Honoring those who serve

I admit to being a country and western fan. As an author who pens 300-plus page books I admire writers who can tell their story in a two or three minute song. For James Otto’s latest CD, he and Chris Wallin wrote “Soldiers and Jesus.” The song includes the lines “There’s only two people who’s ever died for me, laid down their lives so I could be free…God only knows who we’d be without soldiers and Jesus.” The song resonates with me on multiple levels each time I hear it and while driving I’m hitting re-play a lot on the CD player. I hope somehow the song speaks to the many still failing to grasp the sacrifices our servicemen and women and their families have made and continue to make.
I question whether we as a nation have become numb to the daily reports of those killed and wounded in action. Newspapers carry the casualty reports on the back pages buried behind the latest Hollywood scandal, economic news, or political infighting. The sacrifices have been minimized by many in the media and it is only when we dig beneath the story can we appreciate the true costs of freedom. Being a former Marine with a Marine son on active duty, I take more than a passing interest.
I’ve seen the costs and the sacrifices as I’ve visited our wounded at Walter Reed, Balboa Naval Hospital, and various Wounded Warrior Battalions. I have met men and women, some still teenagers, who lost limbs and will be scarred for life, yet I am emboldened by their courage. I struggle with each visit keeping my emotions in check but am grateful for real heroes; as Ollie North defines them, “those who place themselves at risk for the benefit of others.” Each of these heroes are volunteers who knew the risk when taking the oath yet chose to serve when the nation asked just as those in previous generations answered the call.
I have watched the spouses of those deployed cope with not only managing a family but living with the constant fear the next phone call will bring tragic news. I’ve seen deploying warriors cry as they say good-bye to loved ones who will “pray without ceasing” for a safe return. I’ve had dinner with elementary school-age children who speak of their deployed dad being a hero. Although our son’s latest assignment doesn’t place him in the current international hotspots, he travels overseas for two month intervals. Our three-year-old grandson is “mad” at his dad for leaving and our daughter-in-law overheard him say, “I don’t have a daddy.” Thanks to a loving mother, he’ll overcome the trauma of daddy leaving again but just a year or so earlier our grandson would wave at every military Humvee calling it “a daddy truck” and calling out for his father, even though his dad was half-a-world away in Afghanistan.
During this most recent election, a friend of mine was running for Congress. His opponent, the incumbent, sprang a misleading ad five days before the voters decided. The ad implied my friend, a combat decorated Marine, the recipient of the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, who lost one eye and much of the vision in the other eye, had not voted in the previous eleven years. The ad was a lie. My friend, while on active duty, went years without voting, but during some of that period he was deployed, others on the drill field training future Marines. Maybe it was no excuse but this decorated Marine has voted in every recent election. Somehow the incumbent, who spent twenty years as a college professor before entering politics, equated his voting in every election as the patriotic equivalent of a Marine who sacrificed in combat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying a combat decorated serviceman deserves to be elected merely on his military record but I am saying he and his family deserve to be respected. This politician disrespected my friend, his service, his sacrifice, and his courage. I seriously doubt if the incumbent, who never served in the military, has any idea what it means to truly sacrifice. I dare say he has little concept of the real costs of freedom. But the people spoke and he was re-elected.
Many are familiar with a career politician who chastised a decorated general for calling her “ma’am” rather than “senator.” As I watched the exchange on the news I was embarrassed for the general and all those who serve but also for a small-minded senator with a larger-than-life ego. I saw how little this elected official understood the military. Her actions demonstrated contempt for those who sacrificed so much for our freedoms. But again the people spoke and returned her to office.
Maybe James Otto’s song will resonate with both as they return to Washington and take the oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” The same oath every serviceman and woman takes.
With the election behind us I again marvel at the peaceful transition we make when one party or the other gains power. Even after contentious and heated debate, mud slinging, lies, and innuendo we manage to accept the vote of the people and move on with our lives, preparing to make our voices heard in the next election.
As you approach Veterans Day, take a few minutes to thank God for the freedoms you enjoy because of the brave and the few. Reflect on the sacrifices others have made so you can sleep peaceably at night under the blanket we call “freedom.” Think about who you would be without “Soldiers and Jesus.”