Posted on 11/12/2020 2:56:15 PM PST by Hulka
A humble observation about the “thanks for your service” greeting.
This Veterans Day I’ve found myself responding to the many “thanks for your service” statements. After responding countless times, I decided to crunch the gist of my many replies into a single statement wherein I attempt to describe what drives vets to become vets and who truly should be thanked.
To those that mean it, please understand that your thanks is not necessary because we have our own metrics that give merit to our sense of who we are and what we accomplished. Consequently, Vets don’t require or expect a thanks for their service. Quiet, honest service is its own and best reward. A real thanks, honestly expressed, is deeply welcomed, for sure, especially if the Vet served on any number of foreign battlefields, so very from far from family and home.
And most Vets view their service as a calling, not a job. It is something they were born to do.
What is often forgotten on Memorial Day is the Veteran’s family. By many measures, the family left behind suffers as much or more as the serviceman. Daily, hourly, the family wonders if their loved one is okay or hurt, or worse. That is a mental torture that goes unnoticed and unremarked, even on Veterans Day. They are as much a veteran as the one who served. They served, just in a different way.
When the Vet deploys, who runs the home, pays the bills, calls the plumber, cuts the grass, raises the children, and does hundreds of small and large chores to ensure the home-fires keep burning? The spouse. Running your family is hard even when both spouses are at home. It is especially difficult when doing this alone.
My wife of 43-yrs suffered through my many deployments, and during Gulf War I, I was a forward air controller with the US Army. I knew where I was and what I was doing, and the risks. She, on the other hand, had no such information and by not knowing anything she suffered greatly, especially since she knew I was in the war and on the ground, in the front with the US Army and not protected by my A-10 titanium-wrapped cockpit. More than once she woke up in the middle of the night and turned on the TV, hoping she might see me while at the same time, hoping not to.
My wife was at a church event when the pastor called her aside and broke the news that Gulf War I began. She cried and then they prayed. My 10-yr old son, on the other hand, dealt with this news differently. He went to a nearby classroom, found some toys and soon the room was filled with sounds of a little boy making war noises as he fought beside me. After the war, when I heard their reactions, it broke my heart and underscored the fact they suffered right alongside me.
It is clear that Veterans Day belongs to families as well as the warrior.
I’ll leave you with this; both the Vets and their families served God, country and family.
I simply say, “It was a privilege to serve.”
I was in ROTC when Vets returning from Vietnam were spit on and was on active duty post-Vietnam when we weren't much more popular. Now, I'm not naive and I know the Rats who say this don't really mean it and would defund the military as fast as the police, but at least they're not spitting on us.
To those that actually mean it.
My view is that if you want to thank me for my service, tell me how you encouraged your son/daughter to join the US Military.
Otherwise I really don’t care to hear it as I don’t think most really believe it.
I heard one guy one say, "You are worth it." Made me smile
.What pisses me off the most is that Veterans Day is a holiday that gives government workers the day off while the rest of the real veterans in the private sector still have to work...........Go figure!
i think it’s the new “have a nice day” Most people don’t mean it- they just feel like they have to say something.
That’s the first part of the post, what about the tribute to families?
Just asking, brother, not snarking, not starting a fight.
That’s the first part of the post, what about the tribute to families?
Wow. . .
Almost exactly what I say any time I'm thanked for my service. I say, "Thank you. It was my privilege".
What about the second sentence in my post? Care to comment?
Yes.
My reply is “Thank you for your support”
my father and mother deserve thanks....my father left HS early to enlist, probably was a little underage...he never got a purple heart or a pension for PTSD, infact, hardly anyone from WW2 got that PTSD disability....seems about 20% of the modern day vets get them....
my deceased FIL was in the service for maybe one year....1946....he was awol for a month because he didn't have orders so he just left the base...I know once he got an extra check mistakenly and he kept it...
yet he wore his WW2 hat for all the free Vet day dinners like he was a war hero....
a lot of vets deserve our respect and our thx but there is a lot of pretenders out there too.......
I always meant it when I said it to a vet, but I understand that the saying “Thank you for your service” can get stale. This year I switched to “Thanks for keeping watch” and “Thanks for manning the battlements”.
bm
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