WHAT IS A VET?
You can't tell a vet just by looking:
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating
2 gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carrier didn't run out
of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth whose behavior is outweighed in the
cosmic scales by four hours of unparalleled bravery near the 38th
Parallel in Korea.
She is the nurse who fought against futility in Da Nang and went to
sleep sobbing every night for two solid years.
He is the POW who left one person and came back another. He is the drill
instructor who has never been in combat but has saved countless lives by
turning no-accounts into Marines.
He is the parade-riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and
medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the white-haired guy bagging groceries at the supermarket,
aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp.
A vet is an ordinary and extraordinary human being --- someone who
offered his life's vital years in the service of his country. He is a
soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and nothing more
than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest
nation ever known. We will never be able to repay the debt of gratitude
we owe.
Author Unknown
NOTE: This poem is courtesy of my "surrogate mom", Dot. Love ya, Sweetie!