This I Believe: Veterans Deserve Respect

Every year at ESK, eighth grade students share their “This I Believe” essays with their fellow classmates during Chapel. Students are tasked with sharing a life lesson they have learned with the student body. According to the “This I Believe” organization website, students are encouraged to “start by telling a compelling story about how you came to hold an important personal belief—something that guides your daily living.” The talks are based on the “This I Believe” radio show hosted by Edward R. Murrow more than 50 years ago. Students all over the country – and the world – participate in the “This I Believe” project each year. ESK will feature several of these essays, including today’s from eighth grader Ryley O’Brien.

Veterans of our country have bravely defended our country, from the deserts of the Middle East to the world wars of Europe. Even here in our own country, our veterans have made this a better place and America the great country we are today. I think that our country should give our veterans the respect they deserve.

Consider these contrasts. You stay up for 16 hours; a soldier stays up for 6 days. You take a warm shower to wake up; he goes all week without clean water. He touches the cross around his dog tag; you make sure you have your cell phone in your pocket. No matter what the sacrifice, he will be there to protect your freedom. These are just a few reasons we should show respect for our military.

The young soldiers now returning from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq are joining the ranks of veterans that we owe a huge debt of gratitude. They are no longer on active duty, but the men and women who have served our country deserve our praise and if necessary, someone to help them. Senator Elizabeth Dole used the best statistic I found that proves why our support and understanding is needed. It appears that there are currently about 5.5 million Americans caring for ill or wounded family members who served in our country’s military. Most of these caregivers spend 40 hours or more a week caring for these wounded veterans and have little or no support.  Many have been doing this for years or decades while others will be doing it for decades into the future. Our post 9-11 generation has given us more and more young veterans than ever before.  Most of these are not qualifying for support programs because of their young age (Caring for Military Families by Senator Elizabeth Dole).  These guidelines need to change and change soon.  We have 5.5 millions reasons to make that change and 5.5 million hidden heroes who deserve our country’s support.

This is a very important topic to me because I have one hero that I’m lucky to call my cousin.  Like many Americans, I have several family members who have served in the military. I’ve had  family serve in World War I, World War II, Korean War, and in the most recent war, the War on Terror. My cousin Billy became a Marine right out of high school. He grew up in a military family, and my uncle spent 20 years in the Air Force.  After some intense training at Parris Island, my cousin found himself fighting in Iraq. As a Marine, he spent all of his time on the front line. We were one of the lucky families because Billy came home safely. He did not have any visible injuries, but he had a hard time dealing with the memories of what he did and saw while in Iraq.  He will talk about the facts of his deployment but does not like to talk about the personal part.  Billy is just one of the thousands who have served in the Middle East, but he still played an important part of this war. He is the one that has made me most aware of our military and their sacrifices. Billy graduated from Bearden High School and is now 33 years old. He is a husband, a father, and a local accountant. He is not one of the 5.5 million that needs a caregiver, and for that I am so thankful.

As a nation we show support to our veterans on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Some will say a simple “thank you” as they pass a soldier in uniform or buy his lunch while in line at a restaurant.  We wear patriotic colors and sometimes even hang a flag from our house. These are all good ways to show our support, but I believe our veterans are deserving of much more than these small gestures. I feel at the very least we need to open our minds and hearts to these men and women. We need to listen to them and hear what they are saying. They have a lot to say about the subject because they are truly the ones who have the firsthand knowledge. Supporting our troops is something each one of us must do. We need to push our country’s government into making some very important and much needed changes. Aggression will always exist somewhere, and we must have those ready and willing to stand and fight against it. This I believe.