Veteran's Day salute

 From 1967-1971 I served in the US Navy. For three of those years I was aboard the USS Enterprise, at the time the largest warship in the world. We made two tours to Vietnam during my duty on board the ship. My wife and I were married when I enlisted, and our first child was born while I was on the ship. I never saw her until she was two months old, and after a two-week leave I didn't see her again until she was ten months old.

Duty, honor, respect, responsibility, pride are just some of the things that were instilled in me during those four years. When I watch the rioters, the looters, the punks screaming in the faces of our police, the college students who need a safe space to hide out in when someone says something that offends them I wish we had a mandatory military service requirement similar to Israel's. Maybe it would help some people grow up. Of course, their helicopter parents would probably call the Pentagon complaining that their baby had to do push-ups when he was tired and that someone had said something mean to him.

A lot of the young men and women my age served in the military. Many spent time in Vietnam and too many never returned. Since then we've had more wars that have resulted in young people losing their lives. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is necessary to preserve a way of life worth preserving.

The freedoms we enjoy today were won through the sacrifices of those who fought the British to gain independence for our nation. Those freedoms have continued because men and women have been willing to fight and die to preserve those freedoms. These individuals deserve our respect and appreciation.

It's also important to remember that these same freedoms will only be ours if we are willing to hold on to them. We now live in a time when the state believes it has the power to grant or withhold our freedoms. That has never been the case. The Founding Fathers insisted the freedoms we were given were given to us by God, not by the state, and could not be taken away by the state. Unfortunately, we are in danger of allowing the state to take away our rights and freedoms.

I want to take this opportunity to thank every veteran and current military person who reads this blog. Your service is appreciated. The sacrifices you made for your country are also noted and appreciated. God bless every one of you.