He is the cop on the beat who spent six months
in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day
making sure the armored personnel carriers
didn't run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth,
dumber than five wooden planks,
whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is
outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by
four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against
futility and went to sleep sobbing every night
for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came
back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen
combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy,
no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines,
and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his
ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches
the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in
The Tomb Of The Unknowns,
whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery
must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous
heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the
battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the
supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly
slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp
and who wishes all day long that his wife were
still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary
human being - a person who offered some of
his life's most vital years in the service of his country,
and who sacrificed his ambitions so others
would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword
against the darkness,
and he is nothing more than the finest,
greatest testimony on behalf of the finest,
greatest nation ever known.
So remember,
each time you see someone who has
served our country, just lean over and say
"Thank You."
That's all most people need, and in most cases
it will mean more than any medals they could
have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot,
"THANK YOU".
~Author Unknown~
