Hi everyone – Happy Veteran’s Day! An extra big thank you to all combat veterans – my thoughts and prayers are with all of you especially today.
I saw some really good cartoons for today, but I wanted to start with this –
Yup – that’s what Google looks like today! I will admit that it makes me a little nostalgic because the Air Force girl standing in for the letter “L” actually looks a lot like how I looked in uniform.
Yup you read that right – yours truly spent three whole years in the Air Force, which technically makes me a veteran. But to be honest I don’t think I deserve the title. I sat in a bunker with headphones and didn’t see a day of combat; my life was never actually in danger. When I think of someone who has earned the title “veteran” I think of these gentlemen –
They are the ones who have truly earned today’s traditional social nicety –
Speaking of which, I read an interesting opinion on that phrase, “Thank you for your service.” I was never sure what to say in response, especially since there are SO many people who deserve thanks for their service and their sacrifice before I do. But I finally found the right response – “The honor was mine.” Because that’s how I feel – every day it was a privilege to don the uniform and symbolically become a part of our indomitable national defense machine.
In no particular order –
Just a couple images I thought were cool. As someone who appreciates the military traditions of saluting the flag and other gestures of respect toward our national symbols, I like the image of Uncle Sam (and symbolically the whole country) turning the tables and saluting the veterans.
I picked this one just because it’s clearly a non-white soldier. I didn’t see too many cartoons recognizing the racial diversity of our armed forces, so I had to grab this one.
A cynical juxtoposition of how we celebrate Veteran’s Day vs. what a significant number of veterans have to actually put up with.
And to finish it off – ever since I was introduced to the poem in middle school, I can’t read the poem In Flanders Fields without tearing up.
And on that note, I wish I could think of a graceful way to close, but instead I’ll just say to all the veterans out there – Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your service!
Re: Uncle Sam saluting the veterans – when my unit rolled away from Ft. Huachuca on our way to deploy from Davis-Monthan AFB to the first Gulf War, our Commanding General – a three-star – was there to see us off, and HE saluted US as we went by. That was something!
When we eventually returned… landing at something like 0100 back at Davis-Monthan… the base personnel made a big point of welcoming us back, and when we finally straggled in to Ft. Huachuca around 0300 (seven hours late; our plane had broken down on the way home), people were still waiting for us out on the parade field. And that was something, too!
That is pretty awesome – thanks for sharing!