Veterans Day

Three days are designated each year in America to honor military service. Memorial Day is the solemn remembrance of those Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, Armed Forces Day honors those Americans currently serving and tomorrow, Veterans Day, pays tribute to those Americans who served their country.

I feel very fortunate to live in a nation that keeps days to remember service and sacrifice. Last year I offered some thoughts on what military service meant to me and offered some reasons why I served for 24 years. Today I want to reflect about how as a veteran, I perceive our society and government honors military service.

For the most part, our American society does a great job honoring military service. I’m not sure if it’s always been this way. I don’t really remember in the 80’s seeing veteran appreciation on the same scale we see today. Perhaps the nation’s attitude towards the military back then was skewed as a byproduct of Vietnam and the so called “hollow” military of the 1970s.

It appears to me that within the last few decades our nation’s positive attitude and acknowledgement of service has increased steadily. This could be due in part, to the all-volunteer military which really took hold in the 80s and is now pretty much the cornerstone of our nation’s defense.

Any American who served or fought our wars for the past 40 years volunteered to be there. While I feel so blessed to live in a nation with a volunteer military, I can’t help but stop to remember those veterans who didn’t get a choice. Many of our WW II, Korean and Vietnam veterans deserve an extra dose of respect tomorrow for this very reason.

I think our nation’s current fervor toward honoring military service really went into overdrive post 9/11. Certainly the globally connected nature of society today has brought images of post 9/11 military service into nearly every home and helped to shape our nation’s perspective.

So what does this increase in honoring veterans look like? First and foremost it is two simple words- thank you. When I was still in uniform, it was truly humbling the number of people who would go out of their way to thank me for my service. Since I’ve retired, many people still thank me when they learn I am a veteran.

I think most veterans would agree, it is almost overwhelming. Most of us certainly don’t expect a vocal thank you, but it sure is nice. I certainly hope this simple gesture reflecting American society’s attitude towards military service never goes away.

In addition to all the great Veteran’s Day parades and events most local communities host around the nation, there is that other very visible sign of our society’s gratefulness to veterans, the freebies and discounts! Perhaps I just didn’t notice it in the 80s and 90s but seems like today almost every business has some sort of benefit for veterans on Veterans Day, if not the whole year.

Of course some of the discounts may be a marketing effort to lure veterans and their families into the business. Others may feel that adding a commercial aspect to a respectful day of remembrance is inappropriate. Regardless, I feel the volume of discounts and freebies American businesses offer to veterans is sincere and just another way for our society to say thank you.

Then there is our government’s response towards veterans. I know I am on some thin ice here so I will only speak for what I know, how I perceive my government has treated me as a veteran. Every veteran’s experience is certainly different.

Bottom line, since I left military service in 2019, I’ve had nothing but positive experiences in dealing with the Veteran’s Administration. I didn’t fully realize what our nation offers veterans until I began the transition back to civilian life and hung up the uniform.

The processes to request and determine most of the veteran entitlements were straight forward and in my opinion, fair. For the deployments, time away from family and general beating my body took over 24 years, I feel my government is adequately recognizing the sacrifice. In fact, I was so impressed by the service at my local VA clinic, I now use it as my primary health care facility!  

Then there is the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Created in 2008, I truly think this is one of the best benefits our government created to honor our veteran’s service. Not only does this great benefit enable all veterans to pursue higher education and training, in many cases it is also transferable to veteran’s family members.

Insurance, burial expenses and property tax exemptions are just a few other of the many benefits that our federal and state governments provide for many of our veterans. Again, I know not every veteran has had the same positive experiences I’ve had. I wouldn’t dare to suggest our government’s implementation of these veteran’s benefit programs is perfect.

But I do think our nation, both our government and society, has collectively come a very long way in recent decades to honor and recognize the sacrifices of veterans. Especially when compared to how some veterans were treated in the not so distant past. I hope and pray our nation continues this positive trend of fervent support for our all-volunteer military that makes up an important part of the American way of life.

Next week I’ll wrap up a three part look at military service by pulling on a thread I mentioned in this blog, VA care!

The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.

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