I disagree with your interpretation of what Veteran's Day means Mary. Here is an excerpt of a Veteran's Day essay/letter I had forwarded to me years ago by my Korean War Vet brother-in-law. It was titled "A Day to Begin Taking Back America's Future". I don't know if it can still be found online or not.

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Veteran's Day should be a day for Vets to sound off to those who know the lingo and the lies. Vets understand each other. They've a special shared danger-bonding that helps many in the healing which never in one lifetime is 100 percent. Their warrior talk blows away the loneliness which comes from not being able to explain what happened to them to those who didn't make the journey.

This day should be one of serious reflection, to every American, not just about putting up our feet or talking about when we were young and brave. We need to think about the wars that were just -- WW1, WW11 and Korea -- and the bad ones, the futile swamps -- the Vietnams, the Lebanans, the Panamas and the Somalias -- where our cause was unjust or uncertain and where Americans died in vain. We should find out who was responsible for the miscalculations and look deeply into how we can prevent more of our youth from being so savagely wasted.

Many Vets today are asking : just what the hell they fought for? They say the "great sucking sound" is the values and ideals that made the USA the land of opportunity flushing down the toilet. They say: try walking down a dark street in most towns in America without feeling you're on patrol deep behind enemy lines; take a look at our rivers, our forests, our eco system and pretend your're not wandering through Death Valley; look at our youth who have little future beyond serving burgers and no hope to ever make it as their grandparents did; examine our sidewalks littered with needles from drugs that threaten our young from within more than any enemy from without; see our pork-driven, self-serving politicians buy still more wonder weapons to fight an enemy that's not there while feathering their nests with retirement programs fit for kings; listen to the political campaigns so gutter-disgusting they make mud wrestling look like an intellectual sport and Joe McCarthy look like a choir boy.


Did we fight and work so hard to watch our land and people become wasted and ruined? Bill Clinton said at Normandy last June "... America is the way it is today because of what people gave up 50 years ago." He got it wrong. America is the way it is today because too many of those of us who served switched off after we took off our uniforms, expecting the politicians to take over the watch and protect what we fought for.

So, have a good Veteran's Day -- but then after the celebration, take charge of our country again. There's 27 million of you out there, not to mention a few hundred million non-veterans -- you're the makings of some Revolutionary Army. Which if you think about it is what started America the Beautiful in the first place!