Military heroes

 

Without a doubt our service men and women are owed our deep gratitude for their service to our country.  They have voluntarily taken on the responsibility of service and sacrifice to our country that has sustained the freedoms all of us have come to love.  They are all heroes and should be counted as such.  In addition to those who are serving or served in active duty in all branches of service there is another group that deserves the title "hero".  That group is the family of those who have served throughout the world ensuring the continued presence of the American way of life. 

 

Spouses:  Mostly women, but many men have been and are married to a person in the military service.  Home fires have been kept burning; life continues to move on even when the military spouse is ten thousand miles away.  Bills have to be paid, oftentimes with less than adequate funding available, all the challenges of running a household must continue without the help of the absent spouse, children must continue to be cared for, questions answered, nurtured almost as a single parent, juggling the daily life of school attendance and all social activities.  In many cases the spouse is also working to help "make ends meet" and have to manage without the immediate advice of the absent spouse, and certainly without the actual working alongside with the spouse when that person is stationed away from home.  Perhaps the heaviest burden of all is living on a minute-by-minute basis each day with the constant realization that at any moment actual harm can befall their loving spouse in the pursuit of defending freedoms for all of us.  That is a heavy burden that most people whose spouse is not in "harm's way" simply may not understand.

 

Children:  A child whose parent is serving in the military and particularly those who are away from home, have a very difficult time coping with the absence of the parent.  The child is constantly reminded the parent is away doing a job that is meant to provide safety for citizens of our country.  The child, depending upon the age of the child, shares the dreaded "harm's way" burden knowing there may be notification on any day at any time of an event that will change his/her life forever.  On a daily basis there are many activities completed without the presence of the absent parent:  School activities, sports activities, church attendance, movies, meals, bedtime, vacations, homework, meeting friends, chores, eating out and just plain conversation.

 

Parents:  Parents of any age have a profound sense of apprehension when their child serves in the military, especially during war time and when the child is serving in a war zone.  Of course there is a great sense of pride from those who know the immense responsibility and honor the child has in being part of a network of a "Band of Brothers" who are protecting the freedoms of American citizens.  Even in the presence of that pride, however, there is a sense of loneliness that comes from knowing their in-law child and their grandchildren are suffering through their child's absence due to the job.

 

Siblings:  Brothers and Sisters of the person serving in the military are both proud and concerned at the same time.  Sibling relationships can sometimes be shaky or solid depending on the individual siblings.  As adulthood arrives with most siblings as happens when they begin to arrive at the age of eligibility to join a military service, a bonding begins to form that sets aside childhood or adolescent rivalries and is replaced by acceptance of decisions, support for choices and respect of person.  As with the other relations from family, the sibling has that gnawing sense of anxiety of the unknown, especially if the sibling is in a war zone that creates an environment of harm's way.

 

Grandparents:  Grandparents have all the feelings expressed and felt by other family members, but generally they have one feeling and awareness that others may not have.  With grandparents the likelihood exists that they have experienced both sides of the military in their lifetime.  Likely the grandpa has been in the military, perhaps in a war zone that has put him in harm's way.  The grandma remembers the hardships she faced during the WWII or Korea  period with rationing, restrictions, limited resources in the family budget and the constant waiting for the war's end.  Perhaps the grandparents were involved in the Viet Nam War that not only changed the political landscape of America, but the civil discourse as well.  They may well understand the turning tide of American sentiments toward the military when they grow war-weary.  They have an empathy that feels the pain of a grandchild who makes sacrifices only to return to a hostile neighborhood.

 

Ultimate Sacrifice:  Finally, those spouses, children, parents, siblings and grandparents who have answered that door with uniformed men standing on the porch knowing what the message they carried contained, are counted as heroes of the heroes.  As they stand at the door listening to the message of Brothers in Uniform deliver the untimely news from a "Grateful Nation" that regrets to inform the family of the loss, their minds soar to the darkness of grief while their hearts sink to the depths of loss.

 

When we celebrate the Memorial Day with our picnics, cookouts, car races, family get-to-gathers and a hundred other freedoms of our choice, we should also remember those who provided the ultimate sacrifice of defending those freedoms.  But not only that, we should remember all those families who supported and surrounded their military person with love and a bit of anxiety, fear and trepidation by suffering all the "what-if's" during the time they waited for the homecoming.  We should remember their standing tall as they learned of the supreme sacrifice their loved one made to secure and maintain the peace and freedom of our wonderful country.  In all respects they have earned the right to be called heroes as well.

 

Jim Killebrew             



Memorial day 2012

Decoration Day, it used to be called; as ladies organizations and schoolchildren went out to the graves of fallen soldiers during the Civil War.  A long-standing tradition has been preserved and even codified now into a Federal holiday.   

Memorial Day is usually celebrated on the last Monday in May when friends and family gather at a cemetery where their loved ones are buried to remember them with love and reverence.  At National Cemeteries throughout the country there will be remembrances of those who fought and died for freedom when families and friends go to pay their respects.  My mind is filled with memories past when we visited the various cemeteries where our loved ones were buried.  We placed flowers on the graves and remembered the ones who were buried there.

It is sometimes difficult to wrap our minds around a day like Memorial Day.  Although we have been fighting a war against terror and the men and women in the armed forces are being constantly held up for us to show appreciation toward, there is still something distant about what it means.  We have a tendency to compartmentalize our lives into neat little partitions that allow us to arrange our days and lives into distinctly different blocks of activities.  We create separate emotions, feelings and values for each of the activity blocks.  Sunday morning is "church" time; the activity is to "go to church."  Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. is "work" time; the activity is stuffed with "doing our job."  We behave in the "expected" ways that are dictated from the "activity block" in which we are engaged at the time.

