Hug a Vet

Have you thanked a veteran lately?

Yesterday was a major holiday and unfortunately, one that often times gets overlooked (unless you work at a bank or hold a government job). There's alot of significance to Veterans Day and alot of Veterans that go unnoticed.

The picture that I've posted is from yesterday's dedication of the Veterans Wall of Honor here in McDonough. As you can see, I was standing in the midst of my motorcycle gang when I took this picture. (For those of you who can't tell, I'm being facetious about the gang) In the picture, what you can't tell, is that there are several distinguished leaders on the platform to offer words of gratitude. Speaking is the Lt. Governor of Georgia, Casey Cagle.

The monument far surpasses what most local governments have for their vets. In fact, it's large enough and beautiful enough to probably be deserving of a place on the Mall in D.C. At the bottom of the hill is a POW/MIA monument. From there, you walk up some steps and follow a walkway lined with the flags of the five branches of the armed forces and made up of bricks with the names of veterans inscribed. The walkway leads to a plaza with some larger monuments and a very large wall, covered in images and quotes from the Revolutionary War to the wars we are fighting now. In the center of the plaza stands a flagpole for the nation's flag (which, by the way, is one that was flown over the Capitol Building in D.C.) and behind the wall are the 50 flags of the states. It's an incredible experience just to be in the presence of such greatness.

I'm not a veteran. I come from several and I'm related to several (3 grandparents, an uncle, a father-in-law, and two brothers-in-law), but I'm not one. I grew up in a town with an Air Force Base and I've been around military personnel all my life. I've had friends who, when I went off to college, enlisted to jump out of planes and carry rifles. I even considered, very seriously, serving as a Chaplain in the USMC. I have a great appreciation for all they do and the sacrifices that they make.

When I was in seminary, I got to meet several veterans and got to know them on levels that many of us never do. I was assigned to chaplaincy work at the Atlanta VA Hospital for a year and worked most of that time with the support groups for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I've heard stories that I would like to forget the details of. I've seen hulking men break down over the memories of nightmarish days many decades before. It made my understand why my grandfather never talked about Europe in World War II and why my father-in-law never talks about Vietnam.

Our men and women, then and now, have signed up to serve without any guarantees what they will face and what they will have to live with. They've done it because they believe in the principles that make up America. Many carry scars that we can't see.

Pray for the vets. Thank them when you see them. The ones I thank always tell me how rare it is that someone thanks them or even acknowledges them as vets. It's easy to see the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. and never read any of the names. It's another thing entirely to realize that there is a human being etched in stone forever because of their sacrifice. It's another thing entirely to think of the families that each of those names represent. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters...

"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)