). Fortunately, now there are thousands whose eyes are opened and they see how they have been misled.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:44:00 PM