This past weekend I took a whirlwind trip to Fort Knox, Kentucky to watch my son graduate from tanker school in the Army. He was able to get a weeks vacation to come visit before he heads to his duty station in Colorado. I was lucky enough to get us on the same flights together so we could travel together on the way home, it was about eight hours worth of flying.
On the way home he was wearing his uniform, we left from the airport in Kentucky, had a plane change in North Carolina and then flew to Los Angeles, I live three hours north of there. In every airport people, mostly older people, would come up to Kirk and his other army friends who were traveling to Los Angeles and would thank them for their service. They would get hugs, hand shakes, pats on the back, stories about people's family members who were also in the service, you name it.
The young men don't necessarily believe they deserve all this attention because they have just finished basic training and have not seen any combat. They deserve every bit of it. They have just finished an extremely difficult 15 weeks of training, where they were injured, homesick, and working their butts off. It's hard and I don't believe anyone, except for people who have been through it, can understand just how hard it is.
Aside from that though is the fact they showed the strength of character and courage to join the service during a time of war. For a long time our country did not understand the consequences of what war meant. These young men know exactly what war means and they joined anyway. Please when you see a veteran or an active service member thank them for their service, they deserve it, probably more than most people will understand.
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