Veterans Day.

[JohnR]

Veterans day, it is a tough day for some and proud day for most and a day of thank you from the rest of us.

Much like with memorial day, I often think of back in the 80s when I visited some of the cemetaries of American war dead in various places in Europe like France, Belguim, and Luxembourg. Thousands upon thousands of white tombstones arrayed across well clipped grass. People that gave their lives in service to allow us many things trivial but one thing surely not, our freedom. Guys that for years manned posts like Checkpoint Charlie, or the Inter-German border in the cold war. I've talked with some of you here that manned stations like that - thank you.

It is easy to have a disconnect from those veterans when your exposure - as a non veteran like myself - is a small maintenance collumn jamning up the highway at 40 miles per hour or perhaps a guard fighter streaming off your favorite beach in a training sortie, or the guard member flying through traffic from his weekly job to his weekend job.

I was fortunate to experience, like I did in the 85 and 86, go thru C.C. into what was then communist East Berlin and see what it was like to be in a place not free. Guys and gals gave up a few years or made a career of making what we have as freedom so we don't have to experience what many others across the world did and many still do - not being free.

I won't get into politics either - and hope everyone else on this thread stays away from it - becuase it is not about the politics. The guy on the ground, in the air, or on the seas just says yes sir and goes where ordered to go and does what ordered to do. Those are the people we thanks this week...

Thanks...