Veteran's Day

After going ashore he went looking for Darby. Approaching one member in a Ranger uniform, he asked his usual question, 'Do you know where I can find Col. Darby?'

A slow grin crossed the face of the husky soldier as he answered, "You'll never find him this far back."
----We Led the Way: Darby's Rangers

Veteran's Day. So many blog posts about it, there's little that I could add, but I wish to. Words of comfort to the families of those that have fought and died, those on battlegrounds far, those on a battleground that came too close to home. Words, so they know their loved ones are not forgotten. To let them know that that their life was an honorable one, that a solder who loves his or her country is the one great certain in the uncertainty of this world. That whether we believe in the battle itself we believe in their commitment to serve and protect. And we are the better for them.

It has been some years since I went to a military cemetary, there to see pay respects for a colleague who had lost his life in service On seeing the bare ground at another grave site, I brought back flowers and laid them down for that unknown soldier, as the silence was broken by the sound of a C-130 flying low on a training mission overhead. For a few moments it stayed in view, visible among the trees, a bright blaze of military green in a wild blue sea. Doing its mission until it got fainter and smaller and smaller til it was gone, but not forgotten.

Further away was a site for yet another funeral, the area site adorned with flags, small ones at grave site and larger ones near the folding chairs. Taps would be played, with one young soldier playing the echo. I imagined the grieving family hearing it and realizing that it meant distance. The dead were not sleeping, they were gone. Then later, the final taps were played, and there was no echo, yet they still remembered it, for the memory helps us hold on. After a while, an echo is enough.

Veterans Day is a thank you to those that serve, that still serve. But it's more than that, it's a remembrance of courage that sometimes brings with it the ultimate sacrifice, a remembrance of a death that brings us freedom. Of sacrifice, of knowing what you have done will not be forgotten. Of the hope that after darkness there is a brilliant light of freedom, radiant comfort in the unknown.

To those who have served and paid the price, the country can never fully thank you and your families for what you gave. For those of you who serve, and continue to honor this country - thank you, all of you. Veterans and Heroes that I have not met yet, and those that are family and friends.

Dad (WW II Army Air Corp, USAF Lt. Colonel - Retired, pictured here at age 89)

Rangebuddy (U.S. Army Rangers). Christina (U.S. Air Force)

Caleb (U.S.C.G. Diligence)

Lorimor (U.S. Navy)

(Mrs. Lorimor, who took the picture, had just caught this one's brother)

Ron, aka Warthog- (U.S. Navy)