Veterans Day

Veterans Day is coming up on us Wednesday, Nov 11th and it truly is a day for reflection and thanks for all that have served in our Armed Forces, abroad and domestically.

For some reason I find myself living in yet another military town, though it's different than in the past when we had open bases.

I used to live by Glenview Naval Air Base and Great Lakes Naval Air Base as a kid. My Dad was in the Army/National Guard so we spent time at the armory in Hammond, Indiana, and in my early 20s I lived in Columbus, Georgia, home to Ft. Benning. So I've been around big guns and tanks and the likes all my life. Growing up during the VietNam War and seeing the blue stars in windows of families with serving military and the POW signs was a humbling experience. I would say prayers for them as I passed by their house, but even God didn't bring some home.

Since I was about 12 or 13 years old my parents sponsored sailors every Thanksgiving at our house. That was always fun. The majority of sailors were pretty shy and very respectful and we got to learn about their reasons for joining, what basic training was all about and different scenarios they encountered meant to teach them comaraderie and working as a team. My Mom still sponsors sailors even though there was a suspension of the program one or two times since the War in Iraq. One time we were even documented on a cable tv news channel for the day and we had alot of fun with the film crew and sailors. It was also nice to see more and more young women joining the Armed Forces and become more accepted as the years went by.

I was almost one of them.

I was 18 years old and without direction and my brother had just gone off and joined the Marines. I knew I needed a similar scenario if I wanted to do the things I wanted to do in life so I called the army recruiting center in Deerfield, Illinois. This was in 1981 and there weren't alot of women joining at that time.

A recruiting officer came to my home and gave me the spiel and I was ready to join, so I went down to their office and took the written exam. The officers there (all male) were amazed at how smart I was, for a girl. I had heard this all my life- I grew up in a time when women's rights were just coming to the forefront. In Jr. High school I even had to join the boys' cross country team if I wanted to play organized sports, but thank goodness Title IX soon became law and so I was on our school's first girl's basketball team (with "regular" rules- not the old rules that girls used to be bound to play with half-court restrictions) and track and field etc, besides participating in science fairs and the like. Anyway, people have told me all my life I won't make it or can't. I was born 3 lbs 10 oz and went down to 2 lbs because of complications with my parents Rh factor not being compatible and my body's reaction to that, so if I were to survive at all they expected me to have many complications and disabilities. I showed them! I excelled in sports and academics and loved school.

Anyway, my next step was to go down to Chicago and take my physical exam. My recruiting officer offered to take me and we made the appointment. I waited and waited yet he never showed. I thought this might be a test to see how bad I wanted to join but in fact he had just overlooked the appointment! So we set yet another appointment and he didn't show up again! I took this to be an omen and decided that the army was not for me. Of course now that I'm older I'm kicking myself as I would have been retired for a number of years! Oh well.

I'm not knocking the army or any of the armed forces branches- this is just the experience I had when trying to join.

My father ended up putting in more than 25 years with the Army/National Guard and ended up serving stateside in the Gulf War while my Marine brother spent it in the mix and ended up writing a book about his experience called "Always Faithful" by John Hartnett. It's not your typical wartime book, it's more a study of moral dilemma dealing with marriage, happiness and war, along with bravery, in a crazy situation called war. Pick it up through amazon.com or Barnes & Noble- it's a fast read and a refreshing outlook, besides excellent storytelling!

Anyway, I find the coverage of the two wars going on right now quite lacking. During WWII us Americans had fireside chats and movie theater updates. Radio, to me, is much more intimate, plus anything filmed in black and white seems much scarier and more dire than color, as most old horror film buffs would most likely attest to. When the VietNam War was covered by reporters in the field that was new and exciting in the genre of covering war. By the time the Gulf War came we were used to cable and full-color blood and gore, so we were getting more desensitized to that, but there was still a feeling of importance every time CNN broadcast on regular tv with the missile attacks etc. It was such a fast war for those not directly involved, it almost seemed a video game.

Enter the Iraq War. Patriotism and revenge against any and all involved with terrorism was force-fed us on a daily basis. The Bush administration tried to keep us in a constant state of terror and alert, though there were degrees- yellow, orange.... Every day in the beginning of the war we got to watch the mighty Americans battling the terroristic government of Saddam Hussein and who can forget the pulling down of his statue! This stuff was made for tv! It was quick, like the Gulf War, and gave us the instant satisfaction in images to keep the public interested.

But alas, the war dragged on and on.... we heard our president declare "Mission accomplished" and the photo op reassured us all that our men and women would be home soon, but the days and casualties added up to years and thousands, no weapons of mass destruction were found and some people were starting to realize we may have been sold a bill of goods with this war with no direction, while losing alot of support of the world.

But that's a government bumble and not a soldier's to bear. We need to respect all that have served and are serving for their many reasons and beliefs.

And I believe that one of the highest forms of respect we can offer our veterans besides thanking them is to support them when they come back with the services they need.

Housing.

Close, accessible veteran hospitals, including increased mental health services.

College incentives.

To name a few.

My flag in front of my house is at half-staff in rememberance of our vets serving now and in the past, and in honor of the fallen at Ft. Hood, where I was supposed to be stationed.

Let's take a moment now and offer our prayers and thanks.........