a time of sacrifice
December 25, 2007
It is Christmas Day and I am taking some time away to reflect on being with some of the family.
Our youngest daughter lives in Alaska and did not come home this year. So we were missing one
around the table. As I was pondering this I was thinking about the families that have a loved one
serving in our military services and in many cases that member is serving in the Middle East. Yes,
we have members all over the world that are separated from loved ones and there is that concern of
how is that one handling the holidays, missing out on the activities of church gatherings and
family fun.
On December 2nd I was on my way to a Veterans of Foreign Wars District meeting when I stopped at
the Pueblo North Walmart. I was picking up a couple of items I needed for the meeting and myself.
I picked a line where was behind a woman that was filling out the necessary paperwork to purchase
via social welfare means and all the time complaining about how she had to take care of her
grandkids and wishing the government would do more to support her effort. I found out listening in
on this conversation that she had grown children that abandoned their offspring. Grandma had a
degree but she had to take care of "their" kids.
Some of the conversation focused on the president, the war and how she would have more social
welfare opportunities if it were not for the war. Amazing how the anti-war mantra is repeated
everywhere, but I was thinking that as a retired veteran that she was given that freedom to speak
her mind regardless of what I felt. I was wondering if she would go to the Middle East to visit
the troops like our Commander in Chief has and say the same? Probably not.
The cashier was involved in the conversation, agreeing with the customer. Now I knew I needed to
get into another line but for some reason I just could not make myself leave. What else could
these two women say? The cashier stated that her son recently deployed to Iraq and she had not
heard from him in two weeks. I am thinking that it is a good sign. The grandmother responds that
her son is in jail. Uhm, answers a few of my questions. Now here is the shock statement. The
cashier comments that she would rather her son be in jail than in Iraq. What the …..? Then, the
knife in the heart. Grandma says, "I would shoot my son dead if he ever volunteered to go to
war."
I am standing there in my VFW dress gear and I am sure it was obvious that I was a vet. Wow. The
interesting thing about this is that I just viewed a video of a Muslim mother commenting that she
would cut her son's head off and feed his brains to the dogs if he failed her by not sacrificing
his life for Allah. Ok, which mother is more educated and civilized? I hate to say which one is
more dedicated to the cause. The discussion went down hill after that when the customer mentioned
that when these soldiers are injured they are forced to go back to the war. Sorry, I finally had
to step in. It appeared that neither of these citizens visited Wounded Warriors at Evans Community
Hospital or have sat and talked to the dedicated military that want to go back. Geez O Pete.
I shared with the attendees of the VFW district meeting of this encounter and the response was
overwhelming that the one in the military needed to be thanked for his sacrificial service to our
Great Country. While in Germany a week ago I talked to many service members about this encounter
and their own service. I not once heard a negative word about the work they were doing. Many
expressed their long TDYs and assignments took them away from family and community. But never any
negatives about the efforts of our soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors rebuilding a nation to be
free and protecting ours.
What I did hear again and again was that those two sons had some choices in life. Each should have
been aware of the Constitution and their rights and obligations to be a citizen of the USA. Each
made a decision, one to disobey the laws of the land and the other to protect the laws of the
land. It is possible that one will lose his life protecting criminals that prey upon those that
are law abiding.
To the mother of the warrior - take pride in your son. Hold him up as an example of freedom at
work in Pueblo, Colorado, and the US. He is doing far more for all of us than if he were
incarcerated. He has joined forces with other brave warriors protecting our freedoms. When he
writes or calls, tell him that there are many that support his life and his service to our Nation.
God Bless him and America!!!
L T, MSgt, USAF, Ret
Commander, District 2, Department of Colorado, VFW
It is Christmas Day and I am taking some time away to reflect on being with some of the family.
Our youngest daughter lives in Alaska and did not come home this year. So we were missing one
around the table. As I was pondering this I was thinking about the families that have a loved one
serving in our military services and in many cases that member is serving in the Middle East. Yes,
we have members all over the world that are separated from loved ones and there is that concern of
how is that one handling the holidays, missing out on the activities of church gatherings and
family fun.
On December 2nd I was on my way to a Veterans of Foreign Wars District meeting when I stopped at
the Pueblo North Walmart. I was picking up a couple of items I needed for the meeting and myself.
I picked a line where was behind a woman that was filling out the necessary paperwork to purchase
via social welfare means and all the time complaining about how she had to take care of her
grandkids and wishing the government would do more to support her effort. I found out listening in
on this conversation that she had grown children that abandoned their offspring. Grandma had a
degree but she had to take care of "their" kids.
Some of the conversation focused on the president, the war and how she would have more social
welfare opportunities if it were not for the war. Amazing how the anti-war mantra is repeated
everywhere, but I was thinking that as a retired veteran that she was given that freedom to speak
her mind regardless of what I felt. I was wondering if she would go to the Middle East to visit
the troops like our Commander in Chief has and say the same? Probably not.
The cashier was involved in the conversation, agreeing with the customer. Now I knew I needed to
get into another line but for some reason I just could not make myself leave. What else could
these two women say? The cashier stated that her son recently deployed to Iraq and she had not
heard from him in two weeks. I am thinking that it is a good sign. The grandmother responds that
her son is in jail. Uhm, answers a few of my questions. Now here is the shock statement. The
cashier comments that she would rather her son be in jail than in Iraq. What the …..? Then, the
knife in the heart. Grandma says, "I would shoot my son dead if he ever volunteered to go to
war."
I am standing there in my VFW dress gear and I am sure it was obvious that I was a vet. Wow. The
interesting thing about this is that I just viewed a video of a Muslim mother commenting that she
would cut her son's head off and feed his brains to the dogs if he failed her by not sacrificing
his life for Allah. Ok, which mother is more educated and civilized? I hate to say which one is
more dedicated to the cause. The discussion went down hill after that when the customer mentioned
that when these soldiers are injured they are forced to go back to the war. Sorry, I finally had
to step in. It appeared that neither of these citizens visited Wounded Warriors at Evans Community
Hospital or have sat and talked to the dedicated military that want to go back. Geez O Pete.
I shared with the attendees of the VFW district meeting of this encounter and the response was
overwhelming that the one in the military needed to be thanked for his sacrificial service to our
Great Country. While in Germany a week ago I talked to many service members about this encounter
and their own service. I not once heard a negative word about the work they were doing. Many
expressed their long TDYs and assignments took them away from family and community. But never any
negatives about the efforts of our soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors rebuilding a nation to be
free and protecting ours.
What I did hear again and again was that those two sons had some choices in life. Each should have
been aware of the Constitution and their rights and obligations to be a citizen of the USA. Each
made a decision, one to disobey the laws of the land and the other to protect the laws of the
land. It is possible that one will lose his life protecting criminals that prey upon those that
are law abiding.
To the mother of the warrior - take pride in your son. Hold him up as an example of freedom at
work in Pueblo, Colorado, and the US. He is doing far more for all of us than if he were
incarcerated. He has joined forces with other brave warriors protecting our freedoms. When he
writes or calls, tell him that there are many that support his life and his service to our Nation.
God Bless him and America!!!
L T, MSgt, USAF, Ret
Commander, District 2, Department of Colorado, VFW
posted by LT | 3:05 PM
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