Memorial Day is sometimes relegated by some to be an activity locked in our activity block labeled "Memorial Day."  When the time comes we take it down from our shelf of daily activities, take out the activity, dust it off since it has been a year, and go through the expected motions so we can conveniently repack that activity block at the end of the day.  Expending the least amount of effort we can, and getting it over with as quickly as possible, we move on to our next activity block forgetting the substance of the act in favor of the form.

Memorial Day should be different.  Rather than unpacking the activity to glibly move through it without thought, we might rather make a much richer experience by really examining the circumstances and cost that surrounded the life of that man or woman who paid the ultimate price to give us the opportunity to create those activity blocks in the first place.

Those men who were caught in a cross-fire between sworn enemies who were dropping mortar shells on their position creating a fire storm of molten rock and phosphorus rain dropping death and terror on their heads continued moving forward to establish a barrier against evil. 

Those medics, nurses and doctors close to the 38th Parallel continued their duties at the operating tables trying to save the lives of soldiers wounded in battles gave their own lives in America's struggle against communism.

Those young men who laid in the forest as the rain trickled down their helmets trying to remain quiet as enemy "regulars" marched down the trail beside their foliage cover caught sight that culminated in a battle eventually won by the Americans, but not without heavy causalities.

Those men and women who were weighted down with battle gear, in desert heat reaching 110 degrees in the shade as they rode in their vehicle across the sandy roads watched as eighty yards in front another vehicle containing their friends suddenly explodes and shoots straight up in the air in a ball of flame.  With roads filled with IEDs waiting to capture the unsuspecting vehicle, they each continue on fulfilling their duty and chipping away at the forces of evil headed by a dictator who has vowed to take away the freedom from Americans whom he calls the "Great Satan."

What were those men and women thinking at those very moments?  Did they see the faces of their wives, kids, parents?  Did they see their high school friends they had just parted company with only a few short months prior to their current experience.  Were they terrified, with hearts beating knowing that each breath might be their last?  Did some experience the loss of their closest comrade in arms taking their last breath just inches away?  The one thing each one had in common:  They were each giving their all for those back in the States for them to be able to experience the freedom of never experiencing what they were facing at that moment.

Freedom.  Such a word; freedom.  It seems like Memorial Day and Freedom might be the same word.  Without Memorial Day, and the ones behind that Day, there would likely be no freedom.  We should never be so routine with our actions as to forget the real meaning of Memorial Day and the freedom that has been given to us by those who paid the price with their lives.

Jim Killebrew

Branson recognition of veterans

My wife and I have visited Branson, Missouri on several occasions the past few years.  Aside from the wonderful shows that are offered in that great vacation spot is something that warms the heart.  Sometime before, during or after each show presented there, the Veterans of the United States Military are recognized.  They are asked to stand to receive the expressed thanks from the audience through applause.  Sometime the recognition is cascaded by the particular branch's song being played as those Veterans in that branch rise for recognition.  This recognition is a part of each show during the entire year, not just around Veteran's Day.

I have no idea how this tradition was started, or by whom.  It is such a wonderful idea and being a Veteran, I for one really appreciate the remembrance of service.  America is a country of services in almost every walk of life.  Services are offered in corporate America and in the volunteer sector.  People volunteer in service groups, churches, day cares, nursing homes, residential services for individuals with disabilities, homeless centers, recreational centers, Boy and Girl Scouts, hospitals, schools and almost every other charitable concern imaginable.  Americans are generous people and giving is a part of life.

Another characteristic of Americanism is freedom.  The country was founded on the ideals and principles of each individual being free and enjoying the rights that God has given.  So much so that our own Congress declared on July 4, 1776 that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

With the foundational values of volunteerism and Creator-given unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, Americans have traditionally marched off to foreign countries when called.  From the "Midnight Ride" in the American Revolution to the latest Afghanistan War Americans have listened to the siren calls of warning that the country was in danger and freedom was being threatened.  They have lined up to endure the rigors of training, hardships of interrupted lives, separations from families, entry into foreign lands, open risk of enemy fire, reality of capture, and the great possibility of sacrificing their lives to preserve freedom for everyone.  Aside from justice and continued freedom, the greatest commodity produced by wars is the American Veteran.

Each war beginning with the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan War and Iraq War has produced tens of thousands of Veterans.  These Veterans have received mixed welcomes after their service in hard-fought wars.

Animosity against Southern fighters lasted for many years following the American Civil war.  Returning Veterans from the Vietnam War were met with harsh responses from Americans who were war-weary.  Some were even spat upon and demeaned as they tried to re-assimilate into the American mainstream.  In contrast, modern Americans have turned the corner on respect and revere related to Veterans since the darker days of post-Vietnam. 

An all-volunteer military of the modern times has tapped into the patriotism of Americans in general.  Vietnam caused a slight derailment in the American bedrock of Democracy, freedom and independence, but citizens, by and large, have now returned to their heritage upon which our nation was founded.  Young men and women have gathered beyond the military's quotas and have volunteered for service in all branches of the military.  Honor, duty and the "no man left behind" collective thinking has prevailed in all branches of military service and the Veterans leaving their tours of duty have demonstrated that higher calling and determination by infusing back into the National consciousness the reality of who we are as Americans and what we owe our Veterans.

I believe the organizers of the Branson Shows and the Chamber of that city have absolutely done the right thing to show their respect to the Military Veterans and I applaud them for their continued efforts.  I would like to think that each Veteran who stands when asked at each of those shows look around and immediately knows, without a doubt, these are my brothers with whom I have shared one of the greatest responsibilities of my life, and one of the greatest blessings to have contributed to the continued preservation of the American dream of freedom, justice and independence.

Jim Killebrew, Veteran, United States Air Force

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