An Open Letter of Thanks to Each and Every Veteran

As a nation, we set aside this day to thank each and every veteran of the United States armed services.

We thank those who were called on by circumstances to show the greatest of courage.  We have heard some of your stories, the nightmares you endured and the bravery you showed.  Others of your stories, we will never know.  Even when we are surprised to find ourselves weeping when we learn what you have endured, we cannot fully understand the price that some have paid and are still paying for your service to this country.  We are grateful to each one of you.

We also thank those whose service was mercifully routine.  When you joined the military, did you know what the future held?  Not any more than any of us do.  You showed deep loyalty and commitment to the defense of this nation.  This day is for you, too.

For some of you, service in the military is a fond memory.  Time has smoothed the edges.  For others, the memory is still mixed or even troubled.  Some were were discharged early; not everyone was discharged honorably, let us tell the truth about that.  Yet we thank you anyway on this day.  Those who earned unmitigated glory in their service to this country have earned great honor today and every day.  Today we also thank everyone who served, for everything you did that was good and honorable.  We thank you even if your service lasted only a day.  We thank you even if you served during the days of the draft -- willingly, or reluctantly, or unwillingly but with good cheer.  Those of us who have never served know much this about military life -- it is tough under the best of circumstances.  It is often miserable and literally horrible.  So yes, we thank and honor each and every one of you for your service.

We thank those who have returned to civilian life uneventfully, and those for whom life will never be the same again.

We needed you when you served, and we still need you now.  It is you -- the men and women of the United States armed services -- who have continued to breath life into our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

To be honest, it is unthinkable to many Americans that our freedoms could ever be lost completely.  In the moments when we do think about it, many of us push the thought away.  We forget that the unthinkable sometimes happens anyway.

Without you, our rights and freedoms mean nothing.  When we are thinking clearly and being honest with ourselves, we know that.  We sometimes remember it in the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning, lying in our beds.  We know it when a second jet filled with innocent people is flown into a second office building filled with innocent people.  We know it every day, but we often let ourselves forget.

We know that our freedom only runs as deep as the strength ready to defend it.  We know that the men and women of the United States armed forces have made, and continue to make, the entire difference between liberty and despotism in the United States of America.  Please accept our appreciation, even though you do not seek it.  Please accept our help even when you could get by without it.  Please accept our prayers, even when you and your family have already offered prayers enough of your own.

And one more time:  Thank you.

For links to more special tributes, see Captain's Quarters, LaShawn Barber and Michelle Malkin.