Grateful to vets

Why am I visiting this page, looking at the photos and reading 
these comments?

I am awe struck by the severity of the experiences of which I 
can only get a small glimse here.  I am humbled by the 
sensitivity that I read behind the comments.  I am literally 
in tears.

I was born in Okinawa and grew up in Europe in places like 
Stuttgart and Berlin in the 60's.  My father returned from 
'Nam as an Infantryman with a Purple Heart.  I have seen the 
effect of wars throughout my life all around me.  I believe in 
Truman's saying that "the only thing new in the world is 
history you don't know."  It would be a real tragedy for us to 
forget what happened in Viet Nam.

I was still in high school when the Viet Nam war ended.  I was 
too young to understand what it all meant (although if I was a 
couple years older I would have had no choice).  Even though I 
am glad I did not go there, I honor those who did.  I missed 
being in Grenada, Panama, Kuwait and the many others.  Though 
I was an Infantryman myself for 10 years, I will not claim to 
have walked even a mile in the boots of combat veterans.  In 
fact I am not even qualified to comment on their efforts 
except in the hope of giving a glimse of my esteem and 
gratitude.

I am thankful to those who have made such unconscionable 
sacrifices for so many of us.  These sacrifices of the past 
and present have bought and paid for the many freedoms we have 
today including the one to appreciate them or not.  The 
sacrifices of my own I have made only serve to tell me how 
severe the hardships were for others.

I struggle to appreciate how these heroes despite incredible 
opposition did honor their oath to "defend the Constitution 
from enemies foreign and domestic."  This oath is the same one 
sworn by our political leaders, yet it is our brothers and 
sisters in uniform who had the spine to keep their word.  They 
kept their promise even though they knew that they might die 
carrying out the orders that might have come from selfish 
political or (worse) monetary motives.  They continued to 
drive-on with their assigned mission even though an equally 
corrupt press attempted to convince the public that it is 
soldiers who somehow start and fuel wars.  It is as if to say 
that if we just 'disarm' that maybe war will go to some other 
planet out of boredom, or that if we do away with the police 
that criminals will leave us all alone out of altruism.

I wish we had an alternative to war.  If diplomacy is one, 
then perhaps we need more expertise brought to bear on 
improving its efficiency.  Mao Tse Tung said that all 
diplomacy emanates from the barrel of a cannon.  Some of the 
armchair-generals and self-professed secretaries-of-state 
could focus their muzzles on alternatives instead of limiting 
their trite efforts to dishonoring those who have been keeping 
the faith. 

I thank Ken Hoffman for making this page happen.

Lastly, I wish to say that I know from these comments that I 
am not the only one who feels a strong gratitude towards 
veterans.  The strong emotional outbursts are inevitable in 
this kind of forum and I am glad I could get just a tiny bit 
closer to understanding what it was like.

Thanks